Define the Eras: Hitting or Pitching

[Brian McKenna]

define the eras in baseball history for me - this is for both the statistician and the historian

don't leave any year out 1876-today - don't just say 1880s or 90s etc. that doesn't mean anything - give exact years - we basically know that the dead ball era was a pitchers era but what are the specific years of flucuation since 1876? - were there any years that weren't specifically pitcher or hitter dominant?

example (completely w/o thought or basis):
1876-1892 pitching
1893-1900 hitting
1901-1919 pitching
1920-1942 hitting
1943-1948 pitching
1949 neutral, etc.

[RuthMayBond]

Without breaking down every single year or trying to figure which was neutral

1876-1894 hitting
1895-1908 pitching
1909-1930 hitting
1931-1938 pitching only for NL
1939-1946 pitching for both
1947-1950 hitting
1951-1968 pitching
1969 to date hitting

[Captain Cold Nose]

Without breaking down every single year or trying to figure which was neutral

1876-1894 hitting
1895-1908 pitching
1909-1930 hitting
1931-1938 pitching only for NL
1939-1946 pitching for both
1947-1950 hitting
1951-1968 pitching
1969 to date hitting

Since yours is probably the overall scholarly opinion that matches my pedestrian one the most, (outside of the whole peak thing) I'm curious as to why you have the current hitters era going so far back. I personally think it took a few years for the hitters to catch up with the pitchers after the lowering of the mound in 1968.

[leecemark]

--RMB, the hitters had the best of it for all the 1890s. Hitters had the edge in the 1950s. Pitchers ruled through the 1970s and the 1980s were pretty nuetral. The current hitters era didn't get underway until the early 90s.

[Brian McKenna]

the mound was pushed back beginning in 1893 - did that change anything

outrageous pitching stats put up in the 1880s and 1910s - unsure how they could be hitter's eras

[RuthMayBond]

the mound was pushed back beginning in 1893 - did that change anything

Not right away, but hitting cooled off after 1894

<outrageous pitching stats put up in the 1880s and 1910s - unsure how they could be hitter's eras>

You mean like a league ERA of 6.08 in 1887, and that's just EARNED runs.
And 1911 and 1912 weren't bad. I basically start an era when the trend starts to reverse itself. I just haven't evaluated year-by-year

[Brian McKenna]

Not right away, but hitting cooled off after 1894

<outrageous pitching stats put up in the 1880s and 1910s - unsure how they could be hitter's eras>

You mean like a league ERA of 6.08 in 1887, and that's just EARNED runs.
And 1911 and 1912 weren't bad. I basically start an era when the trend starts to reverse itself. I just haven't evaluated year-by-year

yeah, i see what you're saying - i't hard to flat out classify a year - but it is hard to see incredible pitching numbers put up by hoss radbourne and a host of others and later mathewson, alexander, johnson and others during the teens and consider them hitter's eras - if they were actually hitter's eras - then those men must have come from mt. olympus

[Ubiquitous]

The 50's wasn't a pitchers era nor the first part of the 60's.
Nor would I call anything pre 1900's as a pitchers era. Way too primitive of a game.

[85cards]

1900-1919 pitchers
1920-1940 hitters
1941-1960 average
1961-1968 pitchers
1969-1993 average
1994-2004 hitters
2005-????

[RuthMayBond]

1900-1919 pitchers
1920-1940 hitters
1941-1960 average
1961-1968 pitchers
1969-1993 average
1994-2004 hitters
2005-????

Both 1943 and 1950 were average? 1901 was pitcher but 1943 was average?

[538280]

outrageous pitching stats put up in the 1880s and 1910s - unsure how they could be hitter's eras

In the 1870s and 1880s most teams didn't have more than three to five pitchers (some had only one), and that caused the out of this world IP totals. That doesn't mean the pitchers were successful though. They pitched lots of innings, but not at a high level of effectiveness. Of course, until the 1890s it is completely unclear how good the pitchers were because they often pitched underhand and were asked to put the ball where the hitters wanted it. Defense back then was probably like 75% fielding and 25% pitching as opposed to the other way around today.

[plask_stirlac]

Just off my head. Maybe a little off.
1870s-1890 Pitching
1891-1904 Hitting
1908-1919 Pitching
1920-1941 Hitting
WWII - Pitching?
1946-1962 Hitting
1963-1986 Pitching... seriously. Definitely the 70's.
1987 Hitting, with good pitching
1988-1992 Pitching
1993-present Hitting

[Brian McKenna]

bill james analysis:

1876-77 normal era
1878-80 pitcher era (slightly weighted as such)
1881-86 normal or transition era
1887-97 hitters era (heavily weighted)
1898-02 normal or transitional era
1903-19 pitchers era (heavily weighted)
1920-28 transition era
1929-39 hitters era (moderately weighted)
1940-62 normal era
1963-72 pitchers era (moderately weighted)
1973-93 normal era
1994-05 hitters era (moderately weighted)

[leecemark]

--Plus it wouldn't make sense to call only one era a hitters era with the rest nuetral or pitchers. The 20s favored average over power, but was just as offensive. BAs from the 20s/30s need to be taken with the same dose of salt as HR totals form the 90s/present.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

--Plus it wouldn't make sense to call only one era a hitters era with the rest nuetral or pitchers. The 20s favored average over power, but was just as offensive. BAs from the 20s/30s need to be taken with the same dose of salt as HR totals form the 90s/present.

Go light on the salt on the 1920s. One of the reasons for much of the high scoring was hitters going to the plate with one thought in mind, make contact, hitters shortening up on the bat with two strikes. It's not all that hitters had their way much of it had to do with it being contact baseball at the time.

I don't dismiss the changes in 1920, the ball, banning trick deliveries and replacing dirty scuffed up balls with new clean balls.