Baseball History
Baseball is
one of the most organized sports. Every
member of each team gets his/her turn to bat the ball, and everyone has his own
place in the diamond. This report talks about the origin of baseball in
different countries and a couple of people whose names are necessary to mention
when we are talking about the history of baseball
The origin
of baseball is not completely known. There is an artwork in the British Museum
that was found in ancient Egypt 2000 years ago, which shows traces of a sport
played with a bat and ball. That evidence is the oldest one they could find
about a sport played with a bat and a ball.
There is
evidence of baseball in Russia that is from the fourteenth century. They had a
sport played with a ball and a bat called Lapta. It consisted of two teams,
from five to ten members in each team with a batter and a pitcher. There are a
few similarities in baseball and cricket, which makes people think that cricket
has something to do in the invention of baseball. The first recorded cricket
match was held in Sussex, England in 1697. In Germany they played a game called
Schlagball, which was more similar to rounders than baseball. The ball was
tossed by the bowler to the striker who struck it with a bat and attempted to
complete the circuit of the bases without being hit by the ball. In the 1800’s,
the Americans played a version of rounders, which was called town ball.
In 1903, a
British sportswriter Henry Chadwick published an article claiming that baseball
is derived from a British sport called rounders. He doesn’t have realevidence
to his theory, but on the other hand you will see that baseball and rounders
have a lot of similarities. For instance, the shape of the playing ground, how
the game starts, and how to score runs. Hence, Henry Chadwick’s theory can be true,
but every theory has its doubts. A baseball executive Albert Splading,
disagreed with Chadwick, saying that baseball is originally an American sport
and begun on American soil. Splading and Chadwick appointed a meeting, headed
by Abraham Mills, the fourth president of the National league. There were six
other sports executives in the meeting. The results of the meeting, was that
they declared that a United state Army officer and Union general in the
American civil war called Abner Doubleday created the sport. The meeting was
held in 1903, which was 15 years after the death of Doubleday.
On June 4,
1838, which was before Abner Doubleday was credited with inventing baseball,
two teams from Oxford and Zorra played a match in Beachivlle, Ontario. That
match is now recognised as the first documented game in North America history.
The person who documented this game was Dr. Adam Ford, a former resident of St,
Marys, Ontario, which then became home to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
On May 5, 1886 Dr. Adam recounted the details of the game in a letter published
in Sporting Life Magazine. In addition, Dr. Adam provided a complete list of
the players who participated in the historic game.
The first
official rules of baseball were adopted and developed by Alexander J.
Cartwright on September 23, 1845. Those rules are referred to as the
Knickerbocker Rules, and that’s because the first team played under these rules
the day they were ratified were called Knickerbocker. Today’s rules of baseball
are evolved from Knickerbocker rules.
To conclude
with, the origin of baseball has its doubts. A group of people disagree with
Mills meeting. Some believe that there were two Doubledays and people mixed
them up. However, history is like a legend and every legend differs with its
teller.
“Let
him hit it, you’ve got fielders behind you,” - Alexander J. Cartwright
References
- Baseball History: 19th Century Baseball. (n.d.). Baseball History: 19th Century Baseball. Retrieved January 8, 2014, from http://www.19cbaseball.com
- Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum » First Recorded Baseball Game. (n.d.). Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum » First Recorded Baseball Game. Retrieved January 10, 2014, from http://baseballhalloffame.ca/museum/inductees/first-recorded-baseball-game/
- Knickerbocker Baseball Rules. (n.d.). Knickerbocker Baseball Rules. Retrieved January 8, 2014, from http://www.baseball-almanac.com/rule11.shtml
- The 'Secret History' Of Baseball's Earliest Days. (2011, March 16). NPR. Retrieved January 7, 2014, from http://www.npr.org/2011/03/16/134570236/the-secret-history-of-baseballs-earliest-days
