Baseball – National Pastime

Baseball was a sport, developed in the late 1800’s, and early 1900’s. Baseball is known as the National Pastime. “”The game of baseball evolved along with the United States, for games similar to the modern sport had been played in America since colonial times. In the mid-nineteenth century, New York businessman began forming baseball clubs and establishing the rules of the game””. Alexander Cartwright is the one who first created the rules. The field was shaped like a diamond, and there were four bases which were ninety feet apart.

He made it so there were only nine players aloud on each team, and outlawed throwing the ball at the runner, which could cause injury.

The first professional baseball team to be created were the Cincinnati Red Stockings. “”One of the sport’s most significant developments occurred in 1900. Byron Bancroft “”Ban”” Johnson, president of the minor-league Western Association (WA), renamed his organization the American League (AL) and announced it was now a major league operation in direct competition with the National League (NL)””. Another sport that was developed in the 1800’s was Basketball. In 1891 basketball was created by a man named James Naismith who was an instructor at the YMCA. “”The sport started when Naismith was asked by his boss to develop a new indoor game for the winter months. Naismith thought up his game while watching rugby players training by throwing rugby balls into boxes for exercise””.

The first basketball hoops were created by hanging a peach basket ten feet above the gym floor. The sport gained attention quickly and was popular almost immediately In 1896, the YMCA wanted help from the Ameteur Athletic Union to help make basketball a regular and competitive sport, and they did help. They helped make rules for basketball, and how long the season would last and how long playoffs and championships would be. The sport remained very popular at the college level until years until the National Basketball Association (NBA) would be created.

Boxing was also created in the 1800’s and it was known as “”The Brutal Sport””. It was very bloody and surrounded by controversy. In the sport, two men would be in a ring and with their bare fists, would fight with endless rounds, until one was left standing. It was not necessarily a fight to the death because the man on the ground would usually be knocked out or unable to fight due to injury.

Boxing wasn’t always legal because it was said to be a type of crime, prostitution, gambling, and drinking. In 1867, there were many improvements to the sport trying to make it legal. They created boxing gloves, for less injury, and they made each round to be three minutes long with a little break in between each. They also added the ten second knockout rule which happens if one man is on the ground for ten seconds without being held down by the opponent. If this happens, the boxing match is over and the man standing wins. Although the sport was very brutal, these rules helped make the game safer for the people playing and helped make the game legal.

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