01-14-2009, 08:32 PM
<!--quoteo(post=11591:date=Jan 14 2009, 04:43 PM:name=bz)-->QUOTE (bz @ Jan 14 2009, 04:43 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->The NL earned run average takes a nosedive starting in 1962. Can anyone give reason for this? Really good pitching? Really bad hitting? Lack of talent?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm pretty sure they increased the strike zone, from the shoulders to the bottom of the knees. This was, I believe, in response to Maris breaking the HR record the year before (along with a general onslaught of huge HR totals...Mantle hit 54, the Yanks set the all-time team record with 240, nobodies like Norm Cash and Jim Gentile poked 45 or so, etc.).
There were also, I think, other changes. Mounds had never really been monitored, and certain ones (like in Dodger stadium) were said to have been increased in the '60's to crazy heights. There was also a trend towards vast pitcher parks being built at exactly that time: Dodger Stadium opened around '61 or so, Candlestick was not friendly to hitters, Busch was a pitcher's park...even the 2 expansion teams (Mets, Astros) constructed 2 of the most extreme pitcher-friendly parks in history, Shea and the Astrodome. These were all NL parks.
And perhaps it was also just one of those "chance" things that the NL was absurdly stocked with mind-blowing pitching talent in the mid-60's: Koufax, Drysdale, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, etc., with Tom Seaver, Fergie Jenkins, Steve Carlton joining the league right when Koufax retired.
All that added up to severely depressed hitting, which culminated in the 1968 season, which was so ridiculous that they finally changed the rules before the '69 season.
I'm pretty sure they increased the strike zone, from the shoulders to the bottom of the knees. This was, I believe, in response to Maris breaking the HR record the year before (along with a general onslaught of huge HR totals...Mantle hit 54, the Yanks set the all-time team record with 240, nobodies like Norm Cash and Jim Gentile poked 45 or so, etc.).
There were also, I think, other changes. Mounds had never really been monitored, and certain ones (like in Dodger stadium) were said to have been increased in the '60's to crazy heights. There was also a trend towards vast pitcher parks being built at exactly that time: Dodger Stadium opened around '61 or so, Candlestick was not friendly to hitters, Busch was a pitcher's park...even the 2 expansion teams (Mets, Astros) constructed 2 of the most extreme pitcher-friendly parks in history, Shea and the Astrodome. These were all NL parks.
And perhaps it was also just one of those "chance" things that the NL was absurdly stocked with mind-blowing pitching talent in the mid-60's: Koufax, Drysdale, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, etc., with Tom Seaver, Fergie Jenkins, Steve Carlton joining the league right when Koufax retired.
All that added up to severely depressed hitting, which culminated in the 1968 season, which was so ridiculous that they finally changed the rules before the '69 season.
There's nothing better than to realize that the good things about youth don't end with youth itself. It's a matter of realizing that life can be renewed every day you get out of bed without baggage. It's tough to get there, but it's better than the dark thoughts. -Lance