A Brief History of Baseball

1 - The Birth of Baseball

There has always been lots of conjecture about the birth of American baseball, from assumptions that it evolved from colonial games like rounders or cricket, to claims that it was all due to the ingenuity of a Civil War general. Before the Civil War, Americans played a variety of ball games in which players soaked or plugged (hitting a runner with the ball) to get an opponent out, in addition to variations of rounders, town ball and cricket.

2 - The ‘New York Game’

The New York Game, from New York and New Jersey, boasted baseball’s first codified rules, set up for the New York Knickerbockers in 1845 by Alexander Cartwright, aka the “father of baseball.” The development and popularity of the New York Game is important to note, because once war kicked off, many players from Northern baseball teams enlisted in the Union Army and continued to play the game.

3 - Civil War Spread

In between battles in the Civil War, encamped soldiers, mostly from the North, played baseball to relieve boredom, stay fit and lift spirits. But another factor contributing to baseball’s dissemination was, oddly enough, prison camps. Union captives played baseball in Salisbury, North Carolina, attracting the attention of locals who came to watch, while on Johnson’s Island, Ohio, Southern prisoners played with Union guards. After hostilities ended and Reconstruction began, Northern baseball teams went on tour, in part spreading the sport’s popularity even further while also helping heal the gaping wounds of a divisive war.

1 - Spitballs

Artificial performance enhancement has long been a source of controversy in the sport. This goes back to the famous spitball, permitted until 1934, in which the pitcher applied his own saliva to enhance a pitch’s movement. How a pitcher applied his saliva varied: Some would first apply the spit to their fingers, while others would spit or “load up” directly onto the baseball. The pitcher would then apply extra pressure to the lubricated part of the ball, which affected its spin and overall movement.

2 - Side Hustles

Baseball players, on the whole, weren’t compensated well until the reserve clause — binding a player to a single team for an extended period — finally fell in 1975. That was the start of free agency and the beginning of an open market for players. And with today’s exorbitant salaries, few players have to worry about supplementing their incomes during the off-season to support their families. But in the old days, professional baseball players had little choice but to augment their on-field hustle with some serious winter side-hustling. Strikeout king Walter Johnson dug postholes for the Idaho Telephone Company, while the man who broke his record, Nolan Ryan, installed air-conditioning units as a young player. Legendary Yankees skipper Casey Stengel ferried passengers in a taxi. Even slugger Mickey Mantle worked in the mines outside his hometown of Commerce, Oklahoma, as a minor leaguer.

3 - 1994 Strike

The 1994 Major League Baseball season should have been one for the record books. Through early August, outfielder Tony Gwynn was flirting with becoming the first player to hit .400 since Ted Williams in 1941. San Francisco Giants slugger Matt Williams and Seattle’s boy wonder, Ken Griffey Jr., were both eyeing Roger Maris’ single-season record of 61. Then, in August, major league players walked off the field, beginning what would be a 234-day labor stoppage that would result in the first canceled World Series since 1904 and leave an indelible scar on the game. The 1994 season would indeed become one for the record books — a forever unfinished “what if” of a season marked by an asterisk.

4 - Steroids Scandal

Following the publication of the 2005 tell-all book Juiced, by former player and steroid user Jose Canseco, claiming that as many as 80 percent of major league players used steroids, baseball found itself in a steroid scandal that would tarnish the sport and take down some of its top players, including Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Alex Rodriguez and Roger Clemens (none of whom have been elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame).

5 - Sign-Stealing Scandal

During the 2017 and 2018 seasons, members of the Houston Astros used a video camera in center field to film the opposing catchers’ signs to the pitchers—signs that were watched on a live camera feed behind the dugout by staffers who would then signal to their batter what kind of pitch was coming. MLB opened an investigation and while not stripping the Astros of their 2017 World Series title, they suspended the team’s general manager and manager for the entire 2020 season, fined the team $5 million, and took away their first- and second-round picks in the next two drafts. Astros players were not punished in exchange for their cooperation in the investigation.

1 - Babe Ruth

At age 19, George Herman Ruth Jr. was at the St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys in Baltimore. Several months later, Ruth would make his major league debut pitching for the Boston Red Sox, and go on to dominate baseball as no other professional athlete has ever dominated a sport, hitting 714 home runs over 22 seasons.

2 - Lou Gehrig

A Hall of Famer — who, alongside Babe Ruth, formed the heart of the Yankees’ famous “Murderers’ Row” line-up — Gehrig hated the spotlight. He prematurely bid farewell to the game he loved after learning he suffered from a degenerative neurological disorder called Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or, as it is still commonly referred to today, Lou Gehrig’s disease.

3 - Ted Williams

Williams’ sweet left-handed swing was not only a thing of beauty, but it was also devastating to opposing teams. He won six batting titles, including one when he was 40; he was the last batter to hit over .400; and he slugged 521 career home runs — all while missing nearly five full seasons in his prime when he served as a pilot in World War II and the Korean War.

4 - Josh Gibson

Gibson never got his chance to shine in the major leagues. His career was played entirely within the confines of racial segregation. He died at age 35, just a few months before Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947. But the Negro league star’s tape-measure home runs are the stuff of legend, including the time he came within a few feet of hitting the ball out of Yankee Stadium, a 580-foot blast that struck two feet from the top of the wall behind the center field bleachers.

5 - Mickey Mantle

Yankees manager Casey Stengel had never encountered anything like Mantle’s power and speed on quick-hitting. “This kid ain’t logical. He’s too good. It’s very confusing,” he was heard to say. The Oklahoma country boy was as strong as a bull and despite battling injuries would hit 536 home runs.

1 - Rick Wise’s Complete Game

On June 23, 1971, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Rick Wise threw a complete game no-hitter on the mound and homered twice at the plate, accounting for three of the Phillies’ runs in a 4-0 victory over Cincinnati’s vaunted “Big Red Machine.” It was arguably the single greatest all-around performance that the game has ever produced.

2 - Stennett’s Seven Hits

On Sept. 16, 1975, Rennie Stennett, an obscure 24-year-old second baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates from Panama, did not expect to be in the Pirates starting line-up. But he smacked seven hits in one nine-inning baseball game — a single-game feat far rarer than hitting for the cycle or even slugging four home runs. A feat, in fact, unequaled in baseball’s modern era (and accomplished only once before that, in 1892). What’s more, Stennett didn’t even play the whole game.

3 - Kerry Wood’s 20K Game

On May 6, 1998, Chicago Cubs 20-year-old rookie Kerry Wood sent 20 Houston Astros back to the dugout, tying a major league record for strikeouts in what many experts consider the most dominating pitching performance in baseball history. Wood’s exploding slider, devastating curveball and scorching fastball, clocked at up to 100 mph, were all working.

Quiz Time!!

What are some of your most memorable baseball moments? Send them along to: ozycommunity@ozy.com and we'll share the best ones later this week! Right now, it's quiz time!

In what city was slugger Babe Ruth born?

How many Houston Astros did Kerry Wood strike out in a single game in 1998?

Which war greatly increased baseball’s popularity?

Who was the last baseball hitter to bat over .400?

Which Negro leagues star almost hit the ball out of Yankee Stadium?

What type of illegal pitch was allowed until 1934?

In which year did major leaguers go on a 234-day labor strike?

Which team’s 2017 World Series title was tarnished but not taken away as a result of a scandal involving stealing signs?

How many times has the World Series been canceled prior to 2020?

How many hits did Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Rennie Stennett have in a game in 1975?

Answers:

Go Deeper

What to Read: “The True Story Behind Baseball’s Creation Myth,” by Carl Pettit. An insightful exploration into the true origins of the game of baseball. Read on OZY.

What to Watch: Baseball, by Ken Burns: One of the best series by television’s quintessential documentary filmmaker Ken Burns covers the history of the game of baseball — an amazing journey of more than a century.

What to Listen to: Flashback, Season 1, Episode 4: In this episode of OZY’s hit history podcast, we learn how major league baseball’s 1994 strike had a significant unintended consequence in the world of basketball.

In this episode, we talk to Rep. Charlie Crist about his life-long dedication to public service, best advice for young leaders and how he's running for Governor of Florida. He also shares a few thoughts on Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.