19th Century Era 1876-1900 : Disorganized, Drunkeness, Players frequently breaking contracts, Lack of competitive balance, Frequent rule changes. Dead Ball Era 1901-1920 : Pitching dominated the era, Altered balls allowed, Game fixing. Lively Ball Era 1920-41 : A series of events lead to a offensive dominated era. War Years 1941-45 : Due to World War Two, overall quality declined substancially with over 100 players included in war time duties. Integration Era 1946-60 : Due to integrating black players into the league, competitive balance much higher, runs increase despite home runs decreasing. Expansion Era 1961-76 : More teams enter the league, more divisions formed, offense diminished, the Designated rule enacted in the A.L. Free Agency Era 1977-93 : Players allowed to bargain for higher saleries with other teams, Artificial turf highly used, scoring through quality baserunning. Long Ball Era 1994-* : Extremely high saleries, Revenue sharing between players and clubs, Revenue sharing between large market clubs and small market clubs, Wild card teams in the playoffs, Scoring and home runs up drastically, Technology and year round training regiment maximized, Smaller ballparks, Most artificial fields replaced with grass, Competitive balance very high, Reported used of player enhancement drugs.
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