History of Major League Baseball
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Professional baseball officially began in 1876, upon the reaching of the 1876 National League Constitution and the establishment of the National League, the first professional baseball league. Twenty-six years later, the 1903 National Agreement was struck, forming Major League Baseball for the first time.
Since then, the 1903 agreement -- now known as the Major League Constitution -- has evolved into a modernized document which acts as the operating laws of Major League Baseball. The thirty team league has Bud Selig at its helm as commissioner, but each team is independently owned and operated.
Major League Baseball has crowned a champion annually since its founding in 1903, with two exceptions: in 1904, as the New York Giants of the National League refused to play the perceived-as-inferior American League champions (the Boston Red Sox); and in 1994, when a player strike ended the season prematurely.
[edit] History
[edit] The Origins of the Game
In 1905, Major League Baseball -- on the urging of sporting goods baron Al Spalding -- organized a commission to determine the origins of baseball. By 1908, the commission, relying on the letter of a friend of Abner Doubleday's, concluded that Doubleday invented the game and coined the term "baseball" in 1839, in Cooperstown, New York, now home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. This finding is most certainly a myth, albeit a oft-told one. But the letter-writer was merely five years old in 1839, and more importantly, historical examples of baseball predate Doubleday's alleged invention by almost fifty years. Further, Doubleday, a former Civil War general famous for firing the first shots in defense of Fort Sumter, had written many journals of his own, and none of them mention baseball.
Indeed, the origins of baseball are unknown, but go back almost as far as does the founding of the United States. The first known mention of the word "baseball" in American lore is from 1791, when "Pittsfield, Massachusetts city officials released an authenticated document revealing that a 1791 bylaw was created there to protect the windows of a new meeting house by prohibiting anyone from playing baseball within 80 yards of the building."[1]
Throughout the next fifty-plus years, the history of the game is ill-preserved. Mentions are sporadic yet certainly in existence; for example, in 1798, Jane Austen pens a novel, Northanger Abbey, mentioning "base-ball"; while in 1810, a French book of boy's game describes a game involving four bases which the runner needs to safely reach in order.[2]
However, it was not until 1845, that the modern game starting taking place, with a simple yet important step: the codification of the rules.
In 1845, Alexander Cartwright and the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York formalized the rules as "the Knickerbocker Rules". These twenty rules outline some basic guidelines, and are historically agreed to be the framework upon which the modern game is fashioned.
[edit] 1876: The Founding of the National League
[edit] 1903: The Major League Are Formed
[edit] Baseball in the Second World War
On December 7, 1941, Japanese forces attacked the United States' naval base on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, drawing the Americans into World War II. With America now at war, and with many players being called into active duty, commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis asked whether it would be proper for Major League Baseball to continue operations as war waged overseas.
Via his famous Green Light Letter, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt responded. Stating that "it would be best for the country to keep baseball going," Roosevelt prevented the game from lapsing.
Nevertheless, the war took its toll on baseball. Many players had their careers interrupted by the war; most notably, Ted Williams missed three seasons in his prime -- 1943 through 1945, inclusive -- as he was called into the Marines. Williams hit 36 home runs in the season before his tour and 38 in the season after; some estimations suggest that he would have hit an additional 100+ home runs during the period he missed.
Another side effect of the war was the use of otherwise unready players. In the case of Joe Nuxhall, "unready" was an understatement. In February of 1944, the Cincinnati Reds went to scout his father, Orville. When they learned that Orville was not interested, their attention jumped to Joe himself. One problem: Nuxhall, while alread 6'2" and 190 poinds, was only 15 years old. Nevertheless, the Reds signed him and on June 10th, he mad his Major League debut -- two-thirds of an inning pitched, five walks, two hits, one wild pitch, and five runs given up as the Reds fell to the St. Louis Cardinals, 18-0.
Other dates for subheadings:
- Dead Ball Era
- Black Sox Scandal
- Federal Baseball Club v. National League (1922)
- Babe Ruth
- Formation of Hall of Fame
- Jackie Robinson
- Formation of MLBPA and Marvin Miller
- Continental League and Expansion
...
