1.
Baseball
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Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of nine players each, who take turns batting and fielding. A run is scored when a player advances around the bases, Players on the batting team take turns hitting against the pitcher of the fielding team, which tries to prevent runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the team who reaches a base safely can later attempt to advance to subsequent bases during teammates turns batting. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the team records three outs. One turn batting for both teams, beginning with the team, constitutes an inning. A game is composed of nine innings, and the team with the number of runs at the end of the game wins. Baseball has no clock, although almost all games end in the ninth inning. Baseball evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England by the mid-18th century and this game was brought by immigrants to North America, where the modern version developed. By the late 19th century, baseball was widely recognized as the sport of the United States. Baseball is now popular in North America and parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, in the United States and Canada, professional Major League Baseball teams are divided into the National League and American League, each with three divisions, East, West, and Central. The major league champion is determined by playoffs that culminate in the World Series, the top level of play is similarly split in Japan between the Central and Pacific Leagues and in Cuba between the West League and East League. The evolution of baseball from older bat-and-ball games is difficult to trace with precision, a French manuscript from 1344 contains an illustration of clerics playing a game, possibly la soule, with similarities to baseball. Other old French games such as thèque, la balle au bâton, consensus once held that todays baseball is a North American development from the older game rounders, popular in Great Britain and Ireland. Baseball Before We Knew It, A Search for the Roots of the Game, by David Block, suggests that the game originated in England, recently uncovered historical evidence supports this position. Block argues that rounders and early baseball were actually regional variants of other. It has long believed that cricket also descended from such games. The earliest known reference to baseball is in a 1744 British publication, A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, David Block discovered that the first recorded game of Bass-Ball took place in 1749 in Surrey, and featured the Prince of Wales as a player. William Bray, an English lawyer, recorded a game of baseball on Easter Monday 1755 in Guildford and this early form of the game was apparently brought to Canada by English immigrants
2.
1845 to 1868 in baseball
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The following are the baseball events of the years 1845 to 1868 throughout the world. 1845 September 10 – A baseball game is played that is described the day in the New York Morning News. 1845 September 23 – The New York Knickerbockers draw up the Knickerbocker Rules,1846 June 19 – The New York Knickerbockers play the New York Nine at Elysian Fields, Hoboken, New Jersey. The Knickerbockers lose to the New Yorks by a score of 23 to 1 in four innings of play,1854 – The Excelsior club established in Brooklyn. 1855 – The Atlantic and Eckford clubs established in Brooklyn,1856 – The Union of Morrisania club established in the latter-day Bronx, New York. 1857 – The National Association of Base Ball Players is formed in meetings of sixteen New York area baseball clubs, the New York Mutuals and Newark Adriatics teams are formed. C. 1859 July 1 – Amherst College defeats Williams College 73–32 in a game played in Pittsfield,1860 – The Philadelphia Athletics team is formed. The Philadelphia Olympic Club changes from Philadelphia rules townball to New York rules, the Newark Eurekas team starts playing other teams in the NABBP. The Union Club of Lansingburgh team is formed, which would become the Troy Haymakers of the NABBP. 1860 February 22 – First recorded baseball game played in San Francisco,1860 September 28 – The first baseball game reported between two named black teams. At Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey, the Weeksville of New York beat the Colored Union Club 11–0,1862 April – The Summit City Club is formed in Fort Wayne, Indiana. 1865 October – The Milwaukee Cream Citys team is formed,1866 – The Fort Wayne Kekiongas team is reformed after the end of the Civil War. 1866–1868 – The Rockford Forest Citys feature future superstars Albert Spalding,1866 June 23 – The Cincinnati Base Ball Club is formed and plays four outside matches. 1867 – The Cincinnati Base Ball Club plays in the NABBP, twelve existing members did go pro and constitute the professional field for 1869. Marshall Wright publishes 1868 season records for 98 teams, many of them incomplete, bill Ryczek calls 15 of that seasons teams major. This table covers all of those majors, all of the 1869 pros, all 14 member clubs with at least twelve wins on record, for the seven listed clubs in Greater New York, no city is named in the first column, the comment gives their locales. Meanwhile, only two new professional baseball clubs would be established in the next three years, the Chicago White Stockings for 1870 and the Boston Red Stockings for 1871. Their commercial origins may be related to their survival alone by 1877, Marshall Wright publishes 1867 season records for 89 teams, many of them incomplete
3.
1869 in baseball
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The following are the baseball events of the year 1869 throughout the world. National Association of Base Ball Players, Atlantic of Brooklyn March 19 - The first openly all-professional baseball club is formed as the Cincinnati Red Stockings, may 4 - The Cincinnati Red Stockings debut as the sports first openly all-professional team, defeating the Great Westerns 45-9. June 8 - An amateur club in Buffalo, New York called the Niagaras defeated another club called the Columbias 209-10 in the baseball game ever. June 15–17 - As part of their Eastern tour the Red Stockings defeat the Mutual of New York, Atlantic of Brooklyn, and Eckford of Brooklyn clubs 4-2, 32-10, and 34-5 respectively. July 3 - The Eckford of Brooklyn club defeats the defending champion Mutual of New York club for the time this season by a score of 31-5. This puts the championship flag in the possession of the Eckfords under the current rules, august 16 - The Red Stockings win over the visiting Eckford club 45-18 at their own Union Grounds. Late September/Early October - Travelling west over the newly completed First Transcontinental Railroad, October 12 - The Chicago Base-Ball Association is founded. The association exists today as the Chicago Cubs, november 5 - The Red Stockings complete an undefeated season with their 60th victory in as many contests, defeating the visiting Mutual Green Stockings of New York 17-8 before 7,000 spectators. November 8 - For the second time since the Eckfords won the flag and this gives the Atlantics the championship for the year by a 15-12 score. At its December 1868 meeting the NABBP permitted professional clubs for the first time, there had been no professional clubs outside the Association and no brand new professional clubs were established for 1869. Rather, the entire effect of the change was that twelve existing members declared professional status. All of them had fielded at least regionally strong teams in 1868, the Cincinnati Red Stockings were first to sign an all-salary team, ten men for eight months. From the west, the strongest team in Cleveland also joined the pro field, from the eastern corridor there were ten including all of the one-time champions and claimants. Otherwise the record of matches is remarkable for its balance, relative to the records of the stronger teams during the amateur era. The Irvingtons did not travel, or win, after July they played two matches with the Mutuals. Forest City of Cleveland did not travel far, only to Cincinnati and those two did not face each other or any of the three teams standing just above them. That imbalance, typical of the time, contributed to the records of all five. Weaker teams were weaker gate attractions with less incentive and almost always less ability to travel, the Irvingtons disbanded and the Keystones returned to amateur ranks but all the others remained in the professional field for 1870
4.
1872 in baseball
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The following are the baseball events of the year 1872 throughout the world. National Association, Boston Red Stockings March 4 – At its annual convention being held in Cleveland, april 22 – Candy Cummings makes his debut with the New York Mutuals. April 26 – Orator Jim ORourke makes his debut with the Middletown Mansfields, may 24 – The Washington Olympics play their last game before dropping out of the NA. Poor talent and financial difficulties combine to do in the Olympics, june 26 – The Washington Nationals, with an 0–11 record, disband after losing 9–1 to the Baltimore Canaries. July 6 – Sporting a 22–1 record, Harry Wright takes the Boston Red Stockings on vacation to an island in Boston Harbor, july 9 – The Brooklyn Eckfords commit 13 errors in their 15–3 loss to the Troy Haymakers. It is the fewest errors committed by the 0–11 Eckfords in a thus far this season. July 23 – Despite a winning record, the Troy Haymakers disband due to financial problems, half of the Haymakers roster will move to the Brooklyn Eckfords, which saves them from dropping out of the NA. July 26 – In an emergency meeting, the NA revises their scheduling requirements from 5 to 9 games versus each opponent competing for the championship. This is in response to the number of teams that have disbanded, august 13 – The Middletown Mansfields announce that they have disbanded the club and drop out of the NA. August 19 – The Cleveland Forest Citys disband their club after a loss to the Boston Red Stockings and this drops the number of teams still playing in the NA to 6. September 1 – Al Thake, left-fielder batting.295 for the Brooklyn Atlantics, Thake is the first active major league ballplayer to die. October 22 – The Boston Red Stockings clinch the pennant with a 4–3 win over the Brooklyn Eckfords, blackguards and Red Stockings, A History of Baseballs National Association 1871–1875. Wallingford, Connecticut, Colebrook Press ISBN 0-9673718-0-5 Nemec, David, the Great Encyclopedia of 19th-Century Major League Baseball. Fine Books ISBN 1-55611-500-8 Specific 1872 season at baseball-reference. com Charltons Baseball Chronology at BaseballLibrary. com Retrosheet. org
5.
1873 in baseball
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The following are the baseball events of the year 1873 throughout the world. National Association, Boston Red Stockings March 3 – For the first time, may 14 – Nearly 5,000 fans watch the upstart Philadelphia White Stockings defeat the established Philadelphia Athletics 5–4 in 13 innings. Only once before, in 1865, had that many innings been played in one game, june 7 – The New York Mutuals and Philadelphia White Stockings combine for 40 errors in a game won by the White Stockings. The White Stockings, aided by the Mutuals 26 miscues, win 12–10, june 11 –10,000 fans are in attendance see the Philadelphia White Stockings score 5 runs in the 7th inning to defeat the Philadelphia Athletics 7–5. July 4 – Leading 11–3 over the Elizabeth Resolutes, the Boston Red Stockings score 21 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning for a 32–3 victory, the home-ahead rule would not be instituted for 6 more years. July 22 – Tom Barlow of the Brooklyn Atlantics lays down 6 bunts, all for hits, Ferguson and the Mutuals Nat Hicks get into an altercation with Ferguson breaking Hicks arm by hitting him with a bat. Ferguson requires an escort to leave the field and Hicks will be out for 2 months due to the incident. August 16 – The Boston Red Stockings defeat the Philadelphia White Stockings 11–8 in Chicago in front of several thousand fans, after the game, it is announced that Chicago has signed several players in hopes of placing a team in the NA for the 1874 season. October 16 – The Baltimore Canaries turn a play in a losing cause against the Philadelphia White Stockings. October 22 – The Boston Red Stockings win the pennant for the 2nd year in a row and they clinch on the same date as they had in 1872. November 6 – A benefit game is played between the Philadelphia White Stockings and Philadelphia Athletics under a rule of 10 men on the field and 10 innings for a game. The extra player is placed on the infield as a shortstop and with most observers feeling the extra player unnecessary. 1873 season at baseball-reference. com Charltons Baseball Chronology at BaseballLibrary. com Retrosheet. org Levine, a. G. Spalding and the Rise of Baseball, The Promise of American Sport
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