Tavish wrote:The fences and the balls are only part of the difference. The mindset was completely different. Probably the easiest way to put it into perspective was if you imagine an entire league filled with players who tried to hit the ball like Ichiro. No one went to the plate with the idea of hitting a homerun. You choked up on the bat, tried to hit it through the hole or down the line or tried to catch the infield off-guard with well placed bunts. People didn't strike out as much, not so much because of lesser pitching, but because it was actually considered a bad thing to strike out back then. If you wanted to stay in the league you would find a way to make contact and put pressure on the defense.
Ruth and most of pitcher during that era also pitched 8 or 9 innings each game. In fact, they sometimes pitched the rest of the game if it went into extra innings.