Defining Baseball's Era's

[Xanadu Dragon]

A while back ago, over a year (for sure), I pitched this question to a "panel of experts" - but, I never received an answer which was the end-all, be-all, solution.

The question is - - - assuming you subscribe to the definition of baseball "eras" as below:

19th Century Era 1876-1900
Dead Ball Era 1901-1919
Lively Ball Era 1920-1945
Postwar Era 1946-1960
Expansion Era 1961-1976
Modern Era 1977- ?

Where are we now? Is it still the "Modern Era"? Or, if not, what should be the cut-off for the Modern Era and what should the next "era" be called?

Best answer that I received was that we're now in the "Homerun Era" which started in 1994. The stats do back that up, but, I'm still not ready to run with it - for some reason.

Any thoughts?

[BuzzBuzzard]

Originally posted by Xanadu Dragon
Best answer that I received was that we're now in the "Homerun Era" which started in 1994. The stats do back that up, but, I'm still not ready to run with it - for some reason.

Any thoughts?

Right off the cuff, this is tough to disagree with. Although I would give it something more lively like, Big Bomb Era

[SmedIndy]

Originally posted by Xanadu Dragon
A while back ago, over a year (for sure), I pitched this question to a "panel of experts" - but, I never received an answer which was the end-all, be-all, solution.

The question is - - - assuming you subscribe to the definition of baseball "eras" as below:

19th Century Era 1876-1900
Dead Ball Era 1901-1919
Lively Ball Era 1920-1945
Postwar Era 1946-1960
Expansion Era 1961-1976
Modern Era 1977- ?

Where are we now? Is it still the "Modern Era"? Or, if not, what should be the cut-off for the Modern Era and what should the next "era" be called?

Best answer that I received was that we're now in the "Homerun Era" which started in 1994. The stats do back that up, but, I'm still not ready to run with it - for some reason.

Any thoughts?

I think you need to split it further:

1871-75 - NA Era
1876-82 - First NL Era
1883-92 - NL / AA Era
1893-00 - NL Monopoly Era
1901-19 - Deadball Era
1920-26 - Ruth Era
1927-41 - Live Ball Era
1942-45 - WW2 Era
1946-61 - One Base At A Time Era
1962-68 - Era of the Pitcher
1969-86 - Post Expansion Era
1987-94 - Pre-Strike Offensive Era
1995 - - Post Strike Offensive Era

[Xanadu Dragon]

Smed - can you give us more on why you would do this and why each name was chosen/used?

[SmedIndy]

Well, let's see:

The 19th century seems to fall where leagues came into being and dropped out, altering the game. I think 1893 over 1892 was because of the pitching distance change.

I think we need to try and define when most teams started to hit homers. I thought 1926 was a good deliniation but others may have stronger opinions.

The one-base-at-a-time era was the late 40's and 50's when the game was deadly dull.

Obviously the era of the pitcher seemed to coincide with the expansion to 20 teams.

Post-expansion baseball was relatively the same until 1987, when the first home run surge occurred. Then after the strike, a greater offensive bonanza happened.

[LeGrandOrange]

Should 1995-present have something pertaining to the globalization of the game, like the Global Era or something similar? I mean, the game was QUITE global before, of course Englishmen and Irishmen dominated the game during the early years, other various Europeans played too. We've had Cubans for awhile, Dominicans for some bit too, Puerto Ricans and Mexicans as well. And while this era is more global, we still haven't seen a Samoan since Tony Solaita. (I would LOVE to see a Samoan slugger in my lifetime, now that'd be sweet...I bet he'd be fun to watch.)
Still, the game is becoming even more globalized then the early years. Hideo Nomo started the trend of Japanese players coming over, Ichiro made more wanna come over, Chan Ho Park's ushered in Koreans, the Hispanic influence even more greater then it has been in previous years, etc. I'm still waiting for that Nigerian baseballer, but I think the Expos had one in their minor league system?
This has been what's made baseball great lately, seeing all these players from exotic countries playing.
Of course, if all else fails, just call it the Long Ball Era.

[gyb13]

Originally posted by SmedIndy
The one-base-at-a-time era was the late 40's and 50's when the game was deadly dull.

How about "station to station era"

[gyb13]

Originally posted by LeGrandOrange
Should 1995-present have something pertaining to the globalization of the game, like the Global Era or something similar?

Anyone know the %age of foreign-born baseball players today and in the past?

[SmedIndy]

Originally posted by gyb13


How about "station to station era"

Maybe that would work.




But then wouldn't we have to name some of the other eras after Bowie albums too?

The Hunky Dory Era
The Scary Monsters Era
The Man Who Sold The World Era
The Tin Machine II Era

[Xanadu Dragon]

Ya'll are as much help as the panel of experts was........................

[SmedIndy]

At least my first stab at it was trying to be historical. It's late in the day and I just got clever (or stupid, you know there's a fine line...)

I really do think that pinning eras with a broad swath on baseball at times when the game can change quickly isn't the best way to look at it.

[Skip]

Isnt this the second recent thready thats gone off on a Bowie tangent? I'm all for that by the way, but if there's some secret cult thing going on here, I'd like to know about it.

[SmedIndy]

Mea cupla on both, I think. Sometimes I get into a silly mood where everything is a song cue or album title. And Bowie's pretty easy to remember.

[Skip]

But Smed , whats a good midwestern boy like you doing as a Bowie fan in the first place?

Before you shoot me down XD, I'll drop it here.

[sweaver]

The problem with answering your question, XD, is that it is hard to define an era while in the middle of it. These things are best left to the historians, after the fact.

I might call 1972-present the Labor War Era, or The Years of Our Discontent.