Origin of Baseball

Baseball is a bat and ball game played by two teams of nine players each. A game consists of nine innings in which players of both the teams take turns at batting to score runs by advancing around four bases. Each inning consists of three outs for each team and the team with the most runs at the end of the match wins. The origins of baseball are uncertain. Games similar to baseball were played in Wallachia (part of Romania) and Russia in the 14th century and a similar game was very popular amongst monks in France in the 1330s. The main objective of the sports is to score more runs than the opponent team to win the match.

The modern sport of baseball is considered to be evolved from cricket and rounders (British sport), being played in England in the 18th century. However, the only widely accepted story is that a man named Abner Doubleday invented the game in 1839 in Cooperstown, New York. Alexander Cartwright invented the rules of the game in 1845 and the first recorded game in the U.S. history took place in 1846 in Hoboken, New Jersey. By the end of the 19th century, the sport was widely considered as the national sport of the United States and is currently popular throughout America, the Caribbean and East Asia, and particularly in Japan.

The real history of baseball is actually a bit complicated, and the true origins remain uncertain.

People have used bats to hit balls since ancient Egypt. In many societies throughout Europe, bat and ball games were common. One common theory is that American baseball has its origins in the British game of rounders, though it is more likely that both rounders and baseball have at least some origins in the sport of cricket. There are 18th century references to a British game called baseball, but the sport bears little resemblance to the American pastime.

Baseball in America would really take off during the 19th century, but there remains debate and speculation about how it was invented. For a long time, the first team to play baseball under modern rules was believed to be the New York Knickerbockers. Team founder Alexander Cartwright and a committee would create the Knickerbocker Rules in 1845, dealing with organizational matters but also outlining rules of the game. However, it seems that many of these rules were actually originally written for the Gotham Club in 1837, the team the Knickerbockers had broken away from.  

The first known competitive baseball game between two teams using these “Knickerbocker Rules” was played at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey, on June 19th, 1846. The New York nine defeated the Knickerbockers 23 to 1, but the new rules would nonetheless be adopted across the New York area.

Unlike professional basketball and American football, interest in baseball has not been sweeping the globe . Declining participation at the amateur level and protracted labor problems at the professional level have thrust “America’s Pastime” into an era of uncertainty. Despite this current adversity, baseball will always occupy an important place in American culture. This column starts a three part look at the history of baseball.

Most cultures have some sort of stick and ball game, cricket being the most well-known. While the exact origins of baseball are unknown, most historians agree that it is based on the English game of rounders. It began to become quote popular in this country in the early 19th century, and many sources report the growing popularity of a game called “townball”, “base”, or “baseball”.

Throughout the early part of that century, small towns formed teams, and baseball clubs were formed in larger cities. In 1845, Alexander 토토사이트 Cartwright wanted to formalize a list of rules by which all team could play. Much of that original code is still in place today. Although popular legend says that the game was invented by Abner Doubleday, baseball’s true father was Cartwright.

The first recorded baseball contest took place a year later, in 1846. Cartwright’s Knickerbockers lost to the New York Baseball Club in a game at the Elysian Fields, in Hoboken, New Jersey. These amateur games became more frequent and more popular. In 1857, a convention of amateur teams was called to discuss rules and other issues. Twenty five teams from the northeast sent delegates. The following year, they formed the National Association of Base Ball Players, the first organized baseball league. In its first year of operation, the league supported itself by occasionally charging fans for admission. The future looked very bright.

The early 1860s, however were a time of great turmoil in the United States. In those years of the Civil War, the number of baseball clubs dropped dramatically. But interest in baseball was carried to other parts of the country by Union soldiers, and when the war ended there were more people playing baseball than ever before. The league’s annual convention in 1868 drew delegates from over 100 clubs.

As the league grew, so did the expenses of playing. Charging admission to games started to become more common, and teams often had to seek out donations or sponsors to make trips. In order for teams to get the financial support they needed, winning became very important. Although the league was supposed to be comprised of amateurs, many players were secretly paid. Some were given jobs by sponsors, and some were secretly paid a salary just for playing.

In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings decided to become a completely professional team. Brothers Harry and George Wright recruited the best players from around the country, and beat all comers. The Cincinnati team won sixty-five games and lost none. The idea of paid players quickly caught on.

Some wanted baseball to remain an amateur endeavor, but there was no way they could compete with the professional teams. The amateur teams began to fade away as the best players became professionals. In 1871, the National Association became the first professional baseball league.