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[[File:Baseball game between Union prisoners at Salisbury, North Carolina, 1863 - NARA - 530502.jpg|thumbnail|left|400px250px|Figure 1. Baseball being played in a prisoner of war camp in the American Civil War.]] Baseball is has been called America's pastime and looking at for most of the 20th Century, it one can see that was the modern most popular sport of baseball not only developed in the United States but it continues to be associated with the United States, similar to iconic places such as the Statue of Liberty or the Grand Canyoncountry. The path Even though baseball took to becoming the is an iconic American sport , it developed over an extraordinarily long period of time. It is today started a descendant of ball games that were played in the early Medieval period, where it was and over time adapted into a very different game. As with other major American sports, key developments occurred in Great Britain before then developing differently played a key role in the United Statesbaseball's development.

In Medieval England, during Recently it has emerged that the Anglo closest and Norman periods, there appears oldest ancestor to have been baseball is a game played in a type of field or clearing in the woods. This may have involved some type of ball game and some have suggested the word for this game, craic, which may have developed into the term cricketcalled rounders.<ref>For more on this early developmentrounders, see: WilliamsBlock, JD. (19992006) Cricket and England<i>Baseball Before we knew It: a cultural and social history A Search for the Roots of the inter-war yearsGame</i>. Sport in the global society. London ; PortlandLincoln, ORNE, FBison Books. Cass.</ref> The game may have been played by children but almost no records exist of how this game was played. Another game developed in France in the Medieval period, which may have had similarities to craic, was La soule. This was is a type of ball game that involves using a round bat that would hit a leather or wooden ball . The game also has four bases that would involve people forming teams in a field and the ball runner would be hit or kicked go around. Scoring a goal was likely the objective and, similar to many other games of the day, the game seemed violent and injury was common.<ref>For more on La soule, see: Baker, W.J. (1988) Sports in the Western world. Sport and society. Rev. ed., Illini books ed. Urbana, University of Illinois Press, pg. 46.</ref>

Recently it has emerged that the closest and oldest ancestor to baseball is a game called rounders.<ref>For more on rounders, see: Block, D. (2006) Baseball before we knew it: a search for the roots of the game. Lincoln, NE, Bison Books.</ref> This is a game that involves using a round bat that would hit a leather ball. The game also has four bases that a runner would go around. The field was square rather than diamond -shaped and the ball smaller than a baseball today. Bats were also flat although the ends were round. Very likely in the 18th -century immigrants from England or Ireland, where the game was played, brought this game to the United States. By 1791 in the United States, the term baseball had been used to describe the game in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.<ref>For more on the emerging game of baseball in the 18th century, see: Light, J.F. (2005) <i>The cultural encyclopedia Cultural Encyclopedia of baseballBaseball. </i> 2nd ed. Jefferson, N.C, McFarland & Co.</ref> Earlier references to the term baseball exist in Great Britain in the 1740s, but the game seemed different, as it involved triangle-shaped configuration for bases and the bases were posts rather then than relatively low or flat objects.

A key development was the Knickerbocker Rules, developed in 1845 in New York. Some of the rules are still utilized from these rules today, such as the rule that the baseball must be pitched and not thrown. However, many rules, such as the number of outs (21) and hitting the ball out of the filed is a foul are not.<ref>For more on the Knickerbocker Rules, see: Melville, T. (2001) <i>Early baseball Baseball and the rise Rise of the National League</i>. Jefferson, N.C, McFarland, pg. 12</ref> Nevertheless, the standardization attempt now began to harmonize baseball rules across different areas, leading to the eventual merger of the game.

By the 1850s, baseball had now become popular, particularly in the east coast. In 1857, at a convention of clubs around New York City occured. The Knickerbocker rules were seen as vague and the increasingly popular and competitive nature of baseball meant that the rules began to be exploited. In particular, new clubs were emerging outside of the small click of clubs in New York that had adopted the Knickerbocker rules.<ref>For more on the 1857 convention and early rules development, see: Anon (2014) Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game. 8, 8,. Jefferson, NC, McFarland & Company.</ref> Rules such as bats had to be round, home base was where the ball was hit, pitching came from a fixed distance, a foul ball caught means the batter is out, and players had to run relatively straight between bases and outside given parameters would mean they are out. These and other rules advanced in this convention are still with us today and many recognize these rules as the true origin of modern baseball. Other minor rule changes followed in the 1860s. It was also in the 1860s that baseball was become commercialized, with tickets being now sold and advertisers taking advantage of the gatherings watching the game. <ref>For more on the mid-late 19th -century development of baseball, see: Peter Morris (ed.) (2012) <i>Base ball pioneers, 1850-1870: the clubs The Clubs and players Players who spread the sport nationwideSport Nationwide</i>. Jefferson, N.C, McFarland & Co.</ref>

Even during In the Civil War1860s, both sides were actively playing the game National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) developed, which was an amateur association for players and some clubs. By the late 1860s, the popularity of baseball led to the development of the prisoner camps had developed baseball diamondsfirst professional team, with the diamond now standardized by Cincinnati Red Stockings. Even before the development of the 1857 rules. In factRed Stockings, it was Union prisoners some of war that are credited with spreading the popularity best amateur players were now getting paid to play for specific clubs, indicating the increasingly competitive nature of baseball . Soon in the South (Figure 1)1870s, other teams followed, including the Chicago White Stockings and Boston Red Stockings, and a league of professional teams playing each other was formed. The New York rules developed in 1857 were now becoming widespread as men were stationed in different parts first professional association was called the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, although it only lasted from 1871-1875. With the country or professionalization of baseball, players now had contracts and were even prisoners in the South, where they taught this game given strict rules to fellow prisoners and their guardsfollow.<ref>For more on the spread early professional development of baseball during the Civil War, see: KirschFurst, GR.BT. (20032014) Baseball in Blue and Gray: the National Pastime During the Civil War. [Online]. Available from: http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=1422511</ref>

In the 1860s, the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) developed, which was an amateur association for players and clubs. By the late 1860s, the popularity of baseball led to the development of the first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings. Even before the development of the Red Stockings, some of the best amateur players were now getting paid to play for specific clubs, indicating the increasingly competitive nature of baseball. Soon in the 1870s other teams followed, including the Chicago White Stockings and Boston Red Stockings and a league of professional teams playing each other was formed. The first professional association was called the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, although it only lasted from 1871<dh-1875. With the professionalization of baseball, players now had contracts and given strict rules to follow.<refad/>For more on the early professional development of baseball, see: Furst, R.T. (2014)

By the first decade of the 20th century, players were now becoming national superstars. This included Honus Wagner, who was adept at stealing bases as well as hitting.<ref>For more on the early 20th -century development of baseball, see: Ritter, L.S. (1992) OCLC: 24792523. <i>The glory Glory of their timesTimes: the story The Story of the early days of baseball told by the men who played it</i>. New York, Quill, William Morrow.</ref> One major difference in the game was the ball itself. Baseballs in the early 20th century were expensive, making a single ball often used in an entire game.

The big turnaround though came with the Babe Ruth era, as his slugging and popularization of the home run in the 1920s now made baseball an internationally known game and synonymous with the United States.<ref>For more on the Golden Age of baseball, see: Frommer, H. (2004) <i>New York City baseballBaseball: the last golden ageThe Last Golden Age, 1947-1957</i>. Madison, Wis, University of Wisconsin Press.</ref> The combination of radio, increased offense, and the larger -than -life appearance of Babe Ruth popularized the game to a level unseen for any other sport in the United States. This was time commonly called as the "Golden Age" of baseball, as its popularity was at a frenzy level across the country. Parallel to the Major League teams was the Negro League created by Rube Foster (Figure 2). It was a league of originally eight teams for African Americans and also Latino players. Earlier manifestations of the Negro League existed, but those folded quickly. The Negro National League and Eastern Colored League formed the two mains leagues that played in their own World Series in the 1920s. Players just as skillful as Major League players emerged, such as Satchel Paige, who became a Major League rookie in 1948 at the age of 42.

Financial problems occurred soon after, however, with a new Negro league forming in the 1930s. In World War II, many African American players were older and so they did not serve in the war effort. They remained and played in the United States, where African Americans working in factories and other work increasingly came to watch their games. In effect, as World War II limited the Major League because so many players left for the war effort, the Negro league proved to be a diversion for those in the home front, including many whites. This likely helped setup set up the stage for the integration and raising of the ban on African American players in baseball in 1947.<ref>For a history on the Negro league and the African American experience with baseball in the early 20th century, see: Hogan, L.D. (2014) <i>The forgotten history Forgotten History of African American baseballBaseball</i>. Santa Barbara, California, Praeger, ABC-CLIO, LLC.</ref>

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