When did baseball become baseball?

Baseball's historical roots are in England. During the 18th century, English people standardized the rules for a bat and ball game called cricket, in which a bowler tries to pitch the ball past a batsman and hit a wicket consisting of three stumps and two bails. Batters protect the wicket and try to whack the ball into the outfield while scoring runs. Teams take turns fielding and batting. There are innings, outs, and umpires who supervise the action. Another British game, rounders, is even more similar to American baseball, except that rounders did not develop global appeal or competitive professional leagues like cricket and baseball. The point is, baseball is deeply connected to the British sporting tradition. But that takes me to a more specific question. Where and when did baseball develop? Across the Atlantic in the early 1800s, people living in the United States, a new nation and former colony of Great Britain, played an assortment of bat and ball games. Like cricket or rounders, most did not include the concept of foul territory. In Massachusetts, for instance, fielders could plug base runners for outs on a square-shaped playing field with no foul territory. Few Americans in 1835 could have imagined their own version of ball disappearing, except that's exactly what happened. Between 1840 and 1860, modern baseball developed in New York City. It was here that amateur teams started playing on a diamond-shaped field with foul territory. Mythologies eventually developed about the game's origins. One held that Abner Doubleday, pictured left, invented the game in Cooperstown, New York. He did not. In fact, he didn't like baseball. Another mythology held that Alexander Cartwright, pictured right, invented baseball for his club, the New York Knickerbockers. In truth, no single person invented baseball because the game developed out of plain traditions in New York. Now, having said all of that, the New York Knickerbockers Baseball Club, to which Alexander Cartwright belonged, was the first to publish a list of rules describing what New York area clubs had already begun doing. Cricket matches at this time still occurred, but interest in baseball skyrocketed, and its recreational clubs acquired new levels of organization. The National Association of Baseball Players, for instance, held winter meetings to formulate the rules for match play. This engraving from Harper's Magazine is perfectly recognizable. There are nine players. It's a diamond-shaped field. The pitcher, or hurler, is about to deliver the ball. Diverse ethnic groups participated. The Weekly Anglo-African, a black newspaper in New York City, reported on the Henson Club defeating the Unowns 54-43. And here I should mention that baseball teams routinely scored 40-50 runs per game in an era of slow underhanded pitching. In 1858, Brooklyn's Best Nine players took on New York's Best Nine at enclosed grounds in modern-day Queens. This was baseball's first all-star game. In 1860, a large, rowdy crowd paved to see a championship match between two rival ball clubs. And the New York Times felt compelled to denounce the riotous, ungentlemanly behavior of fans, known as cranks, who booed, cheered, and challenged the umpire's calls. By this point, newspapers published box scores tabulating who had pitched, hit, and scored. All of this is to say that a culture of baseball existed on the eve of the American Civil War. It had become a serious sport, and not a mere game. With respect to the Great War between the northern and southern states lasting from 1861 to 1865, I will only say that it involved massive troop movements and baseball. This lithograph depicts Union troops playing ball in a Confederate POW camp. Here you see a photograph of New York Army volunteers. In the background, a game of baseball is underway. After the Civil War ended, journalists spoke of baseball fever. That is, people in every corner of the republic formed baseball clubs and played according to the New York rules. Here you see baseball in Central Valley. And by decade's end, New York rules baseball had become the national game. Today, professional players throw and swing much harder than their forebearers did 150 years ago, but they also play on the same diamond-shaped field with 90 feet between the base paths, and they use much of the same terminology as players did in the 1860s. In 1869, a group of professional players, the Cincinnati Redstockings, toured the country and went undefeated for a full season in games against amateur ball clubs. Players on the Cincinnati Redstockings wore a uniform we recognize today, and then, as in our time, a 300 batting average was a mark of excellence. Baseball had become baseball. If you like what you just saw, there are more shorts and lectures on this channel. And thanks for watching!