Fred Luderus

[Blackout]

how come nobody mentions this guy when it came to quality home run hitters in the dead ball era?

[Imapotato]

Because of Baker Bowl, and the fact that Cy Williams who came a bit after him, was much better

[Blackout]

but it still takes alot of power to hit those spitballs out of there

[Ubiquitous]

Not every single pitch was a spitball, shineball, or emery ball. Luderus was a high fastball hitter. Fred's power is directly linked to the stadium and to the ball used. Fortunately for us we have splits for one of his years. 1911 the year the brand new "livelier" ball was used for the first time in a whole season. He hit 16 homers, 15 at home and one homer on the road. In 1913 51 of the 73 homers hit by Phillies were at home.

[Blackout]

how far was the demensions of the Baker Bowl, and how do you know he didn't hit alot of those further than just right by the fence?

[Ubiquitous]

15-1! It doesn't matter if he hit it a mile, 15-1 is telling us there are some severe advantages playing at home.

I totally forgot that I have Luderus' complete home/away homr run splits.
1911: 15-1
1912: 8-2
1913: 12-6
1914: 8-4
1915: 5-2

After that he hit 5 a year (2-3) twice and then finishes up his career with two seasons in which all his homers are hit at home. 75% of all his homers were hit at home.

[KCGHOST]

Yep, dimensions don't really matter or how far they hit it. Coors Field is absolutely huge and the ball can't get out of there fast enough.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Luderus played a part in the Black Sox trial, taking the side of Joe Jackson on the witness stand. He brought up Joe's .375 batting average and said he thought Joe did all that was expected of him. When questioned about a diving catch that Joe failed to make he said catches of that nature were one of the most difficult for an outfielder.