A Brief History of America’s National Pastime

Before the war baseball was a regional sport with many variations that was played sporadically around the country. Prior to the Civil, the main concentration of modern baseball players was in New York and Massachusetts. However, during the war the sport gained popularity among soldiers of both sides of the war. In fact, in some prison camps, prisoners

The first record of baseball in the United States began in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1791. Its popularity spread quickly through the town and the

The soldiers from both the north and south went back to their homes and taught everyone they know how to play. The game exploded in communities all over the country because of this, from this they made team of their best and most competitive players. They were similar to the minor league teams that they use today, and then the colleges adopted the sports and played competitively. Then in 1869, the game became professional and they started paying the best player to play on certain teams. The first team was the Cincinnati, Red Stockings,they won every game the first year.

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 Pittsburg 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. But Upon return, baseball returned to its once prestige self.

The turn of the 19th century lead to technological advances that made the life of many easier. These time saving devices gave many Americans free time to begin to engage in a newly forming entertainment culture. Thus became Baseball an American tradition engraving roots in the history of a modernizing nation. Baseball became popular within large cities for a few reasons ,however, fellowship and entertainment stood out in the source material as the main factors.

Baseball has been known to be Americas past time since it was first introduced. Although its origins are unclear, a similar game called rounders was seen in 1828, inside an English book titled The Boy’s Own Book, which closely depicted a resemblance to the game we know today (Holtzman, Jamail, Laue, Peterson, Peterson, & Rader, 2014). By 1845, Alexander J. Cartwright adopted this idea and formulated the rules that would act as the foundation to modern day baseball (Holtzman, Jamail, Laue, Peterson, Peterson, & Rader, 2014). Cartwright was a member of the Knickerbocher baseball club, which he organized in New York City, and established the first rules, some of which are still used today (Allen, 1978). The game quickly grew in popularity

Baseball has for a long time been a staple in the American sporting culture as baseball and America have grown up together. Exploring the different ages and stages of American society, reveals how baseball has served as both a public reflection of, and vehicle for, the evolution of American culture and society. Many American ways including our landscapes, traditional songs, and pastimes all bear the mark of a game that continues to be identified with America's morals and aspirations. In this paper I will be addressing the long residuals of baseball as it specifically relates to the emergence of the

Like any other sport, baseball developed over an extended period of time spanning way back to the 1600’s. The first evidence

The game of baseball became an organized sport in 1840 and 1850. Baseball is becoming more popular in America. For example, by 1860 the sport took the crown of America favorite sport over England cricket.

Like the bald eagle, baseball has become an icon for the term “American”. It was the nation’s first major sport and quickly was coined America’s pastime. It was created from a combination of other games during the 1840’s and became increasingly popular during the years of the Civil War (Brinkley 392). In their

The development of baseball solidified the significance of organized team sport in American culture beginning in 1845. While baseball was originally played solely by amateurs, on oddly shaped fields, and with not an incredible amount of action outside of the infield, baseball encompassed the reasons behind the importance of organized team sport. Not only do team sports encourage self-government, they also unite the community through

Baseball originates back to 1800s, from a man named Abner Doubleday, who was a Union Officer during the American Civil War. Some say he invented the game in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. There’s limited amount of information and facts on Doubleday being the original creator of the game. A more accurate response to the question of how baseball originates would be that many scholars believe that baseball was invented way before we can tell. In ancient cultures, such as those of the Persians and Egyptians, there is evidence of games being played with balls and sticks. Games similar to baseball continued to be played by civilizations throughout history but it was not until the early 1600s that Europeans first brought games involving a ball and a stick to the Americas. There were a number of various games played with a ball and a stick but the one that most resembled baseball was an English game called Rounders. The rules of Rounders are a lot simpler than the ones of modern day baseball but it was from

The first game that is recorded in the hall of fame is in September of 1845 were the rules were first used in a game with the knickerbockers, led by a bank clerk named Alexander Cartwright. The first game was played in June against a team in Hoboken, New Jersey. But there is still some controversy between the two cities as who is the birthplace of baseball. But a lot of people still don’t understand the origin of the game before the Cartwright rules in 1845, as referred to by he baseball hall of fame.

Baseball is known for being Americas Pastime, because of how great the history this sport carries behind it and how it was created almost a two-hundred years ago. Abner Doubleday invented baseball, though they claim, in 1839 and was also a Civil War hero. This is not true, and many people believe that he was the inventor. “There really is not a true inventor of the sport, it really came from two English sports, which are rounders and cricket that originated in the eighteen-hundreds. When the American Revolution happened different variations of the English games rounders and cricket were being played all over America and those games made a new one, baseball.”

The game of baseball, that most Americans seem to love, officially started on September 23, 1845 by the New York Knickerbockers. Before that time, there were some games that resembled it and that used the same concept that baseball does, such as cricket. Through the 271 years, there are some similarities in the game from then to now, however, the differences greatly outweigh the similarities.