Home Run hitting on steroids: 1920s?

If we use the "fill in the blank" on steroids expression, then let's look at the numbers.

In 1884 Ned Williamson hit 27 home runs (HR).  It's pretty well accepted that the record is tainted because the fences in his home park had been moved very close to home plate.  He hit 25 of 27 at home.  Plus 1884 is before the modern rules had been established.

For purposes of this topic, I'll consider the modern HR record to have been set at 24 in 1915 by Gavvy Cravath who had led the National League (NL) the previous two seasons with 19.

Along comes Babe Ruth who breaks both records in 1919 with 29 HR playing his final season for the Boston Red Sox.  The Babe hit only nine in his home Fenway Park.  Twenty-one years later the Red Sox brought in the right field fences ... after the rookie season of Ted Williams.

After joining the Yankees in 1920 and playing his first three season's home games in New York's Polo Grounds, Ruth twice smashes his own record with 54 (29 home, 25 road) and 59 (32/27), both more than double the old record of 24 set only five years earlier.  Ruth hit his famous 60 (28/32) in 1927 playing his home games in Yankee Stadium and out homering every other American League (AL) team as he had done in 1920.

While Ruth is playing like he's from another planet (You don't think ...?) he is not alone.  Including Ruth, the 1915 record of 24 HR was broken 43 times in the 1920s.

baseball-reference.com "Play Index" ad hoc query: For single seasons, From 1920 to 1929, (requiring HR>=25), sorted by greatest Home Runs

Rk	Player	HR	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Babe Ruth	60	1927	32	NYY	AL	151	691	540	158	192	29	8	164	137		89	0	14			7	6	.356	.486	.772	1.258	*97
2	Babe Ruth	59	1921	26	NYY	AL	152	693	540	177	204	44	16	171	145		81	4	4			17	13	.378	.512	.846	1.359	*78/13
3	Babe Ruth	54	1928	33	NYY	AL	154	684	536	163	173	29	8	142	137		87	3	8			4	5	.323	.463	.709	1.172	*97
4	Babe Ruth	54	1920	25	NYY	AL	142	616	458	158	172	36	9	137	150		80	3	5			14	14	.376	.532	.847	1.379	*978/31
5	Lou Gehrig	47	1927	24	NYY	AL	155	717	584	149	218	52	18	175	109		84	3	21			10	8	.373	.474	.765	1.240	*3
6	Babe Ruth	47	1926	31	NYY	AL	152	652	495	139	184	30	5	146	144		76	3	10			11	9	.372	.516	.737	1.253	*79/3
7	Babe Ruth	46	1929	34	NYY	AL	135	587	499	121	172	26	6	154	72		60	3	13			5	3	.345	.430	.697	1.128	*97
8	Babe Ruth	46	1924	29	NYY	AL	153	681	529	143	200	39	7	121	142		81	4	6			9	13	.378	.513	.739	1.252	*97/8
9	Chuck Klein	43	1929	24	PHI	NL	149	679	616	126	219	45	6	145	54		61	0	9			5		.356	.407	.657	1.065	*98
10	Mel Ott	42	1929	20	NYG	NL	150	675	545	138	179	37	2	151	113		38	6	10			6		.328	.449	.635	1.084	*9/84
11	Rogers Hornsby	42	1922	26	STL	NL	154	704	623	141	250	46	14	152	65		50	1	15			17	12	.401	.459	.722	1.181	*4
12	Babe Ruth	41	1923	28	NYY	AL	152	697	522	151	205	45	13	131	170		93	4	3			17	21	.393	.545	.764	1.309	97/83
13	Cy Williams	41	1923	35	PHI	NL	136	604	535	98	157	22	3	114	59		57	7	3			11	10	.293	.371	.576	.947	*8
14	Rogers Hornsby	39	1929	33	CHC	NL	156	712	602	156	229	47	8	149	87		65	1	22			2		.380	.459	.679	1.139	*4
15	Hack Wilson	39	1929	29	CHC	NL	150	670	574	135	198	30	5	159	78		83	2	16			3		.345	.425	.618	1.044	*8
16	Rogers Hornsby	39	1925	29	STL	NL	138	606	504	133	203	41	10	143	83		39	2	16			5	3	.403	.489	.756	1.245	*4
17	Ken Williams	39	1922	32	SLB	AL	153	678	585	128	194	34	11	155	74		31	7	12			37	20	.332	.413	.627	1.040	*78
18	Tillie Walker	37	1922	34	PHA	AL	153	643	565	111	160	31	4	99	61		67	4	15			4	3	.283	.357	.549	.906	*78
19	Lou Gehrig	35	1929	26	NYY	AL	154	694	553	127	166	32	10	126	122		68	5	12			4	3	.300	.431	.584	1.015	*3
20	Babe Ruth	35	1922	27	NYY	AL	110	496	406	94	128	24	8	99	84		80	1	4			2	5	.315	.434	.672	1.106	*79/3
21	Al Simmons	34	1929	27	PHA	AL	143	629	581	114	212	41	9	157	31		38	1	16			4	3	.365	.398	.642	1.040	*7
22	Jimmie Foxx	33	1929	21	PHA	AL	149	638	517	123	183	23	9	118	103		70	2	16			9	7	.354	.463	.625	1.088	*3/5
23	Bob Meusel	33	1925	28	NYY	AL	156	697	624	101	181	34	12	138	54		55	1	17			13	14	.290	.348	.542	.889	*795
24	Lefty O'Doul	32	1929	32	PHI	NL	154	732	638	152	254	35	6	122	76		19	4	13			2		.398	.465	.622	1.087	*79
25	Don Hurst	31	1929	23	PHI	NL	154	692	589	100	179	29	4	125	80		36	3	20			10		.304	.390	.525	.914	*3
Rk	Player	HR	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
26	Hack Wilson	31	1928	28	CHC	NL	145	623	520	89	163	32	9	120	77		94	2	24			4		.313	.404	.588	.992	*8
27	Jim Bottomley	31	1928	28	STL	NL	149	667	576	123	187	42	20	136	71		54	3	17			10		.325	.402	.628	1.030	*3
28	Hack Wilson	30	1927	27	CHC	NL	146	646	551	119	175	30	12	129	71		70	6	18			13		.318	.401	.579	.980	*8
29	Cy Williams	30	1927	39	PHI	NL	131	569	492	86	135	18	2	98	61		57	9	8			0		.274	.365	.502	.867	*9
30	Jim Bottomley	29	1929	29	STL	NL	146	645	560	108	176	31	12	137	70		54	1	17			3		.314	.391	.568	.959	*3
31	Chick Hafey	29	1929	26	STL	NL	134	574	517	101	175	47	9	125	45		42	2	8			7		.338	.394	.632	1.026	*7
32	Ken Williams	29	1923	33	SLB	AL	147	646	555	106	198	37	12	91	79		32	2	10			18	17	.357	.439	.623	1.062	*7
33	Chick Hafey	27	1928	25	STL	NL	138	584	520	101	175	46	6	111	40		53	2	22			8		.337	.386	.604	.990	*79
34	Lou Gehrig	27	1928	25	NYY	AL	154	677	562	139	210	47	13	142	95		69	4	16			4	11	.374	.467	.648	1.115	*3
35	Joe Hauser	27	1924	25	PHA	AL	149	633	562	97	162	31	8	115	56		52	5	11			7	5	.288	.358	.516	.874	*3
36	Jack Fournier	27	1924	34	BRO	NL	154	669	563	93	188	25	4	116	83		46	10	13			7	5	.334	.428	.536	.965	*3
37	Rogers Hornsby	26	1927	31	NYG	NL	155	684	568	133	205	32	9	125	86		38	4	26			9		.361	.448	.586	1.035	*4
38	Cy Williams	26	1922	34	PHI	NL	151	676	584	98	180	30	6	92	74		49	6	12			11	14	.308	.392	.514	.905	*8
39	Dale Alexander	25	1929	26	DET	AL	155	701	626	110	215	43	15	137	56		63	0	18			5	9	.343	.397	.580	.977	*3
40	Del Bissonette	25	1928	28	BRO	NL	155	668	587	90	188	30	13	106	70		75	4	8			5		.320	.396	.543	.940	*3
41	Ken Williams	25	1925	35	SLB	AL	102	462	411	83	136	31	5	105	37		14	3	11			10	5	.331	.390	.613	1.003	*7
42	Babe Ruth	25	1925	30	NYY	AL	98	426	359	61	104	12	2	66	59		68	2	6			2	4	.290	.393	.543	.936	*97
43	Rogers Hornsby	25	1924	28	STL	NL	143	642	536	121	227	43	14	94	89		32	2	13			5	12	.424	.507	.696	1.203	*4

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/4/2012.

Ruth's record of 60 has been broken seven times.

Rk	Player	HR	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Barry Bonds	73	2001	36	SFG	NL	153	664	476	129	156	32	2	137	177	35	93	9	0	2	5	13	3	.328	.515	.863	1.379	*7/D
2	Mark McGwire	70	1998	34	STL	NL	155	681	509	130	152	21	0	147	162	28	155	6	0	4	8	1	0	.299	.470	.752	1.222	*3
3	Sammy Sosa	66	1998	29	CHC	NL	159	722	643	134	198	20	0	158	73	14	171	1	0	5	20	18	9	.308	.377	.647	1.024	*9/8
4	Mark McGwire	65	1999	35	STL	NL	153	661	521	118	145	21	1	147	133	21	141	2	0	5	12	0	0	.278	.424	.697	1.120	*3
5	Sammy Sosa	64	2001	32	CHC	NL	160	711	577	146	189	34	5	160	116	37	153	6	0	12	6	0	2	.328	.437	.737	1.174	*9
6	Sammy Sosa	63	1999	30	CHC	NL	162	712	625	114	180	24	2	141	78	8	171	3	0	6	17	7	8	.288	.367	.635	1.002	*98
7	Roger Maris	61	1961	26	NYY	AL	161	698	590	132	159	16	4	141	94	0	67	7	0	7	16	0	0	.269	.372	.620	.993	*98

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/4/2012.

Six of those are during the modern steroid era, no pun or literary licence.  But that record would probably have been broken by now even without steroids and/or smaller parks.  If you penalize McGwire ten percent, he still breaks the record with 63 homers.  Is that so hard to accept for a guy who hit 49 as a rookie in 1987?  There are five percent more games than when Ruth played: 162 to 154.

The numbers in recent seasons are bloated but probably not that much more than other historic spikes.  Ruth hit 50 HR for the fourth and final time in 1928.  But from 1930 through 1938 50 HR was achieved four times by three other players.  1930 is only 15 years after the record had been set at 24.  Here are the 42 times when 50 HR were hit.  42 is one fewer than the number of times batters hit more than 24 in the 1920s.  Also consider that there are 87% more teams and players than before 1961: 30 teams to 16.  So we could reasonably expect milestones to be reached about twice as often.

Rk	Player	Year	HR	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Jose Bautista	2010	54	29	TOR	AL	161	683	569	109	148	35	3	124	100	2	116	10	0	4	10	9	2	.260	.378	.617	.995	*95/3D8
2	Alex Rodriguez	2007	54	31	NYY	AL	158	708	583	143	183	31	0	156	95	11	120	21	0	9	15	24	4	.314	.422	.645	1.067	*5/D
3	Prince Fielder	2007	50	23	MIL	NL	158	681	573	109	165	35	2	119	90	21	121	14	0	4	9	2	2	.288	.395	.618	1.013	*3/D
4	David Ortiz	2006	54	30	BOS	AL	151	686	558	115	160	29	2	137	119	23	117	4	0	5	12	1	0	.287	.413	.636	1.049	*D3
5	Ryan Howard	2006	58	26	PHI	NL	159	704	581	104	182	25	1	149	108	37	181	9	0	6	7	0	0	.313	.425	.659	1.084	*3
6	Andruw Jones	2005	51	28	ATL	NL	160	672	586	95	154	24	3	128	64	13	112	15	0	7	19	5	3	.263	.347	.575	.922	*8
7	Jim Thome	2002	52	31	CLE	AL	147	613	480	101	146	19	2	118	122	18	139	5	0	6	5	1	2	.304	.445	.677	1.122	*3D
8	Alex Rodriguez	2002	57	26	TEX	AL	162	725	624	125	187	27	2	142	87	12	122	10	0	4	14	9	4	.300	.392	.623	1.015	*6
9	Barry Bonds	2001	73	36	SFG	NL	153	664	476	129	156	32	2	137	177	35	93	9	0	2	5	13	3	.328	.515	.863	1.379	*7/D
10	Luis Gonzalez	2001	57	33	ARI	NL	162	728	609	128	198	36	7	142	100	24	83	14	0	5	14	1	1	.325	.429	.688	1.117	*7
11	Alex Rodriguez	2001	52	25	TEX	AL	162	732	632	133	201	34	1	135	75	6	131	16	0	9	17	18	3	.318	.399	.622	1.021	*6/D
12	Sammy Sosa	2001	64	32	CHC	NL	160	711	577	146	189	34	5	160	116	37	153	6	0	12	6	0	2	.328	.437	.737	1.174	*9
13	Sammy Sosa	2000	50	31	CHC	NL	156	705	604	106	193	38	1	138	91	19	168	2	0	8	12	7	4	.320	.406	.634	1.040	*9/8
14	Sammy Sosa	1999	63	30	CHC	NL	162	712	625	114	180	24	2	141	78	8	171	3	0	6	17	7	8	.288	.367	.635	1.002	*98
15	Mark McGwire	1999	65	35	STL	NL	153	661	521	118	145	21	1	147	133	21	141	2	0	5	12	0	0	.278	.424	.697	1.120	*3
16	Ken Griffey	1998	56	28	SEA	AL	161	720	633	120	180	33	3	146	76	11	121	7	0	4	14	20	5	.284	.365	.611	.977	*8/D379
17	Mark McGwire	1998	70	34	STL	NL	155	681	509	130	152	21	0	147	162	28	155	6	0	4	8	1	0	.299	.470	.752	1.222	*3
18	Greg Vaughn	1998	50	32	SDP	NL	158	661	573	112	156	28	4	119	79	6	121	5	0	4	7	11	4	.272	.363	.597	.960	*7/D
19	Sammy Sosa	1998	66	29	CHC	NL	159	722	643	134	198	20	0	158	73	14	171	1	0	5	20	18	9	.308	.377	.647	1.024	*9/8
20	Mark McGwire	1997	58	33	TOT	ML	156	657	540	86	148	27	0	123	101	16	159	9	0	7	9	3	0	.274	.393	.646	1.039	*3
21	Ken Griffey	1997	56	27	SEA	AL	157	704	608	125	185	34	3	147	76	23	121	8	0	12	12	15	4	.304	.382	.646	1.028	*8/D7
22	Mark McGwire	1996	52	32	OAK	AL	130	548	423	104	132	21	0	113	116	16	112	8	0	1	14	0	0	.312	.467	.730	1.198	*3D
23	Brady Anderson	1996	50	32	BAL	AL	149	687	579	117	172	37	5	110	76	1	106	22	6	4	11	21	8	.297	.396	.637	1.034	*8/D
24	Albert Belle	1995	50	28	CLE	AL	143	631	546	121	173	52	1	126	73	5	80	6	0	4	24	5	2	.317	.401	.690	1.091	*7/D
25	Cecil Fielder	1990	51	26	DET	AL	159	673	573	104	159	25	1	132	90	11	182	5	0	5	15	0	1	.277	.377	.592	.969	*3D
Rk	Player	Year	HR	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
26	George Foster	1977	52	28	CIN	NL	158	689	615	124	197	31	2	149	61	10	107	5	0	8	17	6	4	.320	.382	.631	1.013	*78
27	Willie Mays	1965	52	34	SFG	NL	157	638	558	118	177	21	3	112	76	16	71	0	2	2	11	9	4	.317	.398	.645	1.043	*8/97
28	Roger Maris	1961	61	26	NYY	AL	161	698	590	132	159	16	4	141	94	0	67	7	0	7	16	0	0	.269	.372	.620	.993	*98
29	Mickey Mantle	1961	54	29	NYY	AL	153	646	514	131	163	16	6	128	126	9	112	0	1	5	2	12	1	.317	.448	.687	1.135	*8
30	Mickey Mantle	1956	52	24	NYY	AL	150	652	533	132	188	22	5	130	112	6	99	2	1	4	4	10	1	.353	.464	.705	1.169	*8
31	Willie Mays	1955	51	24	NYG	NL	152	670	580	123	185	18	13	127	79	13	60	4	0	7	12	24	4	.319	.400	.659	1.059	*8
32	Ralph Kiner	1949	54	26	PIT	NL	152	667	549	116	170	19	5	127	117		61	1	0		10	6		.310	.432	.658	1.089	*7
33	Johnny Mize	1947	51	34	NYG	NL	154	664	586	137	177	26	2	138	74		42	4	0		6	2		.302	.384	.614	.998	*3
34	Ralph Kiner	1947	51	24	PIT	NL	152	666	565	118	177	23	4	127	98		81	2	1		12	1		.313	.417	.639	1.055	*7
35	Hank Greenberg	1938	58	27	DET	AL	155	681	556	144	175	23	4	146	119		92	3	3			7	5	.315	.438	.683	1.122	*3
36	Jimmie Foxx	1938	50	30	BOS	AL	149	685	565	139	197	33	9	175	119		76	0	1			5	4	.349	.462	.704	1.166	*3
37	Jimmie Foxx	1932	58	24	PHA	AL	154	702	585	151	213	33	9	169	116		96	0	0			3	7	.364	.469	.749	1.218	*35
38	Hack Wilson	1930	56	30	CHC	NL	155	709	585	146	208	35	6	191	105		84	1	18			3		.356	.454	.723	1.177	*8
39	Babe Ruth	1928	54	33	NYY	AL	154	684	536	163	173	29	8	142	137		87	3	8			4	5	.323	.463	.709	1.172	*97
40	Babe Ruth	1927	60	32	NYY	AL	151	691	540	158	192	29	8	164	137		89	0	14			7	6	.356	.486	.772	1.258	*97
41	Babe Ruth	1921	59	26	NYY	AL	152	693	540	177	204	44	16	171	145		81	4	4			17	13	.378	.512	.846	1.359	*78/13
42	Babe Ruth	1920	54	25	NYY	AL	142	616	458	158	172	36	9	137	150		80	3	5			14	14	.376	.532	.847	1.379	*978/31

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/4/2012.