We are now concluding the most prolific season for home runs in all baseball history — even if we are not crowning a new home run king. Arguments have been made that if Mike Stanton surpassed Babe Ruth’s 60, or Roger Maris’s 61, we could toss aside arithmetic, logic, and history while declaring him the new record holder. Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Barry Bonds all hit more than whatever Stanton will have hit by the time you read this — but what about this, and what about that, some will cluck. At least Aaron Judge unarguably surpassed McGwire’s rookie record of 49 homers.
Context is all when it comes to baseball statistics. In his big-league career Ruth never faced a black pitcher, played at night, or faced the demon relievers of the modern period; only rarely did a pitcher throw a pitch his way at 95 miles per hour. Maris had eight more games in his season, played against two expansion pitching staffs, etc. The arguments are familiar.
They were familiar even before the advent of the lively ball in 1920. When Ruth hit his 26th homer in 1919 he was widely believed to have set a new record, surpassing the mark set by Washington’s Buck Freeman in 1899. Then, some figure filbert dusted off Ned Williamson’s home-run total of 1884: 27, though Freeman’s mark of only 15 years later was termed the “modern record.” Ruth blasted by this ancient worthy, clouting 29 homers by year’s end. Next year he would be sold to the Yankees, and the rest you know.
But what about Williamson? How did a third baseman who hit 2 homers in 1883 and 3 in 1885 hit 27 in the year in between? It was his home grounds, Chicago’s new Lake Front Park, pictured above and, more revealingly of its dimensions, below (reminds one of the Polo Grounds, doesn’t it?).
In 1883 Williamson may have hit only 2 homers but he led the league with 49 two-baggers, as balls hit over the left-field fence (186 feet in 1883, 180 in 1884 — the shortest distance ever in a major-league park) were ruled ground-rule doubles. In 1884 these same hits were ruled home runs! For 1885 Chicago opened a new ballpark.
In the article accompanying the Harper’s Weekly image above, it was noted that: “Surmounting the grand stand is a row of eighteen private boxes, cozily draped with curtains to keep out wind and sun, and furnished with comfort able arm-chairs. By the use of the telephone and gong President [Albert Goodwill] Spalding can conduct all the preliminary details of the game without leaving his private box.”
Home Run Heaven was originally published in Our Game on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.