A Brief History of Baseball in the USA

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Baseball is the pinnacle of Americana. The ceremonial first pitch. Singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” alongside thousands of others. Old school fans listening to the radio and jotting down stats at the same time. Peanuts, hot dogs, Cracker Jack, and nachos alongside that beautiful unnaturally yellow cheese. 

There’s a reason why baseball is known as America’s National Pastime. 

Baseball is ingrained in the psyche of this nation. It permeates through layers of American life and reflects many of our values. And despite the monstrous growth of the NFL and NBA, Major League Baseball remains near the top of highest-grossing professional sports leagues on the planet. We think that accolade deserves a little trip down memory lane…

The Origins of the Game 

Baseball was first mentioned in a 1786 diary, in which a Princeton student described playing a game he called “baste ball”. Some contest this claim and prefer to point to a 1791 ordinance from Massachusetts, where the game of baseball was banned within 80 yards of the town’s meeting house. 

Fast forward to 1845 and we have the first team to play under the rules we know today: the New York Knickerbockers. The version of the game the Knicks played was known as the “New York Game” and quickly supplanted every other version (which differed in small, yet significant, ways). 

The Rise of Baseball 

John Thorn’s excellent book on the secret history of the early game highlights that the true driver behind baseball’s growth is this: capitalism. In other words, money. Early on, baseball was a popular leisure game, sure, but the ‘adults’ and press didn’t really take notice. 

Why? Lack of stakes. Think about it. Watching a friendly game amongst amateurs is fun, but it’s not going to bring out the fervent fans. Let’s just say you’re not going to go out and buy the jerseys.

Thorn aligns baseball’s rise with gamblers noticing the popularity of the game. They cranked up the stakes by taking side bets. People loved to gamble on baseball. It gave them a sense of involvement, was a bit of fun, and sometimes you even made a little bit of money. 

Gambling created the need for box scores. People started taking notice of individual players, their strengths, their weaknesses, the way they’d bat, the type of pitches, you get the idea. 

Betting on baseball is now big business. Even the average gambler will be a bit of an amateur statistician, knowing the most random stat about a bench warmer for the Yankees. Of course, people should rely on more than the old school pen, paper, and radio; media outlets such as World Sports Network carry advanced stats that you can take to battle the betting companies. 

The Golden Age 

Gambling spurred the professional growth of the game. And then it really took off. It became tribal, with teams being founded all across the nation. People started to build an allegiance to their local teams, and the famous characters of the game propelled baseball to another level. 

When you think of the early days of baseball, you don’t think of 1786 or 1791. You think of the early 20th century. You think of the big names. Walter Johnson, Cy Young, and the biggest one of them all: Babe Ruth. He revolutionized the game by introducing the world to the power hitter. With 714 career home runs at the end of his career, he was almost 600 in front of anyone else. 

Stadiums entrenched the romantic nostalgia we have with baseball. In Fenway Park, for example, you can still smell history all around you. Other grounds were just as popular back in the day. Wrigley Field, Comiskey Park, the Polo Grounds, and Ebbets Field are just a few places where baseball history was made. 

Baseball and Civil Rights 

Baseball also had a big part to play in the civil rights movement. Jackie Robinson was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1946, with manager Branch Rickey defying the unwritten rule of not signing players of color. 

He endured racism throughout his career, yet also became one of the game’s best players and biggest stars. It paved the way for other black players to be signed by the major leagues, and introduced many Average Joes to a simple truth: we’re all created equal. 

The Modern Game (and the Future)  

MLB is still one of the most popular professional leagues on the planet. The pinnacle of the sport comes at the end of the playoffs: the heralded World Series. Partly due to the giant stadiums, the MLB has the highest attendance of any sport on the planet. 

But baseball isn’t quite what it used to be. The NFL is now the biggest league in America, with the 1994 MLB lockout having done what some say is irreparable damage to the game. The use of PEDs in the 90s and 2000s didn’t help things. Some say that baseball is going to lose even more ground to basketball and football, with soccer being a dark horse for third place. 

But we’re not so sure baseball is done. It’s still one of the most popular games in the USA. It draws millions of people every year, MLB is up there with all major sports in the world when it comes to revenue (the league has set a new revenue record for 16 straight seasons, and in countries like Venezuela and Cuba, there’s no sport that’s more popular). 

Baseball has a famous history. It has celebrated players whose names will echo for many years to come. Clubs like the Yankees, Red Sox, and the Giants won’t die out anytime soon. We think baseball is going to stick around for a long time yet. And the game is fun. Let’s face it: there’s nothing like hitting a home run.