All about Baseball: A journey from past to present

Video: The WORST call by an umpire in Baseball history.

New York Knickerbocker Base Ball Club Rules Set Though formal rules for “Base ball” can be found as far back as 1838 in Philadelphia, the first set of rules which resemble the game today come from the New York Knickerbocker Base Ball Club, a group of about thirty young men who regularly played the game. The rules they established (which are still used today) include a diamond-shaped field, making the “balk” illegal, introducing foul lines, three strikes-and-out for a batter and that runners must be tagged or thrown out. The first official game played under these rules was on June 19, 1846 in Hoboken, New Jersey, between the Knickerbockers and the New York Base Ball Club (with the Knickerbockers losing 23-1).

The National Pastime The first reference to baseball as “the National Pastime” came from the New York Mercury newspaper in 1856, though the title then was a bit premature. Baseball in that time emerged as a New York game played primarily by immigrants. Newcomers to America took to the game by scores, forming their own baseball clubs, while the Knickerbockers continued to refine the game.

Growth Of Baseball The spread of baseball occurred primarily after the American Civil War. Because cricket required finely cut grounds, it was harder to play the game during the war. Baseball, on the other hand, could be played almost anywhere. Additionally, though the majority of clubs belonged to middle-class merchants, the 1850s and 60s saw the rise of working-class teams, which became the most popular among the fans of the game, most of whom were working-class people themselves.

First Pro Team Cincinnati Red Stockings The country’s first “all-professional” baseball team emerged in 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, financed by a group of Ohio investors. Each player was paid a salary, with the highest paid player, shortstop George Wright, earning $1,400 per season – a value equal to almost $23,000 a year now. However, in 1870, the manager of the team moved it to Boston. A year later, the newly-minted Boston Red Stockings, along with eight other teams from Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Washington, Troy (New York), Fort Wayne (Indiana), Cleveland and Rockford (Illinois) formed the National Association of Professional Ball Players.

The National And American Leagues:

National League After only five years in existence, the National Association was struggling, and in the winter of 1876, William A. Hulbert, the owner of the Chicago White Stockings, poached five of the best players in the league from two of the other teams, and formed the National League, along with teams from Boston, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Hartford, New York, Philadelphia and Louisville. Owners ruled the league with an iron fist; players who complained about salaries were fired, and often blacklisted. One of the first documented cases of gambling in baseball occurred only a year later, when, in 1877, four members of the Louisville Grays were found to have thrown games on purpose, paid by gamblers to do so. The players said it was because their owners had not paid them.

The Game’s Early Stars:

Cy Young Between the National League and the emergence of the American League, baseball’s growing popularity helped introduce some of the game’s first stars, names that live on in baseball lore. When Hulbert formed the National League by poaching other players, one of those players was Cap Anson, still third on baseball’s all time Runs Batted In (RBI) list. One of the star pitchers in the first “World’s Series” in 1903 was a man named Denton True Young, though his nickname, “Cy,” is more commonly known to fans today. Baseball’s all-time leader in wins, losses, games started, innings pitched and complete games has the annual award given to the best pitcher in each league named for him, the Cy Young award. It’s important to note, however, that when Young was pitching, the notion of relief pitchers hadn’t really been introduced. Of the 815 games he started in his career, Young finished 749; compare that to the most recent player on the all-time games started list, Greg Maddux: he started 740 games in his career (fourth all-time), but pitched only 109 complete games. It’s assumed no one will ever beat Young’s records.

Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner The 1909 World Series between Pittsburgh and Detroit was, at the time, thought by many to settle the argument of greatest ballplayer, a contest between two ballplayers named Tyrus Cobb and John Peter Wagner, known today as Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner. In the series, Wagner outhit Cobb, in addition to compiling more stolen bases and winning the title. Many of their contemporaries later said Wagner was the best they’d ever seen, better than Cobb; Ty’s drawback was his personality and playing style – one of the most hated men on or off the field in baseball history, Cobb was regularly referred to as “the dirtiest player in baseball.” Historical stats, however, back up Cobb: the Detroit outfielder still holds the record for highest career batting average, hitting .367 lifetime. He’s second all-time in runs, hits and triples, and fourth in stolen bases and doubles. Wagner’s only top-five finish in the major hitting categories all-time is fourth in triples.

Players’ Rights And The Federal League:

Iron Fist Of Owners Though players began to enjoy better conditions following A.G. Spaulding’s ascension to ownership, owners still controlled the game with an iron fist in its early history, giving players few rights. Ban Johnson, president of the American League, dictated players’ actions regardless of their protests, rarely bending to their requests or pleas. Star players were sometimes coddled, but more often than not, the only thing that could sway a Johnson decision was overwhelming public outrage.

Fraternity of Professional Base Ball Players After the 1912 season, a group of ballplayers, including some of the game’s biggest stars like Cobb and Walter Johnson (a pitcher for the Washington Senators), formed the Fraternity of Professional Base Ball Players. However, initially, the owners simply ignored the Fraternity. This disregard for players’ voices helped lead to the foundation of the Federal League in 1913, formed by a group of businessmen hoping to get in on the success of baseball. The Federal League sought to poach players from the majors by promising them bigger money and the chance to become free agents. The Federal League, made up of eight teams, lasted for two seasons. In order to help drive out the Federal League, owners agreed to recognize the Fraternity of Professional Base Ball Players and agreed to a few demands: owners now paid for uniforms, the outfield fences were painted green so batters could see the ball better and not get hit as often, and salaries were raised, at first for star players, and later for all players. Ty Cobb’s salary, the highest in baseball, increased from $12,000 to $20,000 in the first season of salary hikes (which, in today’s dollars, would have been a salary of $441,000 dollars). However, once the Federal League died out, owners began to ignore the players again, in many cases reverting their salaries back to pre-Federal League levels, and in some cases lowering them even further. The Federal League and the Fraternity flared out, and poor conditions continued, which many believe helped lead to the game’s first true black mark.

 The Era Of The Hitter:

First Fatality In Baseball 1920 saw baseball’s first fatality; Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians was hit in the head by a pitch, and died the next day. This tragedy spurred baseball to outlaw the doctoring of its baseballs. Prior to the rule, baseballs were scuffed, spit on, blackened with tar and licorice, sandpapered and scarred. Now, as soon as ball got dirty, the umpire had to replace it with a new one – a practice that continues today. The balance of power in baseball shifted from the pitcher’s mound to the batter’s box. With this shift arose a new star in baseball, one whose fame would eclipse all others to that point in history.

Babe Ruth George Herman Ruth began his baseball career in 1914 as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. The man they called “Babe” was the best in the league, winning 89 games over six seasons. In 1919, the Sox shifted him to center field so he could hit more often, as he was a home run hitter the likes of which the game had never seen. And then, “The Trade.” The Red Sox owner, Harry Frazee, had been selling off his players to the New York Yankees as a way to make cash to finance Broadway productions. Babe Ruth became a casualty of the fire sale in 1920, selling for $120,000, almost $1.3 million today. The price wasn’t nearly high enough – the trade helped cripple Boston and elevate the Yankees, and Ruth began slugging home runs in record numbers. In 1920, his first season with the Yankees, Ruth hit 54 home runs, more than all but one team in the entire league. Ruth’s star burned brighter than any of his predecessors, largely because home runs drew crowds (and still do). Ruth had become the game’s first megastar, making more money than any player before him, primarily through endorsements; Babe pitched everything from breakfast cereal to soap to Girl Scout cookies. In 1923, the Yankees opened a new ballpark, Yankee Stadium, and Ruth, coming back from a disappointing 1922 season marred by numerous suspensions for his conduct on and off the field, hit a home run in his first at-bat. The stadium was forever after known as “The House That Ruth Built.” With Ruth’s success, he had ushered in an era which favored the power hitter, rather than the game of bunting, stealing and the hit-and-run.

Reaping The Crops From The Farm:

Major League Teams Buy Up Minor League Teams For Cheap Though the revolution of power hitting in baseball shook the game to its core, changing it forever, it was quite possibly not the most monumental change the game saw in the 1920s. An executive with the St. Louis Cardinals organization was struggling to put together a decent team; because the club was strapped for cash, they couldn’t sign players out of the minor leagues, and often had to trade multiple players in return for just one, as a way to make some cash. In order to try and solve this problem, the executive began buying up minor league teams and funneling the most promising players to his major league squad, baseball’s first farm system. Many of baseball’s leaders thought the practice a disgrace – Kennesaw Mountain Landis declared it “un-American.” However, the rest of the major league teams had all done the same thing. By the mid-20s, three out of ten major leaguers came up through the farm system. Baseball had been changed forever. The irony is, the man who came up with the idea, Branch Rickey, is barely remembered for this remarkable achievement; rather, he is only remembered for signing a player named Jackie Robinson to play in the big leagues years later.

New York And The West:

New York Yankees, Giants and Dodgers Baseball in the ‘50s belonged to New York, which at the time had three teams, the Yankees in the American League and the Giants and Dodgers in the National League. Between 1949 and 1958, the World Series featured at least one New York squad, and six times had two. One of the years when two New York teams played in the series, 1951, was more famous for its National League championship play-off series. The Giants and the Dodgers, bitter rivals in the Empire City, tied for first in the NL at the end of the season, and played a three-game series to determine who would play the Yankees for the title. Tied a game apiece, and down 4-1 going into the final inning, the Giants stormed back, with Bobby Thompson hitting a game-ending three run homer called “The Shot Hear ‘Round the World.” Few remember that the Giants went on to lose to the Yankees in the World Series.

Mickey Mantle DiMaggio retired in December of ’51, but, in what was becoming a pattern in baseball, and particularly with the Yankees, a replacement star was stepping up to the plate. Mickey Mantle, a rookie in DiMaggio’s final season, took over Joltin’ Joe’s spot in center field for the Bronx Bombers. At the end of his career, Mantle would find his place alongside DiMaggio as one of the greatest Yankees of all time. Still, his career was somewhat tumultuous; he was often injured, and because such high expectations were placed on him (Mantle himself said he was expected to be “Ruth, Gehrig and DiMaggio, all rolled up into one”), he was often booed by Yankee fans anticipating near-perfection.

The Effect Of Television On The Game But with New York domination, baseball as a whole suffered. The ‘50s saw a shift in the country out of the eastern cities to the suburbs and the West Coast, a region that had no big-league ballclubs. Additionally, the advent of television was thought by many to have a negative effect on the game. While radio had increased attendance for the teams that used it, television was decreasing attendance. Owners scrambled to find ways to draw people to the ballpark, and none was more inventive than Bill Veeck. As general manager of the Indians, he signed Larry Doby and Satchel Paige, the great Negro Leaguer, to break the color barrier in the AL. Helming the Chicago White Sox, he installed an exploding scoreboard that shot off fireworks for home runs and victories (a gimmick still employed by the White Sox today). Running the St. Louis Browns, Veeck came up with some of his best work. His publicity stunts with the Browns included Grandstand Managers’ Day, in which fans were given placards that said things like “Bunt,” “Steal” and “Yank the pitcher,” and the on-field manager was forced to obey, and signing Eddie Gaedel for one day. Gaedel stood 3 feet, 7 inches, with a strike zone that measured just one and a half inches. Gaedel pinch hit, walking on four straight pitches, then was pulled for a pinch runner.

Teams Move Around The Country But Veeck’s little tricks didn’t do enough, and baseball’s landscape began to change. The Browns abandoned St. Louis for Baltimore and became the Orioles. The Philadelphia A’s moved to Kansas City, while the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee. But the ‘50s were not wholly a time of despair for Major League Baseball. The ‘50s saw the advent of a player who would be considered by many the best to ever play the game – both before and since. Willie Mays, who broke in with the Giants in 1951, would go on to hit .302 for his career, winning 12 Gold Gloves for best fielder at his position, hit 660 home runs (fourth on the all-time list) and become the first player to hit 300 home runs and steal 300 bases. Players, managers and fans alike heaped praise on the young centerfielder.
Baseball Teams Go West The ‘50s also saw the beginning of the great migration west, not just by America, but by baseball. In its history, the furthest team west played in Missouri – until 1957. It was in that year that Walter O’Malley decided he wanted to move out of Brooklyn, and found a willing home in Los Angeles. He convinced New York Giants owner Horace Stoneham to go with him, moving the Giants to San Francisco. New York was no longer the baseball capital of America, and baseball’s westward expansion had truly begun.

The 1960s:

New Bigger Shinier Stadiums As much as the ‘50s saw great changes in baseball, the game’s transformation only became more complete in the next decade. The old game, played by legends like Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, was disappearing. The old ballparks – Ebbett’s Field, home of the Dodgers, Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field, Philly’s Shibe Park and Crosley Field in Cincinnati, all historic sites, were torn down, making way for newer, shinier stadiums.

Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris Even records were falling, notably those of Babe Ruth. During the World Series in 1961, Whitey Ford of the Yankees threw 33 2/3 scoreless innings in a row, eclipsing the Babe’s mark. But it was a chase for another record during the ’61 regular season that got all the attention. Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, both of the Yankees, battled in a season-long race for 61 home runs, a mark that would top Ruth’s record of 60. On the final day of the season, Maris hit a home run to the right field bleachers in the fourth inning, setting a new single-season home run record, one that would stand until 1998.

Branch Rickey Branch Rickey, in one last attempt to continue revolutionizing baseball, tried to start up a new league, the Continental League, putting teams in cities without baseball (and two teams back in New York). The other owners cut him off at the pass, agreeing to expand each league by two teams and increasing the length of the regular season from 154 games to 162 (which is where it still stands today). The ‘1960’s saw both expansion and shift: the Los Angeles Angels sprouted up in 1961, moving to Anaheim five years later, becoming the California Angels (and much later the Anaheim Angels, and most recently the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim). In 1962, two new teams joined the National League – one, based in Houston, the Colt .45s, became the Astros just a few years, the other in Queens, the New York Mets. The Washington Senators moved to Minnesota and became the Twins in 1961. In 1966, the Braves moved once against, this time from Milwaukee to Atlanta, where they remain to this day, and in ’68, the Kansas City A’s also relocated for the second time, shifting now to Oakland, their permanent location at present.

College Baseball:

While the earliest history of the game details a side-by-side development with college baseball, the professional game left college in its wake. While the College World Series is televised yearly, it doesn’t receive nearly the kind of ratings that even much regular season baseball gets. With a much higher percentage of its players from foreign countries, and with a minor league system in place that allows players to forego college, baseball has far less of a need for a vibrant collegiate game than its counterparts in football or basketball; the closest comparison is to hockey, which fields the same high percentage of foreign players and a vast minor league system which eschews the necessity of college. The College Baseball Hall of Fame only came into existence in 2006; the sport simply fares better on the professional stage.

Baseball At Present:

Salaries are now Telephone Numbers Though the current game closely resembles its ancestor of the early 1900s on the field, off the field, it has changed dramatically. Currently, the highest paid ballplayer in the league is Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees, who earns $33 million a year, a sum it would take Ty Cobb 412 seasons to equal at his highest yearly salary. (Even if converting Cobb’s salary to today’s dollars, it would still take the Georgia Peach over 38 seasons to earn as much as A-Rod.) Baseball’s owners spend well over a billion dollars on player salaries alone, and make far, far more than that in revenue. Baseball’s most valuable franchise, the Yankees, is estimated to be worth over $1.3 billion dollars. Many argue over whether these gaudy numbers are good or bad for the game; regardless of whose side is right, the trends show no sign of stopping.

Baseball Game Is Slowing Down Baseball is also struggling with updating the game. Instant replay has recently been added, but only to examine home runs. Proponents of instant replay say the game is better off by making sure calls are right; opponents counter that the game has always been decided by humans and should continue to be. Additionally, baseball is dealing with the lengthening of its games: while in the 1920s baseball games typically lasted under 2 hours, by 1975 that had grown to 2 hours and 25 minutes. Currently, the average is just under 3 hours. In a world that’s moving faster, baseball is slowing down in almost every conceivable way. Whether or not they can catch up will determine if the national pastime will fall by the wayside of American sports.

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