Baseball
Baseball is one of the greatest sports ever created, and it helped to shape America into what it is today. Baseball is America’s pastime and anybody around the world can play it. Baseball is also one of the oldest sports ever, even though there is some speculation as to when it really started. Besides that, there are so many positive things about baseball and the only real `negative thing to me, is that girls can’t play at more levels. But in the future that could possibly change. But for now there’s still an option similar to baseball for girls to play, and that’s softball. Both sports are very similar and both can teach players, and even coaches many things.
Baseball can be played by anybody no matter their race, age, religion, or anything. Some people have a hard time getting better, or get frustrated when they don’t do well, but if you mess up your teammates will have your back and will support you. Also for kids who don’t think they’re strong or fast enough, baseball is the perfect sport because there are ways to make up for it on the field. You don’t need the highest quality equipment or the nicest field to play either.
Baseball isn’t just a game however; it can also teach players important life lessons. For example you’re learning how to work as a team when you’re practicing and playing. In most sports you need teamwork, but in baseball you have to rely on your team much more and in like basketball or football, one kid can’t win the game for the whole team. Baseball also teaches players to be patient, like when you’re waiting for that perfect pitch. It teaches how to be a good sport when your down by 15 and the other team is celebrating halfway through the game.
History of Baseball
Baseball is one of the oldest sports played today, and like other sports it was very different when it was first started. All of the equipment used was different, and also much less safer. Everyone who knows how baseball originated thinks that it was a guy named Abner Doubleday. The story of him was that, he created baseball in the summer of 1839 (Web-1). This story was good for America at the time and was a great legend that people still remember today. This is not quite true, and the real story of baseball is much less exciting and inspiring. A special commission created by the sporting goods magnate and AJ Spalding created the myth of Doubleday, who in the summer of 1839 was actually at West Point and had nothing to do with the creation of Baseball (Web-1).
However, the reason that the commission and Spalding lied to the public and created the story of Doubleday was for two good reasons. The first reason is only good for them. Creating the story of Doubleday made baseball popular become more popular faster, this means that the commission is making more money. Another reason is good for the moral of the public during the Civil War (Web-1). During the Civil War baseball and the story of Abner Doubleday spread like a wildfire. This caused baseball to become America’s pastime. But this origin story might not even be the real origin story of baseball.
In New England, two games that were very similar to baseball were being played in the early 18th century called cricket and rounders (Web-1). These games were slowly moving across the United States being played in schoolyards and at colleges. After cities began to heavily industrialize, the sport rapidly became popular and a group came together called the New York Knickerbocker Baseball Club (Web-2). Alexander Joy Cartwright who was a volunteer firefighter was the one who established the modern rules of baseball. He thankfully abolished the idea of throwing the ball at baserunners to get them out. These are all origins of the great sport; baseball.
Strange Rules of Baseball
Baseball can be a confusing sport at times and there are some rules that can make it even more complicated. For example, a rule that comes out of nowhere for the offense sometimes is and advancing runner rule. If the ball gets lodged in the umpires’ paraphernalia, the base runner gets to advance, even if they weren’t trying to. This doesn’t make any sense and should be the other way around. If the ball gets stuck on or in the umpire, the base runners should have to stay still or return to their base if they stole. This rule doesn’t seem that big and seems like it wouldn’t impact a game
significantly but there are rules that can change the outcome of a game.
There are some rules, which if you don’t follow, could cost your team to lose the game. One such rule is that if a fielder intentionally hits a fair batted ball with their cup, mask, or any other part of their uniform, the baserunners automatically advance three bases including the batter. This rule could literally change the outcome of an entire game because if they have people on base, then they automatically get the runners in and get a base runner on third base. Another one that has the ability to change the outcome of a game is the hit stealing rule. This rule states that if a runner from third is stealing home on a pitch and gets hit by the pitch, the runner is safe and any base runners advance one base. These rules seem a little weird because we are used to modern and the already well known game of baseball. But before the league and game became more modernized, there were way stranger rules.
Before the rule rules of the modern MLB era were implemented into baseball, there were extremely odd rules that players followed. One for example that was used up until the 1940’s was the ground rule double rule, where if the ball bounces out of the stadium it’s an automatic double, before the 1940’s that would just be a homerun. In the 1800’s batters were allowed to request the pitch to be high or low. But that rule was outlawed in 1867. Another quiet funny rule that the MLB was forced to make was the outlawing of spitballs. This was because before the rule was introduced, every pitcher would try and alter the ball to get more movement when they pitch (Web-3,whole section).
Greatest To Ever Play
All throughout the begging of baseball there has been some incredibly good players. One of the greatest ever, if not the greatest ever, was Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth has done so many things in the sport of baseball; kids still to this day will remember him. He had some of the longest unbroken records and still has 3 unbroken records left. His longest unbroken record is for extra-base hits where he had 119, then was runs where he had 177, and finally was total bases where he had 457. He is one of the greatest to ever touch the field but, there is some controversy over him. Some people say he played before African Americans could play and that’s how he did so well. This is wrong because he has multiple records that still haven’t been broken ever since African Americans could play in the league. Also, Babe Ruth never put a lot of effort in and he lived a lavish lifestyle. He had a big gut, he ate hotdogs before games, he drank, and he smoked, and while he did this he was playing really good baseball.
Another one of the greats is Mickey Mantle, who started playing in 1951 for the Yankees just like Babe Ruth. Mickey doesn’t have a ton of records like Babe Ruth but he was a very impressive athlete and had some amazing stats. For example, in his last season, he hit for .237 which is great for somebody about to retire, he had 18 home runs, and 54 RBI, and was selected to pinch hit at the all-star game.
To me though, the greatest player to ever play the game was Jackie Robinson. He doesn’t have the greatest stats ever or any unbroken records, but he was an extremely good player. But it wasn’t just about how good he played at second base for the Brooklyn dodgers. He was the first African American to play Major League Baseball, and he played very well when he played. When he played he was under constant hate and oppression, but he kept his head down and just played the game he always enjoyed playing. Where he stood out statistically was base running, in his career he stole home 19 times, something that a normal player doesn’t do once. He also helped to establish a presence of African Americans in professional sports. That alone is a great reason for him being recognized as one of the greats. (Web-4, Whole section)
Money
Money can be a big issue when it comes to the MLB, and you might not think that because all of the popular players that everyone knows get paid millions. In reality, a team has 25 players and many more including the coaching staff. There are a lot of players who make a ton of money but they can’t pay everyone like that, so who has to get the pay cut? This is where the lesser known players have to sadly suffer. They still make a lot of money, but they eventually have to stop playing and then live the rest of there life after the league. Another issue is the people who are trying to get into the MLB that are playing in the minor league. These players get paid significantly less than MLB players and they aren’t even guaranteed to be on a team.
Up until 2015 the MLB has had labor peace longer than any other sport in the United States. The problem that they had to resolve was that in the MLB they were making more money than they ever were and the players are getting the smallest share of the income. This didn’t result in a strike but it scared owners because this same situation happened in 1994 and when the players protested, they got what they got the pay raise that they asked for (Web-5).
Aside from individual issues when it comes to money in the MLB there can be some issues between teams. This is because different teams gather different amounts of incomes. This can make managing teams and making the teams somewhat balanced nearly impossible. The more popular teams will bring in much more revenue allowing them to acquire better players. If this continues to happen without trying to resolve it, then the problem could possibly get to out of hand and have insane teams and terrible teams in the MLB.
Technology
As time goes by, technology, in all fields and categories, advances and continues to develop further. In baseball this couldn’t be truer. There is some technology that helps the viewer at home and there’s some technology the viewer never sees.
First, there’s is brand new ways to watch the game completely because of advancements in technology. If you have a smart phone, then you can watch any baseball game anywhere with the MLB app. This can make watching every game easy and making sure you never miss a game again. But if you really want to experience the feeling of being at a real game, then you have to try virtual reality. With virtual reality, you can walk around the stadium, watch the game from multiple seats perspectives and even hit against MLB pitchers. Other technology that helps the viewing experience is the strike zone rectangle you can see on TV. This helps the viewer actually distinguish balls from strikes.
There is other technology that the viewer never sees come into play. When coaches are scouting for players they can use specific data gathered from smart bats and smart balls, and choose the best players through this data. There’s also a program called Trackman, the program can track a players swing or pitch. Then they can analyze the videos and watch the footage to see what they need to improve on. They can also make sure all the players are staying healthy with bio tracking and multiple nutritionists. People also believe that in the next few years, all high profile teams will have nap rooms with special wrist bands to monitor sleep (Web-6, Whole Section)
Baseball is a historical sport, played by some of the greatest athletes ever.
The sport is loved by all kinds of people in all parts of the world and helps bring people together. In America baseball helped people in a time of need during the Civil War. It helped to bring the people together and give them something to look forward to. But baseball does many other things, such as teaching young kids important life lessons. It can teach kids the importance of teamwork, patience, and many other things. Baseball doesn’t seem interesting to some people, but it truly is a wonderful sport that has had a wide range of positive effects on the people that are involved with the game.
Web-1: Staff, History. “Who Invented Baseball?” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 27 Mar. 2013, www.history.com/news/ask-history/who-invented-baseball.
Web-2: “October 1845: The First Recorded Baseball Games in New York.” October 1845: The First Recorded Baseball Games in New York | Society for American Baseball Research, sabr.org/gamesproj/game/october-1845-first-recorded-baseball-games-new-york.
Web-3: Wohl, Dan. “10 Strange-but-True Rules from MLB's Official Rulebook.” MLB.com, www.mlb.com/cut4/10-strange-but-true-rules-from-mlbs-official-rulebook/c-214771568.
Web-4: Augustyn, Adam. “10 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/list/10-greatest-baseball-players-of-all-time.
Web-5: Petchesky, Barry. “MLB Has A Big Money Problem.” Deadspin, Deadspin.com, 12 Nov. 2015, deadspin.com/mlb-has-a-big-money-problem-1742117953.
Web-6: Zakarin, Jordan. “10 Tech Breakthroughs Taking Baseball Into the Future.” Inverse, Inverse, 7 Apr. 2017, www.inverse.com/article/29968-10-baseball-technology-advances.
Pictures
https://nypost.com/2018/04/24/the-totaly-batty-story-behind-famed-babe-ruth-memorabilia/
http://www.notablebiographies.com/Lo-Ma/Mantle-Mickey.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/jackie-robinson-life-pictures-gallery-1.1309045
https://1927-the-diary-of-myles-thomas.espn.com/babe-ruth-d6b7609c4ca6