History of Baseball

The late Ernie Harwell wrote a famous essay in 1955 entiled "The Game for All America," in which he expounded the virtues of the great game of baseball in a wonderfully written prose. Here are some of the classic quotes from it:

"Baseball? It's just a game -- as simple as a ball and a bat. Yet, as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. It's a sport, business -- and sometimes even religion."

"Baseball is a highly-paid Brooklyn catcher telling the nation's business leaders: "You have to be a man to be a big leaguer, but you have to have a lot of little boy in you, too."

"This is a game for all America, this baseball. A game for boys and for men."

Ernie really captured the spirit of the great game in the U.S. Whilst not being America's most watched game (the NBA and NFL get more viewers), it is America's oldest game, and the game that is considered by many to be the most "traditionally" American.

But are the roots of baseball even American? Straight away we enter into the realms of conjecture. There are several historical sources competing to be cast as the real root of the game of baseball. Did the 14th century Russian game 'lapta' evolve into baseball? Did the game come from the British game of rounders? Did the army officer Abner Doubleday invent it during the American Civil War?

Perhaps we will never know exactly what the roots of baseball are, but we do know that the rules of the modern-day recognizable game of baseball were drawn up by an American, Alexander Cartwright, in 1845. The first game to be officially recorded was in New York, way back in 1846. Because of this, many baseball fans call Cartwright the offical inventor of baseball. In this sense, baseball as we know it truly is an American game. From its humble beginnings in the mid-1800's, the popularity of the game soared over the next few decades. The first proffesional league was created in 1871, and from them on the game only went from strength to strength. In the mid 1900's the game spread across the globe, and is now popular in countries as far apart as Cuba and Japan.

Its spiritual home will always be in the US though, and it is a game that will never die. As Ernie so eloquently put it:

"Baseball is continuity. Pitch to pitch. Inning to inning. Game to game. Series to series. Season to season."

May the next season be a great one for you team!