The Deadball Era ended in 1910, the lively ball era began in

1920. I apologize for this lengthly explanation.



In 1909, sporting goods manufacturer A.J. Reach discovered that putting a tightly wrapped piece of cork in the center of a baseball made it more lively. The "Dead Ball Period" of baseball, which existed from the formation of the National League in 1876 until 1911 was a result of balls with almost no resiliance - they just fell dead when hit. At the turn of the century, Spalding had the contract to provide major league baseballs. Benjamin Shibe, a partner of A.J. Reach applied for and was awarded this patent in 1909. Shibe, for whom the Philadelphia Athletics stadium was originally named, also developed machinery which made possible the manufacture of standard baseballs. The cork center ball is believed to have been first used secretly in the 1910 World Series and was officially introduced in 1911. The .300 batting average rose from 8 in 1910 to 27 in 1911. This baseball heralded the homerun hitter.

The offense went up in the 20's because of the new ball, because pitchers were not allowed to "cheat", balls were replaced regularly, stadiums were more standard, and a pardigm shift in offensive strategy.

All these things is why offenses in the 20's were higher then offenses in 1911 and 1912. But at its core the reason the offenses were high was because of the core of the baseball. If they had simply never changed the baseball and continued to use the type of baseball they did in say 1905 but did changed all other conditions the 20's would never look like it did. Sure offenses would go up but nothing close to what they did go to. Nor would somebody be hitting 50+ homers a year.

In April 1917, the U.S. entered World War One. As with all wars, there is always a shortage of materials. When it came to baseball, this was no exception. Since the standard yarn that was used for baseball winding was now being put to use to help the "Dough Boys keep the world safe for democracy" Baseball manufacturers had no choice but to use an inferior, cheaper yarn for the standard National and American League spheres. It was found that the inferior yarn made the baseballs even more loosely wound than before.

To make up the difference, the machines that wound the baseballs were set so that the yarn would be wound tighter making up the difference. Here's where it starts to get interesting. The Great War ended on November 11th, 1918, but the flow of high quality raw materials back into the private sector was a slow process. High quality yarn was not made available for the 1919 season. When the baseballs made with the old, high quality yarn were finally manufactured again, there was a noticeable difference in the feel of the ball. The baseball winding machines continued to wind the yarn with the new, tighter settings. Why no one ever decided to go back to the old settings remains a mystery! But when the new "lively ball" first was shown at the end of the '19 season many pitchers became very nervous at the thought of serving up the new product!
Cy Young commented "When I had a chance to take a gander at that lively ball shortly before the '20 season began, my first thoughts were that I was sure glad I was retired."

The Reach Baseball Guide ran a full-page ad announcing, "We never experiment with our patrons. There has been no change in the construction of the CORK CENTER BALL since we introduced it in 1910." And the United States Bureau of Standards conducted extensive tests that came to the same conclusion.

-------BA-----OBP----SA

1906 .249----.303-----.318

1907 .247----.302-----.309

1908 .239----.294-----.304

1909 .244----.303-----.309

1910 .243----.308-----.313

1911 .273----.338-----.358

1912 .265----.333-----.348

1913 .256----.325-----.336

1914 .248----.319-----.323

1915 .248----.325-----.326


Your comments are welcome.