Well, he only out homered entire teams in 1921 when the small ballers still hadn't adapted to the new live ball, but aside from him being an amazing talent, he was on a plain by himself because among other things: a) he developed a power swing because as a pitcher for all those years he wasn't expected to do too much with the bat, so he was able to swing for the fences as he pleased. b) they switched to a livelier ball in 1920, so a guy with an uber-power swing was naturally going to hit more HR's and the guys who were small ball hitters (the entire rest of the league) also saw enormous success in their own way, including more homers for them too. Check out the AL league numbers from 1919-1922 1919: .268 avg, 240 total HR in the league 1920 (first year of new ball): .283 avg, 369 HR 1921: .292 avg, 477 HR 1922: .285 avg, 525 HR c) Even though the live ball was causing more homers for everyone, most players in the early 20's were still playing in a small-ball mentality, so they weren't even trying to swing for the fences yet. But you did start to see more guys hit the long ball once Ruth started doing it: In 1919, your top 5 individual HR totals were 29 (Ruth), 10, 10, 10, 9 1920: 54, 19, 17, 14, 12 1921: 59, 24, 24, 23, 19 1922: 39, 37, 35, 21, 21