The True Origins Of Baseball
Posted: Sunday, October 02, 2011
by elle kynzer
Baseball's origins lie in the British game known as Rounders. Contrary to a myth that claims Abner Doubleday, born 1819, created baseball, there is a Pittsfield, Massachusetts by-law passed in 1791, to protect the new Meeting House from ball (rounders) players. In 1820 Alexander Cartright is born, and he developed baseball into a sport for America.
We think of baseball being as American, as hot dogs and apple pie. The baseball stadium is one of the first places Dad's take their sons, and the front yard practices are to prepare the youngster for a career in sports. Eventually, many graduate to the game of Football, but some have a love of baseball their whole life, at least that's how it used to be. Football has now forced it's way onto our television, and claimed the hearts and minds of most men in this generation.
I'll never forget my first trip to watch a professional baseball game in Atlanta. There is such an air of excitement, and for some reason the food seems to taste better, when you have a personal stake in who wins. Besides who can resist those guys yellling "hot dogs, hot dogs, get your hot dogs here". The whole process from the National Anthem to the final Ninth inning screams USA, but Baseball was actually created from a British game for America's entertainment.
After nine innings the game is over, unless the teams are tied, and then extra innings are played. The longest baseball game played in history was 33 innings between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings on April 18, 1991, which ran into April 19, 1991. The game had to be paused, and finished on June 23rd, with Pawtucket getting a run in the 33 rd inning. The total time for the game was 8 hours and 25 minutes, with 882 pitches.
http://timelines.ws/subjects/Baseball.HTML
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/24/sports/baseball/24longest.html
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)True to a point. I may do a follow up on the origins, but I have so many other stories about it. Thanks, again, for continually particpatingPlease log in to respond to this comment.
You know your baseball. I don't. Yet all your points are well written and I enjoyed reading the article from beginning to end. Think I may have picked up a point or two and plan on sort of sliding them into the conversation at dinner tomorrow evening. Surprise them. Do the unexpected - you know say something that will make them wonder what I might have been up to. I love learning new things all the time. Thanks for a neat subject for me.Please log in to respond to this comment.Baseball has many claims to it's origin, and that has been a subject of controversy for as long as it has existed. The two links I gave, one is about the timeline, however 'stoolball' was also credited "from England" as it's origin, but stoolball was a girl's game of baseball.
There was a book and poem dating as early as 1744; a girls game from Ireland aka 'stoolball', and many men would not give a girl's game the origin of baseball. Here in link from Wikepedia for that claim, to really spice up your conversation...the meeting house law was the first reference I could find in America, which gave us claim to baseball, in a game here known as rounders:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_baseballPlease log in to respond to this comment.
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