1894 Sam Thompson

Was he ahead of his time or what? Not much of a fielder but what a DH. Are there others in the set like him? He may even have enough bat to overcome his defensive short comings. RF 3 +2 for me is bad.

1894 was a monster year for hitters. 6 of the top 24 single season batting averages in ATG are from that year. Go check em out.

Putting his stats in context, the 1894 Phillies had a team batting average of .350, and averaged 8.9 runs per game. All three starting outfielders cleared .400, as did their primary backup.

A number of major rules changes were put in place after the 1893 season that radically improved the game for hitters. Here's what happened, according to: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/rulechng.shtml

1893
Pitching distance increased from 50 feet to 60 feet 6 inches.
The pitching box was eliminated and a rubber slab 12 inches by 4 inches was substituted.
The pitcher was required to place his rear foot against the slab.

Before this, pitchers were just 50 feet away and could range around in the pitcher's box and fire the ball from any angle. Suddenly, they were more than 10 feet further away and tied to a pitching rubber. In the long run, pitchers learned to adjust (and we got the dead ball era) but in 1894, they we're just beginning to figure out how to pitch in a whole new way.

Hence the unreal hitting stats of 1894. Imagine if pitchers today had to learn to throw from 70 feet next season? The hitters would have a pretty good year in 2015....

I have seen that almanac page before. Even posted a link with comments in a thread a while back. Every time I read it though I have new questions. Usually no matter how strange the question someone here finds an answer so for example....

1894 Foul bunts were classified as strikes.

What were they before that? Just non pitches.

1901 Catchers were compelled to remain continuously under the bat.

Assume this means prior to that they were allowed to stand/sit back and catch the ball on a bounce. Would think that would make it very difficult to throw out a baserunner. Does that make stolen base stats prior to this less legitimate? I mean if catchers were not squatting behind the batter to receive the ball in timely manner and make a quick throw how could any runner fail to successfully steal second?

1910 The cork center was added to the official baseball.

Was this considered the end of the dead ball era? Or was there a later change to the ball construction that brought it to an end? I do not see any later references to the ball in the rules.