A Great Day for Baseball and A Reason There are Not More Kellogg's Cards of Pitchers

On this day in 1968 baseball decide to officially shrink the strike zone to allow for more hitting.  That wasn't enough so they lowered the mound from 15 inches to 10 inches.  Batters certainly benefitted from these changes in 1969.  It also probably helped that there were four expansion teams in 1969.

In 1968 Pete Rose led the league with a .335 batting average.  Carl Yastrzemski led the A.L with a .301 average.  Really!  He won by 11 points.  Only six players managed to hit .300 in both leagues.

With the changes in 1969 24 players hit .300.

In 1968 Only Harmon Killebrew (44) had more than 36 home runs.  In fact only 13 players managed to hit at least 25 home runs.

In 1969 Killebrew led the way again with 49 homers.  Nine more players had at least 37 homers and 30 players hit at least 25 home runs.

In 1968 Ken Harrelson led baseball with 109 RBIs.  Only two other players topped 100 in this category.

In 1969 14 players topped 100 RBIs including 10 with 110 or more.  Harmon Killebrew led the way with 140 RBIs.

Glenn Beckert led baseball in runs scored in 1968 with 98.

The 1969 leader, Reggie Jackson, had 123 runs scored.  19 players matched or surpassed Beckert's total from the year before.

Those in charge of MLB certainly got what they wanted with these changes to the game.