re: These new MLB rules have Made Baseball Great Again!!!!!

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Did the dead ball era limit home runs only or did it limit batters from putting the bat in the ball all together?

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The ball didn't fly off the bat in the deadball era. The best hitters were those who, to steal a famous quote, hit it where they ain't. The ballparks were also very large and the balls would also get dirty and hard to see from the box, as they weren't replaced for damn near anything but losing them in the stands.

There's no doubt the pitching wasn't as good, and there were also some dudes who could smack it (Tris Speaker was said to hit absolute laser line drives).

All that changed in about 1919.