The History of Baseball
Deeply embedded in the folklore of American sports is the story of baseball's supposed invention by a young West Point cadet, Abner Doubleday, in the summer of 1839 at the village of Cooperstown, New York. Because of the numerous types of baseball, or rather games similar to it, the origin of the game has been disputed for decades by sports historians all over the world. In 1839, in Cooperstown, New York, Doubleday supposedly started the great game of baseball. Doubleday, also a famous Union general in the Civil War, was said to be the inventor of baseball by Abner Graves, an elderly miner from New York. In response to the question of where baseball first originated, major league owners summoned a committee in 1907. Abner Graves stepped before the committee and gave his testimony. In Graves' account of "the first game," the Otsego Academy and Cooperstown's Green's Select School played against one another in 1839. Committeeman Albert G. Spalding, the founder of Spalding's Sporting Goods, favored Graves' declaration and convinced the other committeemen that Graves' account was true. As a result, in 1939, the committee and the State of New York named Cooperstown and Abner Doubleday as the birthplace and inventor of baseball, respectively. Today, many baseball historians still doubt the testimony of Abner Graves. Historians say the story came from the creative memory of one very old man and was spread by a superpatriotic sporting goods manufacturer, determined to prove that baseball was a wholly American invention. According to Doubleday's diary, he was not playing baseball in Cooperstown, but attending school at West Point on that day in 1839. Also, historians have found that nowhere in Doubleday's diar...
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... play in 1901. However after luring many premiere National League Players with higher salaries and running a "kinder, gentler league," American League attendance exceeded National League attendance by 600,000 fans in 1902. Early in 1903, the National League granted the American League status as a Major League. With this, came a consistent scheduling system, player contract regulations, and playing guidelines that the two leagues would share. Another product of this agreement was the World Series, which pitted the American league champion against the National League champion in a nine game series (later shortened to seven) that would determine the World Champion of Baseball. In 1903, 16 franchises competed for the first World Series Championship. Though some of these teams have moved to new locations or changed their names, the modern era of baseball began in 1903.
“In 1946, there were sixteen Major League Baseball teams, with a total of 400 players on their rosters, every one of the players was white. But when opening day came in 1947, that number dropped to 399, and one man stood apart. (42 2:30)” Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson made his Major League Baseball debut on April 15, 1947, as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Making Jackie Robinson the first African-American to play Major League Baseball (MLB). Jackie’s transition from the Negro Leagues to MLB was not an easy one. As a player, he transitioned very well, but it was Robinson’s teammates, Dodgers fans, the opposing teams and their fans that tested Jackie every chance they got, some hotels even prohibited the Dodgers to stay in their establishments
World Series Overview | MLB.com: History. (n.d.). Major League Baseball. Retrieved January 21, 2014, from http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/postseason/mlb_ws.jsp?feature=club_champs
The White Sox team was formed in 1900 as a franchise of the American league, under the ownership of Charles Comiskey. The Sox were originally called The White Stockings. They shortened the name to White Sox in 1902. In its first year, the team won the league championship. By 1903, the American and National Leagues had agreed to meet in an end-of-the-year playoff, or a "World Series." In 1906, the White Sox won this national championship by defeating the Chicago Cubs four games to two. The next eight years brought a dry spell for the Sox.
Baseball, America’s pastime, got its start in England in the mid 1800’s. A couple of years later, America got its first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings. As baseball’s popularity increased, the business associated with it boomed. Each year the World Series became the most anticipated event in America and 1919 was expected to be the biggest yet. Record attendance at games and more revenue following World War I gave the 1919 World Series an edge in profitability. However, at the same time "the lines between gamblers and ballplayers had become blurred." While some gamblers were former baseball players, other current players were big gamblers. Thus the scandal of 1919 and years to come was conceived.
Fogel, Malrshall. “Babe Ruth: How did it all Begin.” Professional Sports Authenticator. N.p n.d. Web. 30 April 2014.
"Over the decades, African American teams played 445-recorded games against white teams, winning sixty-one percent of them." (Conrads, pg.8) The Negro Leagues were an alternative baseball group for African American baseball player that were denied the right to play with the white baseball payers in the Major League Baseball Association. In 1920, the first African American League was formed, and that paved the way for numerous African American innovation and movements. Fences, and Jackie Robinson: The Biography, raises consciousness about the baseball players that have been overlooked, and the struggle they had to endure simply because of their color.
Rader states that baseball was founded by Abner Doubleday in 1839 at Cooperstown, New York. In the next couple decades, the game developed the simple concept of bases. After having bases introduced into the game, the kids in bigger cities started club based teams which played each other. These teams started to develop a personal passion and respect for baseball which led them to adopt written rules. He conveys the idea of fellowship within the team and how the players celebrated all aspects of the game. He gives an example of a club team called the New York Knickerbockers and how they celebrated with their opponents and teammates whether they won or l...
As a 20 year old youth in 1883, Billy played baseball in the lots of his neighborhood in Marshalltown, Iowa. One day the captain for the Chicago White Sox, A.C. Anson, was in the lots watching all the teenagers, young adults, and Billy Sunday playing baseball. Anson was so impressed with what he had seen in Billy’s baseball performance that Billy was signed unto the White Sox soon after.
One of the most iconic names in baseball is the team name “New York Yankees”, and along with it have come some equally as famous players. The Yankees have had so much talent come through their stadium, names including Babe Ruth, Yogi Berra and Mickie Mantle to name a few. Though there are several arguments about who the greatest players of the game are it is no question who the top ten are from the New York team. Based on up to date career statistics these players have a ninety year span of talent between them. These players may not have top score in all parts of the game but they have all set certain records that either have yet to be broken or held for a longer time than most students have been alive.
The following year marked the formation of the National League of Professional Baseball Players, which was soon shortened to the National League (Ibid). In 1884, the rival American League was founded and the era of modern professional baseball began.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Americans began playing baseball on informal teams, using local rules, in the early 1800s. By the 1860s, the sport, unrivaled in popularity, was being described as America's "national pastime." Alexander Joy Cartwright of New York invented the modern baseball field in 1845. Alexander Cartwright and the members of his New York Knickerbocker Base Ball Club devised the first rules and regulations for the modern game of baseball.
Nemee, David. “100 Years of Major League Baseball.” Lincolnwood, Illinois: Publications Infernational, Ltd, 200. Print.
A travel of over 3000 miles for some, a 210 mile drive for me, just to arrive at the biggest gathering of over 1,500 twelve year olds; all just to play baseball. The only place that would be suitable for such an event is Cooperstown Dream Parks, every baseball players heaven. Cars have come to Cooperstown from everywhere for this week long tournament. I met children my age from all over the United states. I became friends with kids from Ohio, Illinois, California, I even met a player from Puerto Rico who barely spoke any english. The windows of everyone 's car decorated with the names and numbers of teams and players. Excited baseball teams spill from their Barracks and hustle toward the already crowded seating area. Festive music played over
Baseball was first introduced into the American culture, by English immigrants in the early 18th century, and its popularity slow grew. It wasn’t until the Civil War the popularity of the game spread, and both Union and Confederate soldiers played baseball during lulls in the fighting. After Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, soldiers from both the Army of Northern Virginia (Confederate) and the Army of the Potomac (Union) played baseball. (Schackelford Jul 4, 2009) This was the beginning of the American people love of Baseball began. It was also the first mention of baseball being the national game. During the bloodiest war in our countries history Baseball was there to help the two sides heal. It was another fourteen years till 1879 when Football would be invented.
Tygiel, Jules. 2001; 2000. Past time: Baseball as history. Oxford England; New York: Oxford University Press.