The game of Baseball as we know it today, was developed from earlier folk games (or I as like to call it, backyard baseball). There were variations of the game played since the early 1300’s in other parts of the world such as Rome, Russia, and Germany (so how did USA get so good at baseball?). All of these variations contained a player that threw the ball and a player the tried to hit the ball. Most of them however had defenders that tried to hit the base runners with the ball to get them out (a little different than today’s game, although I do think this rule would make the game interesting!). We used to call that "indian tag" when we played those rules in the backyard.

The first American played version was called "Town Ball" which started in the early 1800’s. The rules of this game were also a little different than the sport we know today. Pitchers threw to their own teams, base runners ran the opposite way around the bases as we do today, and players were out if they were hit by the ball like in the earlier folk games mentioned above (indian tag). I wish I could have played this type of baseball because I would have been the best pitcher. (LMAO)

The invention of "Baseball" didn’t come until later around 1845. Many people believed that Abner Doubleday invented the game of Baseball in 1839. There is no evidence of this being true. Doubleday left many letters and papers upon his death in which none stated that he had anything to do with the game of Baseball. His New York Times obituary makes no references to Baseball, nor does an encyclopedia article published about him in 1911. Believe it or not, Abner Doubleday was never inducted into the Hall of Fame, even though his portrait hung there for many years. Crazy!

The first published rules of Baseball were written by Alexander Joy Cartwright, also known as "The Father of Baseball". He wrote the rules for a baseball club called the New York Knickerbockers. These rules were known as the "Knickerbocker Rules". On June 3, 1953 Congress officially credited Alexander Cartwright with inventing the modern game of Baseball. Unlike Doubleday, Cartwright is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

By the 1860’s professional teams started forming. Within the next 10 years Americans started referring to baseball as the "National Pastime". In 1871 the Major Leagues were attempting to form. The National Association (first league within the majors) ended four years later in 1875. In 1876, because the National Association failed, the National League was formed. The American League started evolving from the minor Western League since 1893 and was finally established in 1901.

In the early 1900’s baseball went through a phase called the "dead-ball era". It was a very aggressive and violent era of baseball. However, in 1920 the game went through several changes giving the advantage to the hitters. The outfield fences were moved in closer and the ball was re-designed to travel further when hit.

Pitchers began dominating the game again all throughout the 1960’s and early 1970’s. In 1973 the DH (designated hitter) was adopted by the American League. This rule lets a position player, who is not playing in the field that day, hit for the pitcher. This adds another strong bat to the line-up. The DH rule is the only difference between the National and American Leagues.

Also in the 1960’s, the Baseball’s Player Union became very strong. Conflicts between club owners and the union caused major work stoppages in 1972, 1981, and 1994. The World Series was cancelled in 1994 because of the strike. This was only the second time this had happened. The first time the World Series was cancelled was in 1904. Another effect of the 1994 strike was that the 2 separate major league administrations were united as one under Major League Baseball.