It began as an off shoot of the English child’s game Rounders, which is itself a version of Cricket. Early mentions of the game have it played starting in the 18th century. Yet we can say with some certainty that by the time of the Civil War people in America were enamored with it. . Stories from the war tell how players on both sides of the conflict would halt fighting and play. The game has remained a central part of American Culture for the last one hundred and fifty years.
Baseball, as the game would become known as, was first played between the New York Knickerbockers and the New York Baseball Club in 1846 on Elysian Fields in New Jersey. Ironically the city so closely related to the game today was unable to play host to these teams as the state of New York had made it illegal to play baseball. By 1869 when the first professional ballplayers took the field in Cincinnati the sport had taken America by storm. The role of Baseball within American culture was already set, some four years into reconstruction.
The sport primarily stayed in northern cities and yet some of the greatest heroes were southerners. No National or American league team played in a former Confederate state until the Houston Astros were officially formed as the Houston Colt 44′s in the 1960′s. Until then the furthest south a team played was Maryland and Missouri. Today only the Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays and Florida Marlins play in former Confederate states. Yet three of baseball’s earliest big name players all grew up in former CSA held states: Ty Cobb (GA), “Shoeless” Joe Jackson (SC), and Tris Speaker (Tx.) George Herman “Babe” Ruth was born in Maryland, a state that came dangerously close to secession and was a slave state. Southern born players, particularly those born in the Reconstruction or post Reconstruction period found fame and fortune playing in front of Northern fans. Ty Cobb became one of the most well paid players in the game, and died a millionaire. Joe Jackson made more playing baseball than most of South Carolina’s residents could hope to make in a life time (SC had gone from the wealthiest to the poorest state in the same of 4 years during the 1860′s.) Even at least one black man was able to find success and equality by playing in the Major Leagues. Moses Fleetwood Walker beat out Jackie Robinson by sixty-three years by playing professional major league white baseball for the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association. Ironically, Walker was born in 1856 but not as a slave, rather as the son of the first black physician in Mt. Pleasant, Ohio. The inclusion of Walker in the professional baseball ranks is important because it parallels America’s relations with blacks. Blacks were eligible to vote long before the 15th Amendment was granted to them, in fact at various points in American’ history blacks were granted the right to vote (it is even believed that Lewis & Clark granted the one black slave who was with them the right to vote…) During Reconstruction blacks were found in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives, but it would take until 1965 for another to reach that same plateau.
Baseball has always shadowed trends in America. Baseball players held the same opinions as every other American. When Ty Cobb charged into the stands to beat a hand less man for calling him a “nigger”, most Americans (many states even officially) applauded Cobb’s actions. Many players were known members of the KKK (Cobb, ironically for many, was not a member.) Even in the 1940′s while men were off fighting Hitler and the Japs, baseball followed other businesses by hiring women. The All American Girls Baseball League was a short lived experiment, but marks the only time women have played professional major league baseball.
The game of baseball even mimics life in America directly. Like America, baseball teams have nine players. Unlike basketball, hockey and football, Baseball is an individual sport with a team sport. Everyone on the team has to rely on each other to do their job. On the side lines are impartial judges, these judges have universal and absolute say over interpretation of the rules. It is the oldest professional sport in America.
The National Football League was founded in 1920. During World War II President Franklin Roosevelt insisted on baseball continuing since it provided a morale booster for the people of America; Football was not. Until 1994 Baseball ruled American sports, it took a work stoppage to allow Football a chance at toppling the sport. Few things in American history have run along side the current of America like baseball has. Baseball is as much a part of American culture as George Washington not telling a lie. Baseball is perfectly perfect among its many imperfections. It’s a sport where the greatest statistically hitter of all time still failed 7 out of 10 times. The greatest heroes of the game were racists, sexists, uneducated, over grown children. Very few kids in America grew up wanting to be the guy who hit the buzzer beater in game 7 of the NBA championships, or caught/threw the winning touchdown in the closes seconds of the fourth quarter of the Superbowl. Yet kids across the country over the last century have grown up wanting to be the guy who hits the game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth, with two out in game 7 of the World Series.
