Monday, June 11, 2012
Baseball Eras
We’ve talked about this a few times in the past, and the eras I use are fairly consistent, but the markers sometimes moves. I’d always use 1919/1920 as a dividing line, 1945/1946, or 1946/1947 as a line. 1968/1969 as a line. 1992/1993 as a line. The rule change in 1893 for ball-strikes was always a useful one as well, if I cared to go back that far. Most of the time, I just looked for a change in runs per game. Otherwise, look for some big shift, like HR (which will tie in to runs anyway). 1992/1993 was an obvious one, because between 1992 and 1994, the BABIP jumped, the HR rate jumped, and runs per game jumped.
Anyway, so Bill James decided to create a system to establish the dividing lines. Basically, try to systematically and with more focus, create eras. His answer:
Era 1 (The Pioneer Era), 1871-1892
Era 2 (The Spitball Era), 1893-1919
Era 3 (The Landis Era), 1920-1946
Era 4 (The Baby Boomers Era), 1947-1968
Era 5 (The Artifical Turf Era), 1969-1992
Era 6 (The Camden Yards Era), 1993-2012
Pretty much right where I had it, and it may be exactly as I had it. I think KJOK (a much bigger historian than I am) also had it pretty similar here.
I should note that we may be in a new era already. The SO rate has been insane for the last few years (since 2009 I think), leading to changes in run scoring, and in a year or three, we may retroactively change the eras, so that a new era started in 2009.
Anyway, for those who have been looking for eras, now you are on firmer footing.
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