Baseball History
The story of the origin of baseball depends on who you ask. The simplicity of the game means that many variants grew from "stick ball", a child's game revolving around hitting a ball with stick which has been long known, through rounders and a number of other early stick-ball-and-bases games, such as rounders and town ball. In addition, many of the game's early players were familiar with cricket. The first mention in print of a game called "base-ball" is in A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, published in London in 1744. Another early print reference is Jane Austen's posthumous 1818 novel Northanger Abbey.
According to a Special Commission appointed in 1907 at the behest of Albert Spalding, a former pitcher, manager, administrator and sporting-goods manufacturer, to decide the issue, the first codified rules of baseball were devised by Abner Doubleday, of Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. However, later inquiries have completely debunked this theory, which was based on a single witness of dubious reliability and ignored the fact that Doubleday was at West Point in 1839. Doubtless Doubleday's Civil War fame (he was a significant actor at both the Battle of Fort Sumter and the Battle of Gettysburg), and Spalding's desire to ascribe a purely American origin to baseball, had something to day with the commission's report.
What is undeniable, however, is that right around this time, the first organized baseball clubs began to be formed in the eastern United States. The first to play baseball under modern rules were the Knickerbockers of New York City. The club was founded on September 23, 1845, as a social club for the upper middle classes, and was strictly amateur until its disbandment. The club members, led by Alexander J. Cartwright, formulated the "Knickerbocker Rules", which in large part deal with organizational matters but which also lay out rules for playing the game. One of the significant rules was the prohibition of "soaking" or "plugging" the runner; under older rules, a fielder could put a runner out by hitting the runner with the thrown ball. The Knickerbocker Rules required fielders to tag or force the runner, as is done today, and avoided a lot of the arguments and fistfights that resulted from the earlier practice.
Writing the rules didn't help the Knickerbockers in the first competitive game between two clubs under the new rules, played at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey on June 19, 1846. The self-styled "New York Nine" humbled the Knickerbockers by a score of 23 to 1. Nevertheless, the Knickerbocker Rules were rapidly adopted by teams in the New York area and their version of baseball became known as the "New York Game" (as opposed to the "Massachusetts Game", played by clubs in the Boston area).
The popularity of the game spread across the northeast US in the following years. Both the New York and Massachusetts games had staunch adherents at first, but the New York game became more popular after the formation of the National Association in 1857. A rival organization for the Massachusetts game appeared also, but its popularity faded and the New York game survived to evolve into the game we know today.
Furthermore, the American Civil War saw the game played in the camps of both armies, and helped the game's progress further afield. By 1865 91 clubs were represented in the National Association of Base Ball Players, from as far west as Kansas. At this time all the clubs were amateur, but in 1869 the Cincinnati Red Stockings declared that they would henceforth be a professional side, and within 10 years professionalism was thoroughly established.
In 1870, a schism formed between professional and amateur ballplayers. The National Association split into two groups. The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players operated from 1871 through 1875, and is considered by some to have been the first major league. (Other researchers dispute this.) Its amateur counterpart disappeared after only a few years.
The professional National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, which is still extant, was established in 1875 after the National Association proved ineffective. The emphasis was now on "clubs" rather than "players". Clubs now had the ability to enforce player contracts, preventing players from jumping to higher-paying clubs. Clubs in turn were required to play their full schedule of games, rather than forfeiting games scheduled once out of the running for the league championship, as happened frequently under the National Association. A concerted effort was made to reduce the amount of gambling on games which was leaving the validity of results in doubt.
At the same time, a "Gentleman's agreement" was struck between the clubs which had the effect as to bar non-white players from professional baseball, a bar which was still in existence until 1947. It is a common misconception that Jackie Robinson was the first African-American major-league ballplayer; he was actually one of an unknown number. Fleet Walker and his brother Welday Walker were unceremoniously dropped from major and minor-league rosters in the 1880s, as were other African-Americans in baseball. An unknown number of African-Americans played in the major leagues as Indians, or South or Central Americans. And a still larger number played in the minor leagues and on amateur teams as well. In the majors, however, it was not until Robinson (in the National League) and Larry Doby (in the American League) emergence that baseball would begin to correct this.
The early years of the National League were nonetheless tumultuous, with threats from rival leagues and a rebellion by players against the hated "reserve clause", which restricted the free movement of players between clubs. Competitive leagues formed regularly, and also disbanded regularly. The most successful was the American Association (1881-1891), sometimes called the "beer and whiskey league" for its tolerance of the sale of alcoholic beverages to spectators. For several years, the National League and American Association champions met in a postseason championship series -- the first attempt at a World Series.
The Union Association survived for only one season (1884), as did the Players League (1890), a fascinating attempt to return to the National Association structure of a league controlled by the players themselves. Both leagues, however, are considered major leagues by baseball researchers due to the high caliber of play (for a brief time anyway) and the number of star players featured.
One competitive league, the American League, did survive. Founded in the fall of 1893 as the minor Western League, this league began play in April 1894. The teams were Detroit (the only league team that has not moved since), Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Sioux City and Toledo. Prior to the 1900 season, the league changed its name to the "American League", moved several franchises to larger, strategic locations, and in 1901 declared its intent to operate as a major league.
The resulting bidding war for players led to widespread contract-breaking and legal hassles. One of the most famous involved star second baseman Napoleon Lajoie, who went across town in Philadelphia from the National League Phillies to the American League Athletics in 1901. Barred by a court injunction from playing baseball in the state of Pennsylvania the next year, Lajoie saw his contract traded to the Cleveland team; he would play for and manage Cleveland for many years.
After 1902 both leagues and most of the minor leagues signed a new National Agreement which led, in 1903, to the playing of a "World Series" between the two major league champions, governed player contracts and set up a classification system for minor leagues that is the forerunner of the system used today. The first World Series was won by Boston of the American League.