The History Of Baseball
In the early days of the history of basball there were several variations of the game known as Rounders, but the game had no set of "official" rules. People played the game by their own set of rules which were decided by local customs or decisions.
This led to variations in the number of players on a side, how many bases were used, the formation and distance of the bases, and other rules would vary from place to place. This game eventually led to a game known as Town Ball and then to the game we know as baseball.
Some American politicians in the early 20th Century wanted to make baseball history, and to attribute the game to an American.
They joined forces with Albert Spalding, a sporting goods executive and former major league baseball player, to find an American inventor for the game.And to re-write the history of baseball. They attributed the game to a former Civil War general named Abner Doubleday.
They used only a letter from a childhood friend of Doubleday as evidence for their claim. The friend wrote in a letter that he had seen Doubleday playing a variation of Rounders with a group of schoolchildren in 1937 in a schoolyard in Cooperstown, New York.
There is no other evidence to support this claim, but this legend has continued to be passed down through story telling and inacuate histories. The game was more likely invented by a man named Alexander Cartwright.
In 1845, he was looking for some recreation with a group of friends. They began to play a version of Rounders, but Cartwright added some new rules to the game.
The 25 year old Cartwright began to give the game some order and precision. He made the decision that the bases should be set at 90 feet apart and that they should be in a diamond formation.
He decided that there should be 9 players on each team and devised the positioning that is still used today. He decided that each team would get three outs and then switch sides. He also decided that a 90 degree angle should be used to determine if a ball was playable. This is where we got the foul ball.
Baseall history shows that the game that Cartwright came up with was referred to as the New York game or the Knickerbocker game.
The first organized baseball game between two rival clubs took place on June 19, 1846 at Elysian Field in Hoboken, New Jersey. The game took place between the Knickerbocker club from New York City that was under the direction of Alexander Cartwright and the New York Nine.
The teams were having a hard time finding a field in the city, so they went across the river to a field in New Jersey. This first game with the rules Cartwright had established was played for four innings. At the end of the game, the New York Nine had beaten the Knickerbockers by a score of 23-1. The game was officiated by none other than Alexander Cartwright himself.
The popularity of the game continued to skyrocket in New York City where clubs began to sprout up at a very rapid rate. These social clubs included the Gotham Club of New York in 1850, the Eagle Club in 1854 and the Empire Club in 1854.
The game had even spread from Manhattan to Brooklyn and the Excesior Club of Brooklyn was formed in 1854. Three more Brooklyn clubs followed suit as the Putname Club formed in 1855 and the Eckford and Atlantic Clubs formed in 1856.
The Eckford and Atlantic Clubs were the first clubs that were comprised of mostly working class men rather than the elite that were in the other clubs. The game was now spreading to different geographic sectors as well as economic sectors.
As these men began to migrate to the west, they took the game that was now known as New York game and in some parts called baseball with them. By the late 1850's, there were clubs in Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany, Troy, Toronto, Hamilton, Ontario, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Washington, DC, New Orleans, and even San Fransisco. These clubs joined the over 100 clubs that were now going in New York City.
In 1869, baseball history shows that the first professional team was fielded in Cincinatti, Ohio. The Red Stockings were the first team that was all salaried. Teams had been made up of only amatuers, but this team traveled the country playing other teams. They won 72 games in a row before losing to the Excesior Club and then went back to amateur status in 1870. This was the first attempt, however, at professional baseball.
This endeavor gave life to the idea of trying to start a professional baseball league. On March 17, 1871 the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players was formed. this league was short lived however, because the league had no control over the movement of its players and the actions of its teams.
By 1875, 7 of its 13 teams failed to finish the season because of financial problems.The first teams to fail because of money in the early days of baseball history. In 1876, a rival league was formed called the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs. This league quickly replaced the National Association and the NA collapsed in 1876. The National League continued to face other rival leagues, but was able to fend off the challenges.
In the history of baseball the National League was dominated by the Chicago White Stockings who won championships in 1880, 1881, & 1882. In 1884, they played the winner of the American Association, another league that had just begun, in the first World Series.
This followed the National Agreement in 1883 that had given the American Association major league status. The first professional black player, Moses Fleetwood Walker, played in the American Association until he was banned.
The American Association continued to grow as did the National League. In 1886, the St. Louis Browns defeated the White Sox for a prize of $15,000.
Some changes had taken place in the game at this time as well. Spectators were now very regular at the games. In 1889, over 2 million fans attended major league games. In 1893, the pitching distance was moved to 60'6" and the pitching box was replaced by a rubber on a mound. The players also wore stylized uniforms and most of them now wore gloves.
At this time in the history of baseball, at the turn of the century. Baseball was certainly gaining momentum. It had been just 50 years since its invention, but it had already claimed the top spot as the game of choice for Americans.
A major step came in 1903 when the American League joined the National League in a joint venture. These leagues were considered to be "separate, but equal" leagues. The National League continued to outdraw the American League, but there was more parody.
Here is a good question to ask people who believe they are experts on the history of baseball.
A major event took place during this merger when the Baltimore Orioles decided to move to New York City. They became known as the New York Yankees.
In 1905, a new World Series format was initialized that pitted the league champions from both the National and American. In 1908, the song "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" was also introduced.
Attendence at major league games climbed from 4.7 million in 1903 to 10 million in 1911. From 1909-1911, during the construction boom many stadiums made of concrete and steel replaced the old wooden stadiums.
Baseball was really booming and it was reflected in the players' salaries. In 1910, the average salary of a major leaguer was $900-12,000 per year.
The history of baseball from 1903-1920 is commonly referred to as the "Dead Ball Era". The offenses at the time did not rely on the homerun, but instead try to manufacture runs. Pitchers were using new pitches such as curveballs and knuckleballs and the batting averages went down.
Pitchers were also doctoring the ball with foreign substances and spit. Teams began to use speed and steal bases. Bunting also became a very important part of the game. No player better exemplified the Dead Ball Era player more than Ty Cobb. This era came to an end during the 1920 season. In 1910, the league had switched to cork centered balls, but not much difference had been made until 1919 when Babe Ruth hit 29 homers. This set a new record for home runs in one season.
He topped this mark, however, in 1920 when he hit a whopping 59 home runs. This new offensive spark brought more excitement to the game and this was reflected in the attendence at major league games. This time was marked, however, by the scandal in the 1919 world series. The worst scandal in baseball history.
The series was lost by a heavily favored Chicago White Sox team. Accusations came out against eight of the players on that team who had possibly thrown the series for money from gamblers. The players were convicted on circumstancial evidence and the new baseball commissioner, Kenisaw Mountain Landis, gave them all lifetime suspensions from baseball. One of these players was Shoeless Joe Jackson. One of the greatest players in the history of baseball.
The period from 1921-1931 has been called the second golden age of baseball. There was a big push to clean up the scandals that had rocked the game and the offensive showcases of Babe Ruth and others were putting excitement in the game.
In 1920, Ruth was traded from the Red Sox to the New York Yankees and became a superstar. During the roaring twenties, Ruth became perhaps the bigest celebrity in the nation. He was a part of a Yankees team that has been called the greatest of baseball history.
In 1927, Ruth hit 60 home runs in 144 games to break his own record again. Newspapers became very popular and Ruth could be seen almost daily in these periodicals.
The Great Depression had a profound impact on the game. Results of the Depression were declining attendence, financial losses by teams, and players' salaries being slashed. The rich market teams were able to stay competitive, but the poor markets had to sell their best players to meet expenses.
To combat this problem, baseball used expanded concession stands, promotional tactics, and night games. Radio broadcasts also began to be sold.
In the period from 1935-1945, baseball went through a very difficult period. In 1935, Babe Ruth retired from the game and a new need for a superstar was seen. The slack was picked up, though by players like Hank Greenberg, Joe DiMaggio, and Ted Williams.
In 1940, baseball took another hit when one of its best players came down with a rare disease that would later bear his name, Lou Gehrig. Finally, when the war broke out, baseball lost a large group of its players. Over 500 major leaguers went to the war, including Joe DiMaggio and Stan Musial. 3,500 minor leaguers went to war as well.
The war also cause a shortage of rubber and wood which made equipment hard to come by. Night games were also restricted during this period. A shortage of men also made the teams look to Cuba & Latin America for players.
The face of baseball has changed significantly from the early part of the twentieth century. The face of, the history of baseball literally changed at the end of 1945.
It was at this time that a scout named Branch Rickey for the Los Angeles Dodgers signed a black player by the name of Jackie Robinson to a minor league contract. Robinson made his way through the minor leagues and in 1947, he made his major league debut for the LA Dodgers.
This was a significant achievement for equality in baseball and opened the door for many black players that followed.
The period from 1946 to 1980 is marked by an increasing awareness that the game of baseball is also a business. As the soldiers returned from World War II and the economy really started going, there was wealth to be spread around.
People had more money that they were willing to spend on leisure activities and baseball was one of the outlets. The game experienced a significant boost in attendence and television gave baseball another outlet.
Baseball players and owners began to disagree about the financial status of the game. With the money that the game was now generating, players wanted to get a larger chunk of the earnings. They began to look for ways to organize. In 1946, the American Baseball Guild was formed.
This organization had very little power and soon was replaced. It was replaced in 1953 by the Major League Players' Association which is still active today. This group sought to represent players and their best interests. It tried to give the players some power through collective bargaining.
This group did experience success as salaries began to increase. Three players, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, and Stan Musial, began earning over $100,000 per year to play the game.
The game itself experienced some changes during this time as well. The strike zone was narrowed to give the batters increased advantage. A new rule was put in place that required the fences in left and right field to be at least 325 feet on all new ballparks.
More baseballs began to be used which kept the ball livelier. Over a season, the league used over 12,000 baseballs. Head-gear became required, bats became tapered, and short relievers emerged. The American League adopted the designated hitter rule in 1973 and artificial turf became popular.
During the 1960's, baseball faced a problem that it had not encountered until this point: competition. For the first time in 1967, the Super Bowl overtook the World Series in ratings.
This was also the era of expansion as the league added ten teams. The Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals, Seattle Pilots (who then moved to become the Milwaukee Brewers), Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets, Houston Colt .45's (later the Astros), The Los Angeles Angels (later Anaheim Angels), and Washington Senators (later Texas Rangers) were all
added.
The period was most marked by financial turmoil. As the money began to increase, more problems came up. In 1976, baseball experienced its first lockout. Then the Free Agency rule was applied and players began to seek larger contracts.
In 1979, Nolan Ryan signed the first contract for $1 million in the history of baseball. These riches made celebrities out of many baseball players and some of them took in the lifestyle a bit too much.
The last twenty years of baseball have continued to be marked by money and offense. As revenues continue to increase, so did players salaries. On June 11, 1981, the players went on strike for better wages.
They felt that the owners were still keeping more than their share of the profits. The strike lasted for 50 days and both sides lost significant amounts of money. In 1983, a new television contract was negotiated for six years that would pay 1.1 billion dollars. This exceeded revenue from ticket sales.
By 1984, the number of players earning over $1 million had increased to 36. Again, both sides were upset with the financial turmoil so the players walked out again on Aug. 6, 1985. This walk-out only lasted 2 days.
In 1984, the average salary had climbed to $330,000 which was only slightly lower than Tommy Lasorda of the Los Angeles Dodgers who was the highest paid manager in baseball.
As the fight for money continued, offensive numbers in baseball also continued to climb. By 1987, 28 players hit more than 30 home runs. As a rookie, Mark McGwire hit a record 49. Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's all-time hits record on Sept. 4, 1985 when he got his 4,191st hit.
In 1985, Vince Coleman stole a record 110 bases as a rookie as well. Managers began to really specialize their pitching staffs and bullpen systems emerged.
The role of the closer became extremely popular with such stars as Dan Quisenberry, Goose Gossage, Bruce Sutter, Rollie Fingers, Lee Smith, and Dennis
Eckersley.
In 1985, the League Championship series was extended from a best of five series to a best of seven. This was later changed to the three division system with a wild card making the playoffs in 1996.
This was a change from the two division system that had been in place since 1969. During this period four new teams were added as well.
The Florida Marlins, Colorado Rockies, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and Arizona Diamondbacks were added. New retro-style baseball stadiums also opened in Baltimore, Cleveland, Texas, Colorado, and Atlanta.
The issue of money was raised once again in 1993 when the Baltimore Orioles were sold for $173 million. This was a new record for a sports franchise. Players were once again upset with the money issue and so they decided to strike again during the 1994 season.
The strike lasted for almost a year and the World Series had to be cancelled. This left a bitter taste in the mouths of many baseball fans. In 1995, ratings and attendence were significantly down.
Baseball got this shot in the arm in the 1996 season. This was the most offensive season in the history of the game. There was an average of 2.20 home runs hit every game. 82 players hit 20 or more home runs. Fans began to come back for this offensive showcase. Over 60 million fans attended games during the 1996 season.
This momentum carried through the 1997 season and reached its frenzy during the 1998 season. During the summer of 1998, two players began to chase after the record that many thought may never be broken.
Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs began an assault on Roger Maris' home run record of 61. The home run chase captured the attention of all of America.
There were nightly home run watches and fans pulling for both players. In the end, Sosa ended up hitting 66 home runs, but McGwire hit 70 including two on the last day of the season. It truly was a magical season that brought many fans back to the game.
Now with Barry Bonds hitting 73 home runs, and so many major league players hitting 40 to 50 homers every year, the history of basebase seems very bright.
But if I know anything about the history of baseball, the pitchers someday will catch up with the batters. And 45 homeruns will be a major feat.
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