Dead-ball era
Historic era in the history of baseball / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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In baseball, the dead-ball era was the period from approximately 1900 to 1920. This era was characterized by low-scoring games and a lack of home runs; league batting averages dropped as low as .239 in 1908, producing the lowest league run average in history, with teams averaging only 3.4 runs per game. Teams played in spacious ballparks that limited hitting for power; as a further hindrance to scoring, the ball used then, compared to modern baseballs, was "dead" both by design and from overuse. In addition, ball scuffing and adulteration by pitchers, particularly the spitball, was allowed during this period.
The era ended very suddenly; by 1921, offenses were scoring 40% more runs and hitting four times as many home runs as they had in 1918. There is no consensus among baseball historians as to what caused the change.