It was called the "Dead Ball Era," a period in baseball when pitching dominated the game. Rather than going for the long ball, batters of the day would try to squeeze out runs by bunting, stealing and punching out base hits. On the mound, the spitball and other trick pitches were often employed and ERA's of 3.00 or less were quite normal.

Large concrete and steel ballparks, which often held crowds of 30,000 or more, were built to replace the old wooden structures, as the game got more and more popular (and profitable), annual attendance rose from 4.7 million in 1903 to over 10 million in 1911. Players salaries also got fatter, but not as fat as the owner's bank accounts. In 1910 the average big league baseball player made $2,500 per year, with a few stars getting as much as $12,000.

In the A.L. the leading offensive star of the dead ball era was Ty Cobb, who stole 765 bases from 1905 to 1919 while capturing 10 batting titles, and hitting .364. His counterpart in the N.L. was Honus Wagner who won eight batting titles and stole 639 bases from 1900 to 1917. Other great offensive stars of the day were, Tris Speaker, Nap Lajole, Eddie Collins, Sam Crawford and Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Ty Cobb

Honus Wagner

Eddie Collins

Among the great pitchers of this era were such immortals as Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Eddie Plank and spitball artist Ed Walsh.

Cy Young

Eddie Plank

During the first two decades of the twentieth century the top National League clubs were John McGraw's New York Giants, who bagged six pennants and the Chicago Cubs, who won seven. In the American League, Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics walked off with seven pennants, the Boston Red Sox won five, and Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers took home three.

1911 Philadelphia Athletics

Baseball attendance in the A.L. and N.L. dropped to around 5 million per year in 1914 and 1915 when the well financed Federal League burst onto the scene. After the demise of the F.L., the two leagues had almost gotten back on their feet when World War One came along. Many players went into the service resulting in depleted rosters and a shortened playing schedule in 1918 and 1919. Attendance hit a low of 3 million in 1918, but rebounded to 6.5 million in 1919.

1918 Boston Red Sox

In 1918 the Boston Red Sox unwittingly helped to create a baseball legend. In order to help fill the holes in their lineup which had been caused by the war, Boston manager Ed Barrow was forced to put pitching ace Babe Ruth in the outfield between starts... and it changed baseball forever. That year he hit .300 and had 66 RBI (third best in the A.L.), the following year he belted a record 29 homers and his career as a pitcher was over.