Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark17
The first year Ruth became a regular outfielder, 1919 (before the Black Sox scandal) he hit more than twice as many home runs as the next highest player (29 to 12.) The next year (before the Black Sox scandal broke) he hit almost three times as many (54 to 19.) The following year, 1921, his third as an outfielder, he hit almost 2.5 times as many home runs as the next guy (59 to 24.)
But your theory is that MLB decided to liven up the ball first, hoping somebody would transform the game to such an extent that a ballclub would need to build a huge new stadium to accommodate the tens of thousands of fans who would come to see someone hit the ball a mile with some regularity... and Ruth just happened to take advantage of the situation.
I think you have the proverbial cart and horse backwards.
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If I am wrong, I apologize and am happy to admit my error. I totally agree that Ruth was hitting more homers than anyone else. However, do you really think that MLB didn't know, and more importantly didn't think, to proactively start making changes in anticipation of the fallout from the 1919 World Series and the gambling allegations surrounding it, right after it ended? I've always heard/read from different sources that the dead ball era ended in 1919, and the live ball era was to have started in 1920. Your comment is that Ruth was already hitting 54 homers in 1920, BEFORE the Black Sox scandal supposedly broke and became known. I think you may be the one who is a bit off if you truly believe MLB didn't realize and know about all the gambling allegations and rumors while the series was still going on. I even seem to remember seeing/hearing that commentators covering the series, such as Christy Mathewson, were known to have been reporting on the suspicious play of some of the Black Sox players. Something tells me MLB was not that stupid and anticipated negative issues and feedback from the tainted series, and may have gone ahead to liven up the ball in anticipation of the fallout.
The fact that Ruth hit 29 home runs in 1919, his first full season as a position player, and then followed it with 54 homers in 1920, kind of goes along with there possibly being some changes to the balls being used starting in 1920. MLB teams hit a total of only 447 home runs in 1919, and then followed it up with 721 hit in 1920. That increase was not all due to just Ruth, and I didn't go through every prior year, but I don't think was a single prior season where all of MLB hit even 500 total home runs. And if I'm correct, how do you suddenly explain such a huge jump in total home runs across the entire league in that one single season of 1920? Then going forward, MLB teams hit 1130, 1299, 1356, 1236, and 1736 home runs over the next five seasons, from 1921 to 1925, respectively. That evidence seems pretty convincing to me that something changed in 1920, BEFORE your alleged breaking of the Black Sox scandal. Now if you, or anyone else, has more specific factual information and evidence as to exactly when MLB may have livened up the baseballs back then, I would love to see/hear it, proving my theory wrong.
And no one ever said MLB potentially made such changes to be able to have one single person transform the game and capture the attention of the fans, like Ruth did. They were more likely looking to simply create more offense and potential excitement among fans, maybe offsetting at least some of the negativity from the expected gambling scandal fallout. That Ruth was there at the exact right place (New York), and time (right after the scandal), was probably unforeseen by anyone in MLB, and was likely beyond their wildest dreams and expectations that he became the adored player and ambassador of the game that he was. And that was why I surmised that Ruth may have to at least partially thank MLB for some of the changes and such that helped to benefit him and the influence he is credited with having on the game. But think about this, what if back then MLB kept the dead ball throughout the rest if Ruth's career, and he continued hitting his 20-30 HRs every year, still beating out everyone else by a mile. But then, MLB livened the ball up around the time Wilie Mays came into the league (shortly followed by Hank Aaron), and Mays took off with all the home runs he started hitting and he became the phenomenon, legend, and influencer of baseball that otherwise in reality has been credited to Ruth.
Meanwhile, Curt Flood, (with the obvious help and support of Marvin Miller and his attorneys), went up against MLB and broke them of the reserve clause and ushered in free agency, totally changing the game going forward. He got absolutely no help or assistance in changing the game from MLB or in any of its rules, equipment, or anything else. MLB actually fought him to not make any changes to the way things were, and yet he prevailed in court and ended up changing the game of baseball forever. Even in Jackie Robinson's case, it was Branch Rickey who picked and approached him to be the first player to integrate MLB. So Jackie was not solely responsible for being the first player to integrate the majors, certainly not without the unbelievable help and support of Rickey and the Dodgers organization.