The Babe/other homerun hitters question

Question

Something that i have never understood is how Babe Ruth hit more home runs then entire teams did. I understand that the game was more of a slash and run (like ichiro) type game back then, but why werent there more home run hitters? Did people just not try for them because of fear of striking out? There had to have been some people around back then who could have put up 40 Homeruns, but noone ever did except Ruth, and he didnt fall down to below .300 like many sluggers of today do.

I guess what im asking is why was noone else trying to hit homeruns back then (or if they were, why werent they hitting them) and since Babe was the first real HR masher why didnt he have the same problems hitting them that other big hitters must have had?

I hope this question is understandable, I really dont know any other way to word it

Answer 1

believe it or not there was a time when trying to hit home runs was considered bad sportsmanship. Once Ruth became popular the race was on and people wondered the same thing.  

Answer 2

Remember that a ton of players made the transition into the alive ball era.  They were so used to the dead ball and the previously mentioned slash and run technique that they weren't prepared to have a ball travel farther than it had in previous years.  Ruth on the other hand was well suited and had the body build and the strength to hit home runs.  Back then, baseball scouts would recruit mostly people who were fast, not powerful.  

Answer 3

im kinda confused yet i understand sorry not to be rude