We once had a 'dead ball' in spacious stadiums, we now have a rapid ball in smaller ballparks.

During the 'dead ball' era players played without gloves or with a garden variety glove with no padding at all. And, of course, no radio or television revenues to inflate players salaries.

The years from 1880s to 1920, had more diversity in the game itself - hitting and pitching balanced each-other, and running the bases ruled the roost. This era had some of the greatest base stealers - Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Frank Chance and Wee Willie Keeler.

Baseball had no rivals for sports' page ink because there was no pro football, basketball or hockey to speak of. Pennant races were heated affairs in the dead ball era. The spit-ball, name calling, spiking and tripping the opponents were the way to go during early baseball.

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Pennant Winners: New Century

The Pittsburgh Pirates of the already established National League won three pennants in a row, 1901-1903. The club was led by Hall of Famer Honus Wagner, with Ginger Beaumont and Kitty Bransfield supplying the RBI power. Their big name pitchers were Jack Chesbro, who was 28-6 in 1901, Decon Phillippe who went 20-9, 22-12 and 25-9 in the three pennant years and, Sam Leever, who posted a compelling 25-7 in 1903.

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National League Pennant Winners:

Note: Teams played at least 20 fewer games than our current Era.

1901 Pittsburgh Pirates 90-49... 1902 Pittsburgh Pirates 103-36... 1903 Pittsburgh Pirates 91-49... 1904 New York Giants 106-47... 1905 New York Giants 105-48... 1906 Chicago Cubs 116-36... 1907 Chicago Cubs 107-45... 1908 Chicago Cubs 99-55... 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates 110-42... 1910 Chicago Cubs 104-50... 1911 New York Giants 99-54... 1912 New York Giants 103-48... 1913 New York Giants 101-51

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The 1906 Chicago Cubs set a still unbroken record of the most wins in the regular season 116, and hold the major league record for the highest winning percentage - .763 pct. The Cubs featured the famous double-play trio of Joe Tinker to Johnny Evers to Frank Chance. Their pitching mound master was Mordecai 'Three Fingered' Brown, who was 26-6, 1.04 ERA in their record setting year of 1906. In '07, Mordecai was 20-6, 1.39 ERA and in 1908 29-9, 1.47 ERA - probably the best three years of pitching in history.

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American League Pennant Winners:

Note: The American League was established in 1901.

1901 Chicago White Sox 83-53... 1902 Philadelphia Athletics 83-53... 1903 Boston Red Sox 91-47... 1904 Boston Red Sox 95-59... 1905 Philadelphia Athletics 92-59... 1906 Chicago White Sox 93-58... 1907 Detroit Tigers 92-58... 1908 Detroit Tigers 90-63... 1909 Detroit Tigers 98-54... 1910 Philadelphia Athletics 102-48... 1911 Philadelphia Athletics 101-50... 1912 Boston Red Sox 105-47... 1913 Philadelphia Athletics 96-57

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1903-1904 Boston Red Sox were led by slugger Buck Freeman. In 1903 Freeman blasted 39 doubles, 20 triples, 13 home runs and collected 104 RBIs. And Chick Stahl, a fine defensive outfielder, who played from 1897-1906 and retired with a .305 career batting mark. The Red Sox had the best in pitching in the early 1900s. Hall of Fame pitching legend Cy Young was 28-9, 2.08 ERA in 1903 and posted a 26-16 mark, 1.94 ERA in 1904. Pitcher Bill Dinneen, although over-shadowed by Young, went 21-13 and 23-14 in the two pennant years. And JesseTannehill was 21-11 in 1904, while Tom Hughes was 20-7 in 1903.

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Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics won five AL pennants in in 13 years, including 3-of-4 years - 1910, 1911 and 1913. Hall of Famer Eddie Collins, Frank 'Home Run' Baker and Stuffy McInnis were Mack's leading players, while pitchers Chief Bender, Eddie Plank and Jack Coombs were the aces of the mound. Coombs was 31-9, 1.30 ERA in 1910.

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The 6-foot-3, 215-pound, Roger Connor was the leading power hitter of the 19th century. His 138 career home runs were the major league high-water mark until Babe Ruth eclipsed that record.

On September 10, 1881, Connor hit the first-ever bases loaded homer in major league history and hit three homers in one game on May 9, 1888 - no small feat during the 'dead ball era.'

In 1886 he led the league in triples for the second time with 20, was second with 107 RBIs, and hit a nice .355. The next season, 1887, he crashed 17 home runs but missed the home run title because Billy O'Brien of Washington hit 19. When the Giants won their first-ever pennant the next year, Connor hit 14 homers.

One of New York's most popular players, Connor earned one of the top salaries this era - $2,100 and, 'once upon a time' he crushed a 'homer so monstrous' that so impressed the crowd they took up a collection and brought him a gold watch.

A member of the Hall of Fame...

Roger Connor career stats: .317 BA, ,467 hits, 441 Ds, 233 Ts, 138 Hr, 1,620 Runs, 1,322 RBIs, 449 Ks, 1,002 Walks

He debuted with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1909 and hit .279, with 31 doubles, 13 triples, 3 Hr, 87 RBIs which helped the Pirates win the pennant. In World Series, batting second in the batting order rookie Dots Miller was 8-for-24, a .333 average, walked 4 times, scored 4 runs and had 4 RBIs and, he stole 3 bases to help the Pirates beat Detroit in the World Series, 4 games-to-3. And, rookie Dots Miller at second and legendary shortstop Honus Wagner formed one of the top double play combinations in this era.

In 1912, Miller lined 33 doubles, 12 triples, 4 Hr and again drove in 87 runs. He was traded to the Cardinals in 1914 and played there until 1919.

Dots Miller career numbers: .263 BA, 1,526 hits in 5.805 at bats in 1,589 games, 232 Ds, 108 Ts, 32 Hr, 711 Runs, 715 RBIs, 391 Walks, 454 Ks, and stole 177 bases and was caught just 30 times. Baseballhistorian.com - Archives - All Rights Reserved

At Cincinnati ... Oct. 15, 1892 - The home team closed the season with a victory, due chiefly to the wonderful pitching of Bumpus Jones, the Southern League pitcher, who kept Pittsburg from making a single hit. This was Jones' first appearance in League company, and this makes his feat against the hard-hitting Pittsburgs at this season of the year the more remarkable. The box score:

Cincinnati: AB. R. BH. P A. E.

Holiday cf, 4-1-23-0-0... Latham 3b, 3-1-1-1-3-0... McPhee 2b, 4-3-0-3-2-0... Brown'g rf, 4-1-1-1-0-0... Vaughn c, 4-1-1-4-0-0... Hoover lf, 4-1-0-0-1-0... Comiskey 1b, 4-1-3-13-1-0... Smith ss, 3-1-2-1-8-0... Jones p, 2-0-0-0-0-1... Total 32-7-10-27-14-1

Pittsburg: AB. R. BH. P. A. E.

Donovan rf, 2-1-0-1-0-0... Farrell 3b, 3-0-0-0-1-0... VanHalt'n cf... 4-0-0-1-0-1... Miller ss, 3-0-0-3-5-0... Beckley 1b, 3-0-0-9-1-0... E. Smith lf, 2-0-0-0-0-0... Mack c, 3-0-0-5-2-0... Bierbau'r 2b, 3-0-0-3-5-0... Baldwin p, 3-0-0-2-0-1... Total 26-1-0-24-14-2

Two Base Hit - Comiskey... Home Run - Smith

Time of Game: 1:18... Umpire McQuaid

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