Dead-ball era

Spacious ballparks limited hitting for power, and the ball itself was "dead" both by design and from overuse.

Ball scuffing and adulteration by pitchers, particularly the spitball, were allowed, putting hitters at a disadvantage.

In the latter year, the Chicago White Sox hit three home runs for the entire season, yet they finished 88–64, just a couple of games from winning the pennant.

[4] This should prove that leather is mightier than wood[5] Some players and fans complained about the low-scoring games, and league officials sought to remedy the situation.

[6] Spalding, Reach's parent company which separately supplied the National League, followed with its own cork-center ball.

In 1913, however, minor league pitcher Russ Ford noticed that a ball scuffed against a concrete wall quickly dived as it reached the batter.

This so-called emery ball, together with the spitball, gave pitchers greatly increased control of the batter, especially since a single ball—rarely replaced during a game—would become increasingly scuffed as play progressed, as well as more difficult to see as it became dirtier.

However, Cravath played in the cavernous Baker Bowl which despite being 341-foot (104 m) to left-field and a 408-foot (124 m) shot to dead center, was a notoriously hitter-friendly park with only a short 280-foot (85 m) distance from the plate to the right-field wall.

The following factors contributed to the dramatic decline in runs scored during the dead-ball era: The foul strike rule was a major rule change that, in just a few years, sent baseball from a high-scoring game to a game where scoring any runs was a struggle.

Early baseball leagues were very cost-conscious, so fans had to throw back balls that had been hit into the stands.

Many ballparks were large by modern standards, such as the West Side Grounds of the Chicago Cubs, which was 560 feet (170 m) to the center-field fence, and the Huntington Avenue Grounds of the Boston Red Sox, which was 635 feet (194 m) to the center-field fence.