Dead Ball

Batters in daed ball era

2004-08-16T10:33:00.000-07:00

Batters used heavy bats, choked up on the handle and didn't attack the pitch agressively. This style of batting was typified in some of the best of the time -- Ty Cobb, Joe Jackson and Honus Wagner.

spit ball

2004-08-16T10:31:00.000-07:00

For pitchers, it was the era of the "spit ball" -- completely legal at the time. Many pitchers relied on the spit ball and other trickery to keep batters on their toes. Some of the most skilled pitchers of all time developed in baseball's Deadball Era, however. Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson and others were skilled at placing the ball anywhere they wanted on a pitch.

The Dead Ball Era

2004-08-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

The Dead Ball Era is generally considered to have lasted from the turn of the century into the beginning of the roaring '20s. As the name suggests the game used a "dead" or almost soft ball to play its game. The same ball was usually used for the entire game.
Obviously, the state of the ball was a detriment to home runs. Factor in the large, open parks and you can see that home runs were certainly a premium. Teams were left to rely on the hit and run, singles, bunts and stolen bases to win games.