Wednesday, March 5, 2003
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Wednesday, March 5, 2003 |
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Shine on you crazy diamond The high school baseball season began on Monday and it got me thinking about this sport, its origins and why it means so much to so many people. Baseball came to this country the same way a lot of people did, from England. The English game was called Rounders, possibly because the ball was round and players rounded the bases, but also possibly because the English call lots of things peculiar names. It could have been called Tallywhack Smithee Pudding Race and that would have suited the British just fine. Anyway, baseball, also called base or townball, was popular stateside in the early 19th century. After long days of farming, blacksmithing or working in unsafe factories filled with child labor, people liked to kick back with a good game of baseball. In 1845, set rules were established so that every neighboring town and village played by the same rules. Thus preventing riots and scenes like the Gruesome Grand Slam of Gardenia. In 1846, the first recorded baseball contest was played at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, NJ. Rumor has it that the game lasted 17 hours, just a bit longer than games of today, and featured over 300 runs scored by the two teams that played. Baseball was growing in popularity and teams joined the newly forming National Association of Base Ball Players. Though many wanted the teams to remain staffed by amateurs, people started secretly paying players or giving them jobs that really didn't require them to do anything but play baseball. Amateur teams couldn't compete with the pros but one thing did put a temporary hold on baseball - the Civil War. One would think that the needless slaughter and maiming of hundreds of thousands of Americans would have put a serious crimp in baseball, but the exact opposite is true. Soldiers spread the game as they traveled from battlefield to battlefield and by the time the war was over, over 100 teams were interested in joining the National Association. One man who spread the love of the game was Johnny Farragut, a Union soldier who lost a leg and most of the fingers from one hand. His mangled hand gave him a unique grip that led him to become one of the greatest pitchers of the Civil War. In 1869, the Cincinatti Red Stockings became the first professional team ever. They went 65-0 during that season and eventually led to the first ever all pro league which by 1875 featured 13 teams. The league soon became known as the National League and baseball, as we know it, was really coming together. Since that time, there have been many great players and advances in the game. Why, it was only 70 years before black players were allowed to play professional ball in the major leagues. Though players in the first half of the 20th century stayed close to their roots and played the majority of their careers for one team and not a lot of money, eventually free agency and salary caps added the business dimension to the game, so that fans could now follow wonderful diversions such as contract talks, arbitration hearings and possible work stoppages, of which there have only been a few. But not even players using ephedra, steroids or creatine can drive fans away from the game that gives us amazing moments from the first game of every season to the last. For every Albert Belle that tries to chase fans away, sometimes with bats, there are dozens of players that play the game with dignity and respect. The true magic of the game does not always lie within the professional ranks. Instead, the magic comes from the children who play the sport on fields across the world. They come alive at the crack of the bat, run the bases, gunning for glory and throw the ball with every ounce of strength and passion they possess. When Opening Day for the Major Leagues rolls around, children will fall asleep to the sounds of their local broadcast teams reporting on their hometown teams as they bring summer nearer and try for that elusive world championship. |
