To add on to that

1) Since balls were kept in play they became soft and also they were filed/spit on thrown around the infield and scuffed up just to make the ball harder to see and have the pitch move erratically through the strike zone

If they moved erratically through the strike zone and were brownish black my guess is they wouldn’t be easy to field either.

Also the equipment they used at the time (their spikes and mitts) were of inferior quality – which also didn’t make it easier

The parks – yes much larger with bigger gaps

Some that come to mind are

South End Grounds
Old Fenway
West Side Grounds
Polo Grounds
Hilltop Park
Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds

Also to add onto your other small ball point

In “Ty Cobb” – by Al Stump he mentions numerous times that the game has changed

In the early days the game was much different that it is today (today being 1940-1960)

You could go on and on about it but position players were selected on defense/speed/contact/eye

David Eckstein is a good example of what most ball clubs would have been looking for

Players rarely ever swung and missed (compared to today) while using inferior and heavy bats

They bunted and worked on speed rather than swinging for the fences – if the ball happened to get past the fielder then it was usually a triple

Players had to be smart and had to steal and be fast – therefore it leads me to believe that most were fast enough to hit triples with regularity – there were no Sean Casey’s or David Ortiz’s

(1) Sometimes balls hit into fans standing in the outfield were ruled ground rule triples. The home team would make the ground rules before the game and the Tigers, in particular, took advantage of Cobb’s and Crawford’s ability to hit the ball into the crowd.

(2) Balls were kept in play for over 100 pitches so they became soft. That combined with the deep fences made swinging for distance a poor option so there was a lot of small ball. Outfielders would play shallow and balls that were hit well would land over their heads for triples.

* many parks were very irregular (Polo Grounds, etc.), leading to long distances to run or “funny” bounces off the fence
* many parks/fields did not have fences up until the era from 1900 to the mid-20’s, often with spectators surrounding the field of play and in the outfield. In addition to the rough outfield conditions, many defensive outfielders would have to contend with spectator interference (particularly on the road).

This was a great post Bilfer, really enjoyed these. I know there is always talk about moving the fences in more, but I personally like having a ballpark that is different than any other ball park, especially in the dimensions. They needed to move in the LF for sure originally, and did that, I hope it stays the way it is. Watching a game in some of the newer stadiums, Philly, Houston and Cincy especially looks like they are playing on a softball field.