Ground rule double=Home Run prior to 1930
 

When looking for a ruling on the Ground Rule Triple in a different thread, I came a across this weird paragraph.

Last paragraph

Basically it says that any batted ball that bounced out of bounds was called a Home Run any time prior to 1930.

That means that Babe Ruth, who played most of his career before 1930, got this extra caveat that modern players do not. Interesting.

Re: Ground rule double=Home Run prior to 1930
 

wouldn't the dead ball make it much more difficult to bounce one out, though?

Re: Ground rule double=Home Run prior to 1930
 

Most fences at the time were high enough that this wouldn't apply very often, but Yankee Stadium had a short RF porch that had a low wall, IIRC.

Of course Ruth also had Death Valley out in LF which took away plenty of home runs too, I'm sure.

I know Elias went back and adjusted Ruth's HR total for walk-off HRs - it used to be that a player was only given a single if the bases were loaded, a double if there was a man on second, and so on - could they have adjusted it for this too?

Re: Ground rule double=Home Run prior to 1930
 

Well modern day players got to use steroids and HGH so I think modern players still have a little advantage in that regard...

Re: Ground rule double=Home Run prior to 1930
 

[ QUOTE ]
That means that Babe Ruth, who played most of his career before 1930, got this extra caveat that modern players do not.

[/ QUOTE ]

There has been extensive research done on this. Nobody has found evidence that any of Ruth's homers were of this variety. It is known that Gehrig had at least one of these during the 1927 season (people forget Gehrig actually lead Ruth in homers into August that year).

Conversely, Ruth definitely lost home runs due to a pre-1930 rule, which stated the foul line continued infinitely, and a home run had to supposedly land fair, no matter where it went over the fence.

Re: Ground rule double=Home Run prior to 1930
 

It kind of makes sense. You hit the ball in play, and well enough that a fielder can't possibly get to it without the help of fans, and.... you have to stop at second base???