Baseball, "American Pastime". Baseball is one of the most traditional sports in the U.S. You play the game with a hardball and bat between two teams of 9 players. The game was developed in the early 1800's as a children's game. Today, it is one of the most popular professional sports.

Some historians believed that Abner Doubleday invented baseball during the Civil War, but these reports are unconfirmed. Stick and Ball games were very popular during the very beings of civilization through the 1700’s. But the version in the 1800's was developed in England. In England the game was called rounders. The game was played very similar to the modern games of baseball.

In the 1830's baseball was common throughout America. The first organized baseball club was founded in 1842, called the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club. They developed the form of baseball that we know today. They played the first organized game on June 19, 1846 against the New York Club, which they lost. Professional baseball grew to popularity in 1850's. The National Association of Base Ball Players, the NABBP, was founded in 1862. The 1st professional baseball team was the Cincinnati Red Stockings. Soon after, more professional teams grew and grew. However the NABBP was short lived and was terminated in 1876.

Several leagues were formed to replace the NABBP. These included the National League and the American Association. Along with that the first players Union was formed in 1885. However the American Association folded in 1891. After that the remains of that league and the National League merged together. Later the game changed when the American League begun.

The game prospered in the early 1900's. Due to the World Series the game attendance swelled tremendously. However, players complained that their salaries were too low and often took bribes. The 1920's saw rise to players like Babe Ruth. Several other players imitated he style of playing. During the 30's the idea of night games were developed, along with the National Baseball Hall of Fame And Museum in 1939.

African-American leagues were separated from major leagues until 1940. Until they were accepted, they had their own leagues. With the integration of the major leagues, African-American players joined the Majors, which lead to the decline of Negro Leagues. WWII had a tremendous impact on baseball. While most players were recruited to military services, team owners recruited Latin American players. This also led to the development of women's leagues. When Jackie Robinson stepped to the plate in 1947, the exclusion of Blacks in baseball ended. His success leads the way for other African American players. Throughout the last half of the 20th century, the baseball teams of American were seeing large amounts of cultural diversity.

Baseball leagues have expanded since then. New teams were added to leagues, and more expansions on different clubs facing each other. The game had even been expanded to other countries besides the U.S.

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