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Origin of Baseball

Attention Getter: Did you know Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under his hat to keep him cool? Did you know the odds of a fan getting hit by a baseball are 300,000 to 1? And did you know the shortest baseball player that ever played was recorded to be 3 feet and 7 inches? These are interesting facts I stumbled upon research, but I bet most of you did not know. Thesis: There are many interesting facts that people like you and I don’t know about baseball throughout its history. Have you ever asked yourself where did baseball come from, who created it, or even ask what baseball went through in the past to receive its highly respected title? We watch baseball games for the sake of enjoyment like every other sport but most people, like myself, don’t know how it all began

Preview Sentence: Baseball is known as ‘America’s Pastime’, over the years the game has changed, but it is still the great game America knows and loves. Last night was also the first game of the World Series so it couldn’t be a more perfect time to talk about this game. ● Early life

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The game of baseball comes from two English games, cricket and rounders, brought over from the earliest colonists. In September 1845, a group of New York City men founded the New York Knickerbocker Baseball Club. One of them was a volunteer firefighter and bank clerk Alexander Joy Cartwright would codify a new set of rules that would form the basis for modern baseball, calling for a diamond-shaped infield, foul lines and the three-strike rule. He also abolished the dangerous practice of tagging runners by throwing balls at them. (thank goodness). Cartwright’s changes made this pastime more fast paced and more challenging while clearly differentiating it from older games like cricket. In 1846, the Knickerbockers

played the first official game of baseball against a team of cricket players, beginning a new, uniquely American tradition How the game changed:

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People put the end of the “dead ball” era in the 1919 season when Babe Ruth hit an unheard of 29 homeruns. The Dead Ball Era is generally considered to have lasted from the turn of the century into the beginning of the roaring '20s. As the name suggests the game used a "dead" or almost soft ball to play its game. The same ball was usually used for the entire game. Obviously, the state of the ball was a detriment to home runs. Factor in the large, open parks and you can see that home runs were certainly a premium. Teams were left to rely on the hit and run, singles, bunts and stolen bases to win games. For pitchers, it was the era of the "spit ball" (completely legal at the time.)

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Many pitchers relied on the spit ball and other trickery to keep batters on their toes. Some of the most skilled pitchers of all time developed in baseball's Deadball Era, however. People began to pack the stands to see the long ball, so owners decreased the dimensions of the fields thus increasing the odds of someone hitting a homerun. They also added rules to the pitchers against scuffing and cutting, and the balls were switched out more frequently too. http://www.historicbaseball.com/fea/era_deadball.html

III. The MLB didn’t start until 1876 with the National league and then they brought in the American league in 1901. The first World Series was held in 1903 with the Boston Americans beating the Pittsburgh pirates 5-3. Baseball hasn’t always been glorified as it was though. It experienced rough times in the 1940’s when African Americans weren’t allowed to play in the major league but thanks to Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby, they eliminated the racial discrimination in baseball and outside the baseball world. Baseball has also experienced rough times during the WWII and Vietnam era. During the time of war, players would go and serve in the military and baseball would have to replace them with less talented players. The major league today consists of 30 teams. 29 spread across the U.S. and 1 in Toronto

The National and American Leagues: I. Major League Baseball was Born Through two other leagues, the American Association and Player's League, tried to challenge the National League for dominance, the NL largely kept baseball a monopoly - that is, until the turn of the century. In 1900, Byron "Ban" Johnson created the American League out of four teams, picking up unemployed ballplayers and raiding National League rosters. As more and more players moved to the American League (including Cy Young, the winningest pitcher of all time), the National League owners were forced to submit. In 1903, a National Agreement was set up, creating a National Baseball Commission - made up of the president of each league and a permanent chairman - that would govern the game . Major League Baseball was born. That fall, in October of 1903, the game's first "World's Series" was played, with Boston (from the American League) beating Pittsburgh, their National League counterparts. II. Baseball As A Business However, with the death of Hulbert, A.G. Spalding, his second-in-command, became president of the White Stockings, and ushered in what could arguably be called the true beginning of the game . Spalding insisted the players be paid like entertainers; he created Spalding Sporting Goods, manufacturing balls, caps, uniforms and gloves. Spalding (whose brand is still used to this day), it is said, created the business of baseball. III.

Conclusion: As I have shared with you, there are many options available to people interested in playing professional baseball for a living. There are multiple teams across the country, however there are only two teams right now battling it out for the title.Baseball in general has Grown in Popularity Year After Year. For both Major League players and prospective top-level players. Pure Professional Baseball

I hope that you have enjoyed the presentation and now know that playing a wonderful sport like baseball for a living is not as impossible as it may have once seemed....