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The Origins of Baseball
by Frankie Herban
http://www.fohibaseball.com
The exact origins of baseball are unknown, but most
historians concur that it was derived from the English game
of rounders. It started gaining population in the United
States in the early 19th century, and many sources report
the growing popularity of the game, sometimes called
"townball" or simply "base." During this period, small
towns formed teams and larger cities established baseball
clubs. In 1845, Alexander Cartwright established a formal
list of rules for play. Many of those rules are still in
place today. Abner Doubleday is widely credited with
inventing the game, but baseball's true father was
Cartwright.
The Cartwright Knickerbockers and the New York Baseball
Club were the first two teams to play against each other at
Hoboken, New Jersey in 1846. After that the game continued
to grow more popular and in 1869 the first professional
team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings were born. Two years
later, the National Association was created by the baseball
players themselves but it was short lived. In 1875 a group
of businessmen got together and formed the National League
giving birth to modern professional baseball. The American
League came together in 1901 and started "stealing" players
from the National League. This upset the League
commissioners until a court injunction made up a list of a
three-man commission to run the league, after that both
leagues learned to live together peacefully.
Baseball remained a game of strategy through the first part
of the 20th century however few home-runs were made from
dead balls and most offense was supported by contact hits,
base stealing and bunting. Baseball exploded in 1911 with
the adoption of the cork centered baseball and it changed
the game dramatically. Not everybody was happy with this
change though because this new ball started the fall of
forty years of batting records.
One of the most popular people in U. S. history is George
"Babe" Ruth. He alone revolutionized the game because he
could hit a home run just about every time his bat hit the
ball. He first started baseball as a pitcher for the Boston
Red Sox, then became an outfielder for the New York
Yankees. The year was 1920, and it was a very good
year for baseball.
Some really great players have come from the game of
baseball since the days of Babe Ruth. Men like Hank Aaron,
Pete Rose, Ted Williams, Reggie Jackson and Roger
Maris have all contributed to this great game. Labor
disputes and work stoppages have also marred the game over
the years but the worst was in 1994 when the World Series
was actually cancelled because the players were on strike.
The game picked up in 1998 and regained some
of its popularity since the 1994 strike due in large to the
race for the home-run record in a single season between
Mark McGuire and Sammy Sousa. McGuire won by beating Maris
longstanding record of 61 home runs by hitting 70 of his
own. His glory didn't last long though because in 2001,
Barry Bonds beat McGuire's 70 home runs by hitting 73 home
runs of his own.
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