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Recently, I did a research paper for a history class covering the period of American history from 1900 to 1929. For the paper, I decided to study a period of time very early in the history of professional baseball in the United States. During this time of growth in the national game, the first professional leagues were formed and began competing with one another for money, fans, and the best players available. This led to the beginning of a nearly thirty year period of conflict never seen in the sport, even unto this day: the Great Baseball Wars.
The following is Part I of a three-part series I will do from my research paper. It briefely chronicles the beginnings of professional baseball in America and the birth of the National League, the first great and powerful pro baseball association.
Part I: The Beginnings of the National Game
The origin of the game of baseball in the United States is told in several different ways. The truth is that the game developed out of an English game called rounders, a game with basically the same setup as baseball – three bases, a home base, numerous fielders scattered about, a “feeder” (pitcher), and a “striker” (batter). The more legendary origin of the game comes out of Cooperstown, New York. It is said that General Abner Doubleday invented the game there in 1839, but it is certain that rounders was played in the United States before Doubleday claims to have come up with the sport. In fact, there are sketches from America that show a game similar to baseball being played shortly after the American Revolution. Today, Cooperstown is the site of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and on the grounds of the museum is Doubleday Field, the site where the game was supposedly created.
Throughout the years between 1839 and 1869, encompassing the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, and the beginning of Reconstruction, baseball was played almost entirely as a recreational sport. The first consistent baseball club that sprouted up was the New York Knickerbockers, and their first official game was played against a team called the New York Baseball Club (for lack of a better name) on June 19, 1846 in the New York area. The Knickerbockers survived almost until the beginning of the Civil War, but after that point the club was no more. The true beginnings of organized, professional baseball lie almost a decade afterwards, several years after the end of the Civil War.
Up until the late 1860’s, baseball teams and leagues had been almost exclusively amateur. With the exception of only a handful of players, nobody was paid to play the game; they played simply for the love of the sport. That all changed in 1869, when the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first admittedly fully professional baseball team in the United States. The players of Cincinnati had decided that, after a humiliating loss to a Washington club, they wanted to put the best possible product on the field. A payroll of $9,300 was set for the 1869 season, and the Red Stockings proceeded to virtually destroy every team they faced. In a total of fifty-seven games, the Red Stockings won fifty-six and tied only one, going undefeated for the season. Their success, along with a tour along the East and West coasts that drew over 200,000 fans, laid the groundwork for the first professional leagues to arise.
In 1871, a collection of ten professional teams met in New York City and founded the first true form of a pro league, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. Unfortunately, the National Association had numerous problems: no set schedule, no true form of a championship, and a high turnover rate amongst its teams – twenty-five teams played for the National Association at one point or another. Of those teams, eleven only survived for one season. Shortly after it was founded, the National Association began to crumble, largely because of public dislike for the way the league handled the issue of gambling and fixes, as well as the low attendance the league suffered. However, the National Association was the front runner and the inspiration for the most stable league that had ever been created, signaling a new era in baseball history.
It was in February, 1876 that leaders from four Eastern League teams and four Western League teams met in New York City to discuss plans of forming into a new, more stable professional league. When terms were net, the new organization was called the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the National League. The league was the first of its kind to put the organization at paramount to its players, whereas all other professional leagues had put the players as the top priority. The league was to be dedicated to the prosperity and the growth of the game, but as well as to making money and creating a monopoly on the professional level. As the leaders and players of the National League soon found out, however, it wasn’t going to be easy to corner the market on what was fast becoming the nation’s favorite game.
Stay tuned for Part II of this series on baseball history, "The Baseball Wars Begin."
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