preview

Origin Of Baseball Essay

Better Essays

The Origin Of Baseball With upwards of ten million people participating in the sport of baseball in the United States alone, it is apparent that baseball is one of the world’s most popular sports. Throughout the years, the sport of baseball has evolved from a humble game played on empty sandlots to “America’s national pastime.” The game has come a long way, but how did this game come to be? Everything has its humble beginnings, and baseball is no different. Games that resemble baseball have been around for centuries, and they have led to the development of baseball itself. The game of baseball originated from a game called rounders. Rounders consisted of two teams, a striking team and a fielding team. The striking team’s goal was to hit the ball in order to score “rounders,” or runs, in modern baseball. The rules were similar to the rules of baseball today. There were two teams consisting of nine players and four bases. One difference between rounders and baseball is that there is no foul territory in rounders. Any hit ball is in play and the player may run. In baseball, the ball must be hit in between the foul lines painted on the third and first base lines (Olmos). Prior to the year 1845 rounders and cricket were the only official games related to baseball that existed, until an individual named Alexander Cartwright wrote the first official rules of baseball. He wrote these rules for a baseball club named the “Knickerbockers” (“Origins Of Baseball”). This was the

Get Access