America's Greatest Past Time

To many people in the world including myself consider baseball to be the greatest sport ever created in the United States, if not the world. The first trace of baseball in the United States dates back to 1791 where the town of Pittsfield, Massachusetts where baseball was regularly played on Saturdays.  The baseball played at this time was much more unorganized and did not still have a lot of set rules. The first team to play by modern rules was the New York Knickerbockers, in 1845. The biggest change in the rules was in the passed baseball was played more like kickball than modern day baseball. You were allowed to force the runner out by tagging or throwing the ball at the base runner. These new set of rules were known as the Knickerbocker rules.  It wasn’t until the civil war when baseball really took root around the United States. With the war going on and soldiers from all over the United States fighting baseball became the thing to do while soldiers had free time from fighting. After the war and with amateur baseball teams on the rise owners decided it was time to take baseball to the next step and start paying players and make the sport truly a professional sport. The first major leagues baseball league was NABBP (National Association of Professional Base Ball Players) established in 1871 and only lasted four years. After the failure of the NAPBBP William Hubert Formed the National League which we know baseball as today. In the National League there was an unwritten Gentle man’s agreement which excluded non white players from playing the sport. The common misconception is that Jackie Robinson was the first African American to break the color barrier, but in reality during the 1880’s two African American brothers were kicked out of the league for being African American. As with the two brothers many African Americans played in the National League pretending to be of other races (Indians, South or Central Americans). With many other leagues trying to contend with the National Leagues dominance it was until 1901 that the American League was formed. The American League’s success causes an up rise in the National League and the result was the first World Series 1903. The very first World Series was won by the American Leagues’ Red Sox in 1903. As the United States struggled to find its own identity so was Major League Base Ball. It is truly these struggles and accomplishments that has made base ball America’s greatest past time it is today.