Manager Connie Mack Shows Pitchers The New Baseball To Be Used For The 1931 Season
Connie Shows His Men How The New Ball Works
Fort Myers, Fla: Connie Mack, veteran chief of the Philadelphia Athletics explains the new ball to Walberg, Grove, Rommel and Shores as spring training gets under way here. 3/5/1931 photo International Newsreel
With a new lively baseball introduced after 1920, it was no surprise that balls started to travel further. But as the 1920s progressed and hitters kept hitting more and more home runs, baseball writers, fans and those within the game felt that the hitters had achieved too much of an advantage. So after a decade of increasing run production, the National and American Leagues made the decision to try and curb the scoring by changing to a new baseball.
Big Numbers
In 1930 Hack Wilson of the Chicago Cubs established a new N.L. home run record with 56 while driving in 191 runs. And Babe Ruth smacked 49 homers to lead the American League, three years after he set the A.L. record of 60 home runs.
During the 1930 season among the 16 major league teams, ten players hit 35 or more homers. In 1929 six players hit 35 or more homers. The only other time that more than two players ever hit 35 or more homers in a season was in 1922, when four players accomplished the feat.
Of course the most amazing statistic comes from Babe Ruth.
Ruth was always one of the players to hit 35 or more home runs every year from 1920-1930 with the exception of 1925 when he was ill for a large part of the season and hit only 25 home runs in 98 games.
For the 1931 season the National League would introduce a new baseball manufactured by Spalding that would have an extra thick hide (2-100ths of an inch). The stitching of the ball which used to lie flat, would now be raised to give the pitcher a better grip. The American League ball made by Reach would keep the horsehide cover the same weight, but have thicker stitching.
Lefty Grove said upon examining the new baseball, “maybe the pitchers will be able to do something with this ball, but it looks the same to me.”
A couple of weeks after using the new ball, Grove had a different opinion, “My fingers are short. The raised seams will give me a better chance to grip the ball. The new ball ought to help me create a fanning record.”
1930 vs. 1931
So did the new baseball aid pitchers and cut down the sluggers?
The numbers would say yes, with the National League and its thicker ball having a much bigger impact on hitting than in the American League.
In 1930 American League teams hit a total of 673 homers and batted .288. Pitchers combined for a 4.65 ERA.
In 1931 A.L. the numbers dipped to 576 home runs and a .279 batting average. Pitchers had an ERA of 4.38.
For 1930 the National League pounded out 892 home runs and hit .303. Pitchers ERA was an embarrassing 4.97.
1931 saw National League home runs plummet to 493 with batting averages sinking to .277. Pitchers ERA went down more than a full run to 3.86.
The new baseball had no real effect on 36-year-old Babe Ruth. The Sultan of Swat hit 46 home runs with 162 RBI’s posting a .373 batting average.
On the other hand in 1931 Hack Wilson missed 42 games and hit only 13 home runs and batted just .261.
And Lefty Grove, who first said he “couldn’t really see a difference in the new baseball.” had his best season ever.
Grove led the American League in strikeouts with 175 and posted an incredible 31-4 record with a 2.06 ERA. The Athletics won the pennant with a 107-45-1 record but lost the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals four games to three.
