Dead-ball era

The dead-ball era is a baseball term generally used to describe the period between 1900 (though some date it to the beginning of baseball) and the emergence of Babe Ruth as a power hitter in 1920.

The reasons for the dead-ball era

The foul strike rule

This was the major rule change that, in just a few years, sent baseball from a high scoring game to one where scoring any runs became a struggle. In 1901, the National League adopted the foul strike rule, and the American League followed suit in 1903. Prior to this rule change, foul balls were not counted as strikes, thus a batter could foul off a countless number of pitches with no strikes counted against him, an enormous advantage for the batter.

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The ball itself

Before Ray Chapman died in 1920 after being hit by a pitch, it was very common for a baseball to be in play for over 100 pitches. A ball would be used in a game until it was starting to unravel. The early baseball leagues were very cost-conscious, so fans would have to throw balls back that had been hit in the stands; even if a ball was discolored, often due to tobacco juice applied by players, it was kept in the game. Because of this, and because the baseball parks had no lights until the late 1930s, it was very difficult to see the ball. And since the ball was hard to hit anyway, it was very difficult to hit it very far. As the ball was being used, it would get softer, and hitting a softer object for distance is much more difficult. There is also the argument that the ball itself was made softer to begin with, so it was harder to hit.

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The spit ball

Another reason that the ball was hard to hit far was because pitchers could basically do whatever they wanted to when it came to the ball. The spitball pitch was permitted in baseball until 1920, but was phased out after Chapman's death even though the pitch that killed him was not a spitball. Pitchers often marked the ball or scuffed it or spit on it or anything else they wanted. This made the ball "dance" and curve probably much more than it does now. And such practices added to the discoloration, so it was literally harder to see the ball, particularly as evening approached.

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