Baseball is a wonderful game we like to pretend is timeless and immutable. We cling to the mythology that the game doesn’t change, that Giancarlo Stanton is playing Babe Ruth’s game. We prefer to forget the evolution that, for instance, has changed the height of the mound and the composition of the ball and bats, and brought about the DH, interleague play, wild cards, instant replay, artificial turf and tablets in the dugout.
The game moves as does Earth itself: perpetually, though we tend not to notice. Here’s just one example: In 1957, there was only one player 6’ 5” or taller who came to bat 200 times (Walt Dropo).