Live-ball era
Encyclopedia
The live-ball era, also referred to as the lively ball era, is the period in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 beginning in , following the dead-ball era
Dead-ball era
The dead-ball era is a baseball term used to describe the period between 1900 and the emergence of Babe Ruth as a power hitter in 1919. In 1919, Ruth hit a then league record 29 home runs, a spectacular feat at that time.This era was characterized by low-scoring games and a lack of home runs...

. During that year offensive statistics
Baseball statistics
Statistics play an important role in summarizing baseball performance and evaluating players in the sport.Since the flow of a baseball game has natural breaks to it, and normally players act individually rather than performing in clusters, the sport lends itself to easy record-keeping and statistics...

 rose dramatically in what would be mistakenly attributed to the introduction of a new "lively" ball. While hitter-friendly, cork-centered balls had been introduced around 1910, the construction of the balls remained consistent between the transition from the "dead-" to "live-ball eras." Several rule changes gave more advantages to the batter
Batting (baseball)
In baseball, batting is the act of facing the opposing pitcher and trying to produce offense for one's team. A batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the pitcher...

.

Prior to that time, the same ball would be used throughout the game and foul ball
Foul ball
In baseball, a foul ball is a batted ball that:* Settles on foul territory between home and first base or between home and third base, or* Bounds past first or third base on or over foul territory, or...

s would be thrown back on the field and reused. The ball would only be replaced if it started to unravel. As games progressed, the ball would become increasingly dirty and worn, making it difficult to see, and its movement erratic. Pitchers were able to help this process along by scuffing it, spitting on it, and since Russ Ford
Russ Ford
Russell William Ford was a Major League Baseball pitcher during the dead-ball era of the early 1900s.- Emery Ball :...

's discovery in 1913, cutting into it with an emery board. The spitball
Spitball
A spitball is an illegal baseball pitch in which the ball has been altered by the application of saliva, petroleum jelly, or some other foreign substance....

 was widely used as well. All of these effects gave the pitcher a major advantage. The physical wear on the ball from being repeatedly hit also made it less elastic as the game progressed, making it increasingly difficult to hit for distance.

There were also rule changes that contributed to the low-scoring games. In 1901 the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...

 adopted the "foul strike rule," which counted foul balls as strikes. Prior to this rule, batters could safely swing at many marginal pitches, which not only tired out the pitcher, but allowed for more hits in total in the case that a "flukey" hit landed in play. With the introduction of the foul strike rule the batter had to let many more pitches "go" without being swung on, dramatically reducing the total number of hits as well. The American League followed suit in 1903, making the rule universal.

The dead-ball era came to an end after the fatal beaning
Beanball
"Beanball" is a colloquialism used in baseball, for a ball thrown at an opposing player with the intention of striking him such as to cause harm, often connoting a throw at the player's head...

 of Ray Chapman
Ray Chapman
Raymond Johnson Chapman was an American baseball player, spending his entire career as a shortstop for Cleveland....

 during the 1920 season. Chapman was killed by a submarine
Submarine (baseball)
In baseball, a submarine pitch is one in which the ball is released underhand and just above the ground, with the torso bent at a right angle and shoulders tilted so severely that they rotate around a nearly horizontal axis...

 pitch from Carl Mays
Carl Mays
Carl William Mays was a right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1915 to 1929. Despite impressive career statistics, he is primarily remembered for throwing a beanball on August 16, 1920, that struck and killed Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians, making Chapman one of two people to die...

 in the 5th inning of a twilight game. Witnesses stated that Chapman never moved to get out of the way of the ball, and it is assumed he simply couldn't see it. The new Commissioner of Baseball
Baseball Commissioner
The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive of Major League Baseball and its associated minor leagues. Under the direction of the Commissioner, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts...

, Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Kenesaw Mountain Landis was an American jurist who served as a federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and as the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death...

, instituted several new rules during the season, both in response to Chapman's death as well as an effort to liven up the game. Starting in 1920 balls were replaced at the first sign of wear, resulting in a ball that was much brighter and easier for a hitter to see. The other major rule change was the elimination of the spitball
Spitball
A spitball is an illegal baseball pitch in which the ball has been altered by the application of saliva, petroleum jelly, or some other foreign substance....

. The lively ball era was the era in which baseball came back into the picture and exploded with popularity.

In 1920, the game changed from typically low-scoring to high-scoring games, with a newfound reliance on the home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...

. During that year Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...

, setting a record for slugging percentage, hit 54 home runs, smashing his old record of 29. In 1921, he broke his record again, hitting 59 home runs. Six years later, Ruth passed his 1921 mark by hitting 60 home runs, a single-season record that stood for 34 years. In 1920 George Sisler
George Sisler
George Harold Sisler , nicknamed "Gentleman George" and "Gorgeous George," was an American professional baseball player for 15 seasons, primarily as first baseman with the St. Louis Browns...

 would also set his long-standing record of 257 hits
Hit (baseball)
In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice....

 in a single season, which would not be eclipsed until 2004 by the Seattle Mariners
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are a professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. Enfranchised in , the Mariners are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Safeco Field has been the Mariners' home ballpark since July...

' Ichiro Suzuki
Ichiro Suzuki
, usually known simply as is a Major League Baseball right fielder for the Seattle Mariners. Ichiro has established a number of batting records, including the sport's single-season record for hits with 262...

.

The live-ball era also had a lasting impact on pitchers. Between 1910 and 1920, the last decade of the dead-ball era
Dead-ball era
The dead-ball era is a baseball term used to describe the period between 1900 and the emergence of Babe Ruth as a power hitter in 1919. In 1919, Ruth hit a then league record 29 home runs, a spectacular feat at that time.This era was characterized by low-scoring games and a lack of home runs...

, eight pitchers had a 30-win season. Since the beginning of the 1921 season, the first full season of the live-ball era, only three pitchers have had 30-win seasons (Lefty Grove
Lefty Grove
Robert Moses "Lefty" Grove was a professional baseball pitcher. After having success in the minor leagues during the early 1920s, Grove became a star in Major League Baseball with the American League's Philadelphia Athletics and Boston Red Sox, winning 300 games in his 17-year MLB career...

 in 1931, Dizzy Dean
Dizzy Dean
Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He was the last National League pitcher to win 30 games in one season. Dean was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953....

 in 1934, and Denny McLain
Denny McLain
Dennis Dale "Denny" McLain is a former American professional baseball player, and the last major league pitcher to win 30 or more games during a season —a feat accomplished by only thirteen players in the 20th century....

in 1968).
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