Early BaseballBaseball was not a professional sport until 1845. Some people before that used it as a recreational activity though. An amateur player, Alexander J. Cartwright, Established a club in New York City that set up and introduced rules to an English game called Rounders. in just 5 years, over 50 baseball clubs were formed around the country. New York had 12 clubs all by itself by the 1860s.
The first professional team, The Cincinnati Red Stockings, formed in 1869. They were soon followed by the formation of the National League in 1876 and then the American League in 1900. The first World Series was held in 1903 and the Boston Pilgrims beat the Pittsburgh Pirates. Since these times were stil racially segregrated, blacks made two of their own leagues, called The Negro National League and the Negro American League.By the 1900s, baseball had an standard sized diamond, published game schedule and official rules. Mark Twain said that baseball is “the very symbol . . . and visible expression of the drive and push and rush and struggle of the raging, tearing, booming nineteenth century.” Today, Baseball is considered the All American Sport.Baseball is my favorite sport, so I was very interested in learning about some of the history behind it. I actually though baseball was a little older than it really is, but then again, it could have just been earlier, non professional froms of it. When readin this section, I kept thinking, "what ridiculous team names!" but we still have some pretty wild names. I remember learning about the Negro teams, and how, I think it was Jackie Robinson, became the first Black man to play on the American League. I thought this section was very interesting.
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