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Baseball is an immensely popular American game, known as the "national pastime, " played between two teams of nine players each. The basic implements used in the game are a leather-covered ball, wooden bats for hitting the ball, and gloves for catching it. Baseball is played on a large scale in Latin America, Japan, and other places besides the United States, but it is in the United States that it thrives most both as a participant's and spectator's sport. It is played at its highest level in the United States and two Canadian cities, where 26 teams make up the American and National Leagues (each with two divisions, East and West).
Combined, these leagues are called major-league (professional) baseball. Most players who reach the major leagues have worked their way up through Little League, scholastic, college, and minor-league (professional) ball. The vast majority of major-league players are American-reared, although since the 1960 s the sport has seen an influx of Latin American players. Following a regular season of 162 games, the division winners vie for each league's pennant; the American and National League champions then compete in the World Series. Both rounds of competition employ best-of-seven series of games.
Baseball's popularity is in part a result of the fact that almost every American boy plays the game at one time or another, and the lore of the game is intertwined with American life. Baseball has supplied the American culture with a wide range of legendary heroes, as well as books, magazines, movies, and songs. The game has contributed hundreds of words and phrases to the American language. The History of Baseball The popular myth that Abner DOUBLEDAY invented baseball in Cooperstown, N. Y. , in 1839, is without foundation. Actually, baseball evolved from cricket and rounders, with town ball and the New York game, popular in the eastern United States by the 1820 s, as intermediaries.
On June 19, 1846, a New York team defeated the Knickerbocker Baseball Club of New York, which had drafted (1845) rules establishing the nine-player team and the four-base diamond. The score at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, N. J. , that day was 23 - 1 in four innings. In 1857 a convention of baseball clubs established the length of a game as nine innings instead of 21 runs.
One year later the first organized league, the National Association of Base Ball Players, was formed. The first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, won 91 and tied 1 of their first 92 games in 1869 - 70. Their success helped spread professionalism, and the National Association of Professional Base-Ball Players operated a loose league for five years (1871 - 75) until the owners formed the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs in 1876 and made baseball a business. The independent American Association (1882 - 91) prospered by allowing Sunday games and the sale of beer in the stadium. Both leagues survived the rival Union Association's challenge in 1884, but in 1890 the athletes formed the Players League, which financially pressed the National League and mortally wounded the American Association.
In 1892 the eight-team National League absorbed four American Association teams, but it reverted to eight teams after 1899. In 1901 the American League declared itself a major league, invaded National League cities, and raided the older league for players. The result of the eventual truce was the World Series, which has been played every year since 1903 -- except 1904, when the New York Giants refused to meet the American League champions (Boston). The major leagues successfully met the challenge of the Federal League (1914 - 15). But further problems arose with the revelation that eight members of the Chicago White Sox had conspired to throw the 1919 World Series to Cincinnati. Only the appointment of Judge Kenesaw Mountain LANDIS as commissioner and the introduction of a livelier ball saved the game.
Landis enforced strict regulations regarding integrity of players, and the livelier ball significantly increased the number of crowd-pleasing home runs. Star players, reared in a minor-league system that comprised 59 leagues in 1949, increased baseball's popularity and caused it to be called America's pastime. The annual All-Star Game between teams composed of the best players in each league was begun in 1933. The introduction of night baseball (1935) and the entry to the majors of black players (1947), previously consigned to all-black leagues, changed the style of play and expanded the potential talent pool.
Then, during the 1950 s, dramatic organizational changes occurred. In 1950 a $ 6 -million World Series television contract made baseball the financial giant among sports, but baseball thereby became inordinately dependent on television. In 1953 the National League Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee, and one year later the American League St. Louis Browns became the Baltimore Orioles, breaking up a roster of cities that had remained constant for 50 years.
In 1958 the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles and the New York Giants moved to San Francisco, making big-league baseball a truly national game. The American League added two cities in 1961, and the National League did the same in 1962. In 1969 another expansion by both leagues necessitated divisional play, the winners in each division within each league meeting in a best 3 -out-of- 5 (now 4 -out-of- 7) championship play-off to determine the World Series contestants. Finally, the American League added two teams for the 1977 season. The following teams are currently active: National League East -- Chicago Cubs, Montreal Expos, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, and St. Louis Cardinals.
National League West -- Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and San Francisco Giants. American League East -- Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Yankees, and Toronto Blue Jays. American League West -- California Angels, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, Texas Rangers, and Seattle Mariners. Baseball's popularity diminished somewhat in the 1960 s and early ' 70 s, particularly with the rise of professional football.
But despite its heavy television coverage -- and its heavy schedule of night games, which precluded the attendance of many children -- baseball's popularity as a family spectator sport was on the rise again in the late 1970 s and the mid- 1980 's. During the 1981 season -- from June 12 to August 10 -- the baseball players went on strike in order to maintain relatively unencumbered free agency in the major leagues. When the 1981 season ended, more than 30 % of all major-league games had gone unplayed, the settlement had not provided a clear victory for either players or owners, the makeshift playoff system designed to accommodate the "split season" was considered less than adequate, and baseball attendance and television ratings had dropped off, although not precipitously. Fan interest was again strong in the mid- 1980 s, however. Playing the Game Baseball is played on an area divided into an infield of standard proportions and an outfield of varied dimensions. The in...
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