Over at The Book Blog, Tom Tango has linked to a recent Bill James post in which he classifies and labels the different eras in baseball history. Despite attempting to systematically find dividing lines throughout the years, it’s obviously somewhat subjective However, I think he gets the year divisions quite right with this:
Era 1 (The Pioneer Era), 1871-1892
Era 2 (The Spitball Era), 1893-1919
Era 3 (The Landis Era), 1920-1946
Era 4 (The Baby Boomers Era), 1947-1968
Era 5 (The Artifical Turf Era), 1969-1992
Era 6 (The Camden Yards Era), 1993-2012
I might suggest that Era 6 needs an earlier cut off date, but as Tango suggests:
The SO rate has been insane for the last few years (since 2009 I think), leading to changes in run scoring, and in a year or three, we may retroactively change the eras, so that a new era started in 2009.
Anyway, as much as I like the years by which things are being divided here, I absolutely hate the names given to most of the eras. The Baby Boomers Era? How many actual baby boomers would’ve played at that time considering the oldest “baby boomer” would have been in his early twenties at the end of this era? I guess I can understand the Artificial Turf Era being a thing, but I don’t think it affected the game as much as it might be given credit for, and the Camden Yards Era implies that somehow the shift to more retro stadiums increased home run rates. I think I’d beg to differ with that.
I understand that James is attempting to get away with the more traditional names assigned to eras: Dead Ball, Live Ball, Integration, Expansion. However, surely we can come up with some better names. Feel free to have at it in the comments section. Here are mine:
Era 1 (The Beginnings Era), 1871-1892
Era 2 (The Dirty Ball Era), 1893-1919
Era 3 (The Racist Era), 1920-1946
Era 4 (The Even Playing Field Era), 1947-1968
Era 5 (The Moustache Era), 1969-1992
Era 6 (The Juiced Era), 1993-2012
Era 1 (The Opium Era) 1871-1892
Era 2 (The Gambling Era) 1983-1919
Era 3 (The Whiskey Era) 1920-1946
Era 4 (The Cortisone Era) 1947-1968
Era 5 (The Cocaine Era) 1969-1992
Era 6 (The Misremember Era) 1993-2012
No Greenie era? Or is that pretty much from ’47 on?
47-68 could certainly be the Greenie era.
Era 1 (The Beaver-Shooting Era) 1871-2012
Era 1: The Roaring Radbourns
Era 2: The Progressive Pitching Era
Era 3: The Jim Crow Hop Era
Era 4: The High Mounded, High Minded Era
Era 5: The Fashion Victim Era
Era 6: The Expansionary Monetary Policy Era
Era 1 (The Frontier Era), 1871-1892
Era 2 (The Homerless Era), 1893-1919
Era 3 (The Offence Era), 1920-1946
Era 4 (The Elvis Era), 1947-1968
Era 5 (The Nolan Ryan Era), 1969-1992
Era 6 (The Money Era), 1993-2012
Sorry, I’m not good at this. This is hard.
2012: Young douchebags with mullets and mohawks Era.
I would assume he named the baby boomer era after the fans growing up during that time more than the players who were active. Just how i saw it, hope I don’t come off as a douche