History Of Basebal Essay, Research Paper

The History of Baseball

Nathan Rex

4-24-00

Mr. Spathros/Ms. Murray

Table of Contents

Title Page ……………………………………………………………………… Page 1

Table of Contents …………………………………………………………… Page 2

Paper Begins ………………………………………………………………….. Page 3

Work Cited …………………………………………………………………….. Page 8

A child’s game played with a wooden bat and a small white ball is “our national pastime.” Baseball has climbed from being played by children in their backyards on Sunday afternoons to becoming a multimillion dollar corporation over the last hundred years.

Baseball as we know it first came into existence in Cooperstown, New York in 1939 as Major General Abner Doubleday created the first baseball field. The first recorded match was played at Elysien Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey on June 19, 1846. The game was played between the New York Nine and the Cartwright’s New York Nickerbockers. The New York Nine lost 23 – 1.

In 19158 the National Association of Baseball was first organized. This made the sport and its rules more uniform. Popularity of baseball grew throughout the 1850’s and 1860’s. Baseball was even played by soldiers during the Civil War.

In the Spring of 1869, the first professional baseball team was organized. Its name was the Cincinnati Red Stockings. During the 1869 season, they traveled 2,000 miles throughout the northeast and west playing other ball clubs. During their 1969 tour, they played fifty-six ball games.

In 1871 the National Association of Professional Baseball was created. This league occupied eleven cities and the cost to join was $10.00. The first major league game took place on May 4, 1871 between the Forest City Club of Cleveland and the Kekionges Club of Fort Wayne. Fort Wayne won with a score of 2 – 0.

1876 was a huge year for professional baseball. The National League was formed by William Hulbert. The league began its inaugural season in the spring of 1876. In their first year, teams played a seventy game schedule. In the beginning the league started with only eight teams.

In 1881 a rival league to the National league came into existence. It was called the American League. They placed teams in six major American cities. “The American League competed with the National League by charging lower admission prices and permitting liquor to be sold at games.” (Ritter, 305) This new and exciting league won over many of the National League fans. In 1882 both leagues were doing very well. At the end of the season both leagues scrambled to put teams in two open cities. The two cities were New York and Philadelphia. Both of these cities still have teams today. The National League claimed both of these cities.

In the fall of 1889, the formation of a third league was announced. It was to be called the Players League. Its rules were much different from the other two leagues. This new league had no salary cap and teams could trade players without getting the players’ permission. In 1891 the Players League’s short life came to an end. Its four best teams joined the American League.

Baseball became much more popular in the early 1900’s than it ever was before. Attendance at most games skyrocketed. The World Series later became one of the leading annual sporting events. Many legends were also born during this era. Greats such a Ty Cobb, Cy Young and Christy Mathewson first played professional baseball during this time period. “Team owners responded to baseball’s popularity by building bigger and more expensive ball parks.” (Heitz)

Baseball’s new and sudden popularity also brought some greed from the players. Many of the stars of baseball were angry because of their low pay. Players eventually got over the fact that their pay was low and went on playing the game that they all loved.

During the early 1920’s one of the greatest players ever to play the game of baseball started his career. Babe Ruth, also know as the “Sultan of Swat,” joined the New York Yankees in 1970. Babe hit forty-four home runs his Rookie season and later went on to become one of the greatest players of all time.

Baseball continued to grow and become more popular into the 1930’s. During this time radio broadcasts became more common. Baseball teams also started to play games at night. In 1939 The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was opened to display baseball memorabilia and honor the games’ greatest players.

Baseball suffered during World War II as many of its biggest starts were sent to war. To overcome the shortage of players in America, many teams recruited players from Latin America. More than forty Latin American players played on major league teams. In 1943, The Chicago Cubs’ owner, Phillip Wrigley, founded The All American Girls’ Professional Baseball League. This league lasted until 1954.

After the war, baseball began to grow again. Night baseball games continued to become more and more popular with fans. As players returned, “attendance leaped from 10.8 million to 18.5 million.” (Stewart, 63) In 1946 Boston fans viewed the first television broadcast of a major league game.

In the Spring of 1945, baseball took its biggest leap towards being our country’s real “National Pastime.” Branch Rickey had a plan to break the color barrier. His plan became reality on April 15, 1947, when he signed Jackie Robinson to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. In his first season as a professional baseball player, Robinson lead the Dodgers to the World Series and was named the league’s Rookie of the Year. By 1953, blacks had played on nine of the sixteen teams. Not until 1959 when the Boston Red Sox acquired Pumpsie Green, had every major league team signed a black player.

Many teams were looking for a change by 1960. Before the 1961 season, the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee, the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles and the Giant moved to San Francisco. By this time professional baseball had become very popular. Many U.S. cities were requesting professional baseball teams.

In the late 1960’s, players began to want more and more money. The minimum salary in 1965 was six thousand dollars. This was only one thousand more dollars than it had been in 1947. In 1966 Curt Ford, one of the games’ greatest outfielders, refused to report to spring training unless St. Louis offered him more than a five thousand dollar raise.

In 1972 the players held a brief strike at the beginning of the season. After fifty days, the owners gave in and agreed to compromise with the players. The economic issues were growing in baseball and becoming more complicated. The battle between owners and players became more intense.

In 1975 two pitchers decided to challenge the system once again. In 1976 these two pitchers refused to sign their contracts. During this same season, “an arbitrator upheld their case and free agency was born.” (www.Baseball1.com)

The 1980’s began with promise for baseball. The ?80’s belonged to the older players. Many of these players stayed in great shape and played into their late 30’s and early 40’s. In 1985 players and owners came to another halt. On August 2, 1985, players walked off the field and went on strike. This strike lasted for fifty days. This made many of the fans mad at the owners as well as the players for being so greedy.

During the 1990’s positive things started happening again in baseball. The sport was at its height of popularity and it was becoming the multimillion dollar business some had expected it to be. Individual teams’ worth, along with the increasing value of players due to free agency,

helped improve some teams’ talent that had been poor in the past.

Salaries for superstars quadrupled between 1990 and 1995. Baseball was now upon the era of free agency. Many teams would use millions of dollars in the salary cap to sign one or two superstar players. If these players did not perform, the team would usually fall to the bottom of their division, losing profit. Baseball was becoming more of a business risk than it had been in the past.

“Where is baseball headed beyond the year 2,000? No one can say for sure, but what is certain however, is the game prepares to compete for America’s entertainment dollar.” (Stewart, 119) What we must remember is that for every innovation that comes along in baseball, there will be something left to remind the fans of the past.

Baseball has been played by millions of people over the last hundred years. The game itself, has not changed much since it was first played in 1839. Baseball has evolved from being played by children in their backyards on Sunday afternoons, into a multimillion dollar business over the last hundred years. Baseball is loved for what it is, not because of the fame or fortune it can produce. People continue to watch and play baseball for the love of the game. It has become “our national pastime.”

1) Frommer, Harvey; Album of Baseball, New York; Franklin Watts, 1988, 1-30.

2) Stewart, Mark, Baseball, New York: Franklin Watts, 1998, 1-34.

3) Heitz, Thomas, “Baseball,” Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, Computer Database, Microsoft Corporation, 1998.

4) “Baseball in Transition” CBS Sportsline, America Online, 10 April 2000.

5) “History in Records” Major League Baseball, America Online, 10 April 2000.

6) Ritter, Lawrence, The Images of Their Greatness, New York: General Publishing Company, 1979, 298-355.

7) Sean Lahman, “A Brief History of Baseball”, Baseball 1, online, Netscape, 4-11-00.