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The Beginning 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 first two teams were formed in 1846 and were called the
Cartwright Knickerbockers and the New York Baseball club.
Their first game was in Hoboken, New Jersey,
were the Knickerbockers lost to the New York Baseball Club,
but the game grew from there and in 1869, the Cincinnati
Red Stocking's was the first team to turn professional. The
players themselves decided to form a baseball
league of their own and formed the National Association two
years later. The association did not last long though and
it wasn't until a group of businessmen got together in
1875, and formed the National League that professional
baseball was born. In 1901, The American League was formed
and lured many of the National League's players to come
over to their side. This caused a battle between the
leagues bosses until a court injunction drew up a list of a
three-man commission to run the league, making it possible
for both leagues to exist quietly with each other.
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.
Since Ruth's day, baseball has seen its share of great
hitters such as Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Roger Maris,
Reggie Jackson and Pete Rose. It has also had experienced
ups and downs with numerous labor disputes, work stoppages
and even the cancellation of the World Series in 1994 due
to a strike. The 1998 season hearkened back to the days of
Ruth and helped baseball regain its pre-1994 status with
the race for the single-season home run record between Mark
McGuire and Sammy Sosa. McGuire broke Maris' longstanding
record of 61 home runs by hitting 70 home runs that season.
However, McGuire's glory was short lived as Barry Bonds
knocked 73 balls out of the park during the 2001 season.
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