The History of Baseball - Research Paper Example

? The History of Baseball A Brief Background on the History of Baseball The most favorite American sport has been around for centuries. And throughout time, Baseball is still gaining popularity among the Americans as well as the people around the globe. The history of baseball is quite lengthy but we will look closely to determine how the sport came to be what it is now. There are many theories regarding the origins of Baseball and there is still no concrete evidence on which theory is right. One of these theories says that baseball’s origins came from the game ‘rounders’, a popular game of the English (Gomme 37). In the early 19th century, baseball was given many names including Stool Ball, Goal Ball, Base and Town Ball. There are historians who believe that Town Ball developed from folk games while others think otherwise. The game of baseball is similar to cricket and rounders in the sense that they are played with a ball, a bat, a pitcher, a batter and running around bases in the field. This is one reason why many believe that baseball has indeed come from the game rounders. However, John Montgomery Ward, the earliest author of the origins of baseball begs to differ. He believes that baseball has developed independently and has many qualities that are American. Baseball may have some relations to cricket and rounders but the American game has developed into its own. Abner Doubleday Abner Doubleday is the man believed to be the inventor of baseball (Dunham 2). In 1939, everyone thought that Abner Doubleday was behind the sport because of a testimony of another man. However, there was no evidence to prove that he is indeed the man behind baseball. In fact, through all the papers Doubleday has written, he has never mentioned anything about being the proponent of the American sport; he never made the claim. One of the people behind this theory is Albert Spalding. In 1905, Spalding organized the Mills Commission. Members of the commission include Spalding himself, Abraham Mills, Morgan Bulkely, Arthur Gorman, Nick Young, George Wright, Alfred Reach and James Sulivan (Block 43). And from this list, none of them are historians. The commission was geared towards coming up with a report on who really is the prominent man behind the sport. In 1908, the commission published their final report concluding that Abner Doubleday invented Baseball in the town called Cooperstown, New York in the year 1939 (John Doyle Papers 49). How they came up with such a conclusion is based on the testimonies of Abner Graves, a resident of Cooperstown. Later on, such report has been proven to be a mistake as it was discovered that Doubleday wasn’t in Cooperstown at that year. To add, Graves was convicted of murder and was sent to the asylum for being insane. Alexander Cartwright Alexander Cartwright is another popular name in the history of Baseball. In 1845, Cartwright wrote the rules of a New York baseball team called Knickerbockers. And later on, Shane Foster help revolutionized the Knickerbocker rules into the modern baseball rules of today. In 1953, the Congressed credited the invention of modern baseball to Alexander Cartwright and he was included in the Baseball Hall of Fame (Peterson 8). Although the term may not be fitting, he is the most deserving to have the title. Alexander Cartwright was also the umpire of the first recorded baseball game in America dated June 19, 1846 in New Jersey. Knickerbocker Baseball Club and New York Baseball Club, 1846 During the year 1845, the Knickerbocker Club of New York City was making use of the Elysian Field in Hoboken, New Jersey. They were playing and practicing here as this is the only place that has soft ground to play on within the area. In 1846, the first recorded U.S. baseball game took place here with the Knickerbocker Club playing against the New York Nine (Seymour 27). The New York Nine won the game. Because of the success of this game, more amateur teams were formed. By the year 1957, the National Association of Baseball Players was formed and 25 amateur teams joined. This organization paved the way for the first baseball league and baseball enthusiasts came to watch. The Elysian Fields was the home field of all the games before but when the organization started earning money, they made two baseball parks in Brooklyn. Fans were charged admission fees (Springwood 18). Baseball in the 1860s During the early 1960s, the United States were experiencing tough times. Civil War was happening and this also affected the sport. The formation of baseball clubs dropped during this time. Nonetheless, Union soldiers still bring the love of the sport with them wherever they go. This paved the way for baseball becoming more popular in other cities and once the civil war ended; baseball has become more popular than ever (Seymour 32). And in 1868, there was a baseball league convention held and it drew 100 baseball clubs all over the country. The convention aimed to help teams that were lacking in funds. Usually, teams had to win games in order to get sponsorship to pay for their expenses. They also asked for donations to add to their finances. Although the league was supposed to be only formed by amateur players, there are still players who were secretly paid to play and win games. In 1869, the first professional team was formed and they were Cincinnati Red Stockings (Seymour 36). The managers of this team were Harry and George Wright and they recruited the best players in the state. Their record for the season was 65-0. Amateur teams find it hard to compete with such a team, thus, more professional teams came into the picture while amateur teams diminished. Professional Baseball Leagues, 1870-1900 The year 1871 marked the first professional baseball league and nine teams were able to join. By the year 1875, there were 13 teams in the league already. This professional league is a product of 25 years of playing baseball. Unfortunately, where there is money there are also gamblers. Gamblers started to infiltrate games by asking bets from the crowd and selling liquors as well. The National Association started to crumble down because of this and the crowd was driven away by such practices. The National Association was headed by players who run their teams. Not long, the National Association was replaced by the National League which was headed by businessmen. This way, there will be standards and policies set on each game. Ticket prices were determined, a formal schedule was formed and player contracts were also looked at. The National Association’s attempt seems promising. But by 1882, another association was formed and it rivaled the National League (Seymour 45). They offered lower ticket prices and gathered professional teams from the main cities. To avoid any conflict, both leagues decide to come up with an agreement; it is called the National Agreement. The agreement states that all teams, both from minor and major leagues should honor each other’s player contracts. Further, it stipulates that a reserve clause is used to bind certain players that you want to keep in your team. This reserve clause will allow player contracts to be renewed, thus, binding him with the team. Such change wasn’t supported by many players and in 1884, the created their own league called the Union Association. Players who stood by their principles left their teams and joined the Union Association instead. Sadly, this association was short-lived and it only lasted one season. They don’t have enough funds to continue on for another season. In 1980, another attempt was made and it was called the Players League. Players from the American Association and National League helped form this new league but it only lasted for one season as well. Because it has gone bankrupt, the best teams from the Players League joined the National League. Professional Baseball Leagues, 1900-2000 After a decade, the biggest challenger in the professional baseball league was formed and they were called the American League. By the year 1901, the American League started recruiting the best players from the National League. But the National League wasn’t quick to just give out their most profitable teams; instead, they formed a three man commission and looked for a solution on how these two leagues can co-exist without rivalry (Sullivan 54). This is also the time when the game was slightly changed and improved. The cork center for the baseball ball was introduced in 1911. Before, baseball was popular for base stealing and the hard batters, but when this new baseball ball was introduced, batting records of the most popular players decreased dramatically. This new challenged seemed to be like by spectators and the game became more popular (Bullock 52). After three years, a new league was formed and they seek to challenge the National and American League that dominated the baseball scene. They are named the Federal League and they started with a bang. The Federal League sued the two major leagues saying that they formed a monopoly. The court recognized the monopoly but the Federal League dropped out of the baseball scene just after two seasons. By 1960s, a new league wanted to challenge the existing leagues and they are called the Continental League. They also brought the case to the court where major leagues settled with a compromise. They decided to expand from 16 teams to 24 teams. Such compromised was well received by players; an expansion would mean more jobs. Baseball also started growing with radio and TV contracts here and there. The league was getting richer while the players are not. As Alexander Charles pointed out, this is one of the major problems faced by the league (Charles 86) at this time, salaries of players were stagnant and weren’t increasing even if the league was earning. Players decide to join unions with the hope that they can at least control some aspect of the games and help increase their pay. For more than 30 years, the union had very little voice and they decided to hire Marvin Miller to aid them in their cause. He was successful in giving players leverage with the 1968 collective bargaining agreement that will allow players to file complaints if they are treated poorly. Owners of businesses didn’t like this at all. Players can now make demands on their salaries and this will damage the money making business. Another issue that players wanted to address was the reserve clause. Players like Curt Flood, Dave McNally and Andy Messersmith complained that this clause is illegal and fortunately, the arbitrator sided with their cause and the free agency was born. Free agency allows the player to sign a contract with other teams if his contract of years with the current team is a done deal. Such an agreement was beneficial for both sides; the owners and the players. Owners took it to themselves to bid and trade for the best players they can find. Player salaries were going up. However, owners feel that they got the lesser receiving end of the bargain. They ask that they should be given compensation once the team lost the player. They say that it will be a lost investment on their part as they were spending money developing the player’s skills and talents. Of course, players didn’t like this at all and in the middle of the 1981 season, players walked out from their teams. After four years, the salary arbitration was put to question again. Owners believed that with the salary arbitration, it will help keep salaries at minimum but players compelled this. In a turn of events, the 1986 season marked the drying up free agencies. Players found no bidders for their contracts and they just settled with previous teams with lower salaries. This position went on for years and finally, an arbitrator discovered that the owners were in this together. Players were given compensation for the damages done. In 1992, the labor contract was about to expire and the owners didn’t want Commissioner Fray Vincent to interfere with the negotiation of a new policy. Owners wanted to remove the salary arbitration and free agency as it is ruining their business. They were proposing a salary cap that they deem is necessary for the league’s survival. Players were on strike during labor contract expirations. Players were on lock out and this prompted the cancellation of the 1992 World Series (Tygiel 76). Bill Clinton was the president of the United States this time and his heart went to the thousands of baseball fans who got heartbroken with the cancellation. He appointed a mediator to fix the problem but it wasn’t successful. Owners were committed to making their own plans and even got replacement players to play for the 1995 season. However, players complained and asked for a restraining order on owners that prohibit them to proceed with any new plan unless agreements with the old players has been implemented and carried out. It was only in November 1996 that the labor contract was finalized. Conclusion With the long and troublesome history of baseball, we can still conclude that Major League Baseball wouldn’t be as successful today without all the trials it has gone through. Baseball is a part of American culture and it is one of the most favorite sports of Americans of all time (Reilly 73). With the drawbacks in the past centuries, it can take a lot of work before Baseball will gain as much popularity as leagues like the National Basketball Association or the National Football League. The proud history of the sport is the primary reason why it has survived and why baseball fans should be continuously optimistic for the future of baseball. References Alexander, Charles. Breaking the Slump: Baseball in the Depression Era. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. Block, David. Baseball before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2005. Bullock, Steven. Playing for Their Nation: Baseball and the American Military during World War II. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. Dunham, Montrew. Abner Doubleday Boy Baseball Pioneer. Patria Press, 2005. Gomme, Alice. The Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland. London: David Nutt, 1898. John Doyle Papers. National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown NY Peterson, Harold. The Man Who Invented Baseball. New York: Scribner’s, 1973. Rielly, Edward. Book Title: Baseball: An Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2001. Seymour, Harold. Baseball. Vol 1. The Early Years. New York: Oxford University Press, 1960. Springwood, Charles. Cooperstown to Dyersville: A Geography of Baseball Nostalgia. Colombia, Westview Press, 1996. Sullivan, Dean. Middle Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1900-1948. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2001. Tygiel, Jules. Past Time: Baseball as History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Read More