BASEBALL
Baseball is clearly an American sport. No other nation in the world devotes as much attention or has as much love for it. It is a huge piece of American culture. Baseball, also known as “townball” came into existence around the early 19th century and ever since then has been an astounding driving force loved by millions.
The average historian agrees that baseball was created from the English game called Rounders. Small towns and baseball clubs formed teams in the beginning of the 19th century. There was a list of rules formalized in 1845. Most of that same code of rules is still in play today. It’s arguable as to who was the founding father of baseball. Some people say it was Abner Doubleday, and others believe it to be Alexander Cartwright. The vast majority believe it was Cartwright due to the amount of effort he put into forming baseball.
The first baseball contest took place in1846, and from then on Baseball began to grow. In 1858 the National Association of Base Ball Players became the first organized league for baseball. Fans were charged occasionally for admission to the games. This is how they began to make their money. After the Civil War, it was more frequent to charge spectators.
In 1869, the first professional team was born – The Cincinnati Red Stockings. The top players were selected from all over the country. This introduced the idea of paying the players. Soon the idea of amateur baseball faded away and in 1871 the National Association became the first professional baseball league.
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