Major League Changes Over Time

Major League Baseball has many changes over the last 100 years. Many are game changing rules, and the rest are changes that do not amount to much. Some changes to the game consist of rule changes, defensive arrangements, and hitting styles.

Baseball back in the day was not very recognized as it is now. Players would do different things during and after a season. During the offseason, players had to pick up a hobby to do. One of those players to pick up a hobby was Pete Rose. He started gambling and betting on games he was not involved with. This is a reason he did not get in the Hall of Fame (Pratt). A normal contract for one year in the early 1900s was about $70,000 (Ward). When World War One and World War Two was on the horizon, many players got drafted to go fight. Other players thought it was a good idea to go fight for our country and just retire early from Major League Baseball. In early 1900s, there was no such thing as steroids, there forth; no players were ever getting into any sort of trouble. With no steroids even thought about, there was not a lot of power hitting in games (Pratt).

Every Major League game, until the 1920s, was played during the day. At this time, huge stadium lights were not even made or thought about. With every game being played during the day that means during the school year, little kids could not attend the games until the summer. Almost every game started and ended at the same time. The average time of a game was about two hours long. There was no instant replay or any sort of manger challenges and that is why the time of game was not long (Ward).

When baseball got to the 1900s, the rule changes really started to pile on. Early in the 1900s, when you were up to bat, you got four strikes. This ...

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...top players from taking them. Every season that went by after that rule of the drugs getting banned, players were consistently getting fined and suspended because they would not obey the rules. In the year of 2005, Major League Baseball made it a rule that they could legally drug test the players whenever they feel the need they have to. This random testing put a decrease to the amount of suspensions given out over the next nine years. There are still players getting in trouble for steroids, but not as often as it was in the early 2000s.

Baseball has changed drastically over the last century. Major League coaches have revolutionized the idea of the defensive shift, major game changing rules have been created, and how the era of steroids is ongoing year by year. Overall, baseball has made many changes through history and will continue to keep making these changes.