The history of baseball games is very interesting in many ways. First, there are many leads to the origin of baseball game but all of them have less information or if there is information, it is conjuncture in nature. In that sense, it is important to acknowledge that before baseball became what is now baseball, there were look-alike sports all over Europe and in many sections of the United States. Some theorists have pointed the possibilities of this sports finally molding into what we now refer as baseball. This point of argument has its own strengths as well as its own weakness. This claim is believed to be true especially by people who draw many similarities between the early versions of baseball that had many cricket aspects in it.
Still, on the origin of baseball, the most documented claim in the origin of baseball goes back to the 19 Century where there was the emergence of social classes and people had more time for leisure. When discussing personalities who molded the other similar games to what is now baseball, Abner Doubleday name always pop up. Many sources refer to him as a 19-Century war hero and although many idealists mostly ignore this especially sports historians while associating him with baseball. Although some people dispute his hand in being the father of baseball claiming he never claimed to be one, his contributions on this sport are evident.
Baseball as an Organized Game
The different form of look like games that were similar to baseball faced so many challenges. These challenges include instances where the society and the church discouraged these games with an attempt of controlling the young people. Second, the games were most popular among the lower class in most countries and this made them less attractive to the larger sections of the societies then. Thirdly, the society was still not appreciative of sports as part of an economy.
Fortunately, in 1850, there was a radical change in the perception of baseball. There was the formation of NABBP that was the first professional body by baseball players and this was the start of an interesting history of baseball. Shortly after the formation of the organization, the first-ever National League came to life after fourteen years, (1976). The organization and the players together made efforts to populate the game to other countries with the aim of making it the best sports in the world.
Introduction of Payers Compensation
Baseball as a sport by many people was just as a pastime sport and many of the players that played never received any form of payment. These did not do the sports any good because players contributed so little to the games and this for a long time made baseball less attractive because the level of competition was low. However, there were few instances where some teams used to pay some of their best players for the sake of keeping them. This to the unwritten rules of the time was a form of corruption.
The NABBP, which is the body in charge of emerging issues as well as players’ welfare, has to give the willing teams the chance to either be professional in the manner of handling players and in process remunerate players to be competitive. Surprisingly, the season of 1869 was the first fully professional competition in baseball and the teams had to factor in the player’s compensation in form of salaries.
Effects of world Wars on Baseball
The world wars especially the World War 2 presented a new dynamism to baseball. Different countries were training strong and young people to fight in these wars. Different professional baseball bodies had to confront the government on whether to give the sports a break until the war was over or to continue with the league games. The government in response surprisingly encouraged the baseball professional bodies to continue organizing the games and this was believed to be the best remedy to a country to that had so much going on.
It is, however, important to note that major players missed most games when the war was still going on and this had an impact on the quality of competitiveness. It is interesting to note that during this time of war, baseball became a national treasure to the USA people because it was one of the instances that people felt patriotic.
Baseball Media Coverage and Endorsements
Over the last century, baseball has dominated many entertainment genres in many aspects. This means therefore that the media coverage had to increase over time. it is true that baseball articles in newspapers are one of the most read genres of entertainment over the years. This massive following has led to the emergence of baseball writers as well as commentators who have given the baseball fans deep insights on baseball. TV and radios have adapted to the trend over the years of broadcasting baseball happening in the most competitive way in order to remain in the media business.
While the media has been saturated with baseball over the years, major commercial brands have had the chance to associate with baseball heroes to be appealing. This has created another dimension of baseball over the years that did not exist in the formative years of baseball. Over the years, more money has been channeled to baseball inform of endorsements making baseball players rich and influential.
Use of Technology in Baseball
Over the past century, there has been a great improvement in how various things are done in baseball. This mainly influenced in how baseball has been able to accept the changes in technology. The baseball equipment, for example, has been changing over the years with more advancement in bats makes and gloves. Technology has been used also in major leagues in determining who won and how to fare the sport is competitive. The fact that baseball has embraced technology is progressive.
In conclusion, baseball can be termed as the most progressive game in the world. The changes discussed above have made baseball to be the best game to play and watch. Other changes such as changes in some rule have made it be efficient and simple and this quality defines a modern sport.
My name is David Farnum and I’ve been a Little League Coach in my community for the past 7 years. With 2 boys playing baseball and 1 girl playing softball, most weekends I can be found near a baseball diamond.
