Baseball In The 1920's

Babe Ruth tops this list. In 1920, he was traded to the New York Yankees from the Boston Red Sox where he was a pitcher. After this trade, the Boston Red Sox did not win another World Series until 2004, the so called Curse of the Bambino. Babe Ruth is the most legendary name in all of sports, even today. He hit 60 home runs in a season that is much shorter than today. Ty Cobb, the notoriously racist star of the Detroit Tigers played during this time. Cy Young, the pitcher whose name is now used for the award given to the best pitcher in each league every year. With Lou Gehrig and Joe Dimaggio teamed up with Babe Ruth, the Yankees demonstrated their dominance that would last the team nearly five decades. They team up to become the legendary Bronx Bombers that culminates in their 1927 World Series sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Baseball Of The 1920s

The White Sox scandal of 1919 starts off what looked to be a tumultuous decade for the sport. But it becomes the stuff of legends with the rise of superstars adored by thousands of fans. Babe Ruth becomes the most well paid athlete of the time with a $80,000 a year salary. Baseball represents the booming economy of the US at the time and contributes to the culture of the decade known as the Roaring Twenties. But the sport is still segregated and the Negro leagues see some of baseball’s best fail to make a dent in the earnings of Major League Baseball.

Baseball 1920

Babe Ruth hits 54 home runs and drives in 137 runs in his first year as a Yankee and quickly becomes a legend of the New York Yankees. The best home run hitter in the National League manages just 15 home runs demonstrating the game’s style shift that would go from swinging for singles and solid base running to swinging for the fences. The high batting average of the year goes to George Sisler, the star first baseman of the St. Louis Browns. The Cleveland Indians and the Brooklyn Robins manage to win the pennant, however the New York Yankees are surging and starting to show that they will be the team to beat this decade. The pitchers of this time start and finish games with regularity and pitch with limited rest, thus the pitcher with the most wins (31), is Jim Bagby, a feat that could not be accomplished in today’s game with the extreme pressure today’s pitchers put on their body.