My parents, who learned their garden ways in the 1930's and 40's,
pinched out all the "suckers" that sprouted between any other two
branches of the stem.
Maybe it was a strongly held bad idea.
Sounds like it. I've been doing it for decades. I have long pruned the
bottom eighteen inches, to help protect from disease caused by rain
splash from disease-bearing soil up to the leaves. In this year's
tomato patch I am not pruning at all and they are lying on the ground.
So far no disease in spite of excessive rainfall. That soil has a very
high percentage of grass/leaf mulch and that might be why.