Who Invented Baseball

For more than 100 years, many have often asked who invented baseball. This has caused a lot of controversy and been the main topic of many debates. Baseball’s history has been scarred with congressional actions as well as prolonged disputes. It is now a well-known myth that Abner Doubleday was the one who invented baseball back in 1839. The US congress had accepted Doubleday as the inventor for 50 years. Let’s look at the facts and find out who invented baseball.

This myth of Doubleday inventing baseball was at one time believed by many. There is no evidence that supports this claim except for the statement given by one man years after the fact. Doubleday left behind several papers and letters, but none of them ever described baseball or anything that he was an important part of the history of the game. The obituary in the New York Times of Doubleday didn’t mentioned baseball. Despite what many people may believe, he never had a formal position in the Baseball Hall of Fame, although there is a large oil painting of him in the building of the Hall of Fame.

The exact origins of baseball are impossible to determine. It is most probable that the game came from many different types of games that all had one element in common: they all used a ball and an object in which to strike the ball. We cannot say that there is just one person responsible for the invention, but is can be stated that Alexander Joy Cartwright had a big part in the development of it as we know it today. Historians did later prove that Cartwright does rightfully hold the claim of inventing the first set of rules for baseball back in 1845. Read more…

Abner Doubleday Didn’t Invent Baseball

Behind the myth of Abner Doubleday

Many people once believed that Abner Doubleday was the man who invented baseball. When the name Abner Doubleday is mentioned to baseball fans, the first thought that occurs to most is “the father of baseball”. Almost all casual fans of the game consider him the one who took a sport that was basically the English sport of cricket and transformed it into what we know today as baseball.

But what most people don’t realize is that the origins of baseball springing from the mind of Abner Doubleday is actually a myth that was perpetuated in the early period of the sport when a select few decided they needed a face for the inventor of the sport and arbitrarily landed on Doubleday as their man. Read more…

Jackie Robinson Biography

Jackie Robinson was the first black of the modern era to become a Major League player. He began playing for the Dodgers in 1947 and ended the racial segregation that had resulted in blacks playing on negro only teams for years. Robinson had amazing skill and character and he made it very clear that the segregation in baseball needed to be ended for the benefit of all the teams, players, and fans. While playing for the Dodgers he participated in six World Series where he helped them to win a World Championship in 1955. Jackie Robinson was inducted into the baseball hall of fame in 1962.

Alexander Cartwright Invented Baseball

There are several myths about who invented baseball. Those myths are based on facts and the one fact that is standing strong even now is that Alexander Cartwright is the man who invented baseball. Some legends say that Abner Doubleday invented the game; there is still no concrete proof to this idea. The game evolved when people began to fancy playing with a bat and a ball and a different format of the game was popularized – like Cricket, English Rounders and American Town Ball. It was believed that baseball evolved out of the three and the rules of the game laid by Alexander Cartwright. Read more…

Who Invented Negro League Baseball

Negro League Baseball

The first Negro Baseball League was developed on February 13, 1920 in Kansas City, Missouri. You might be asking yourself who invented baseball for the black Americans? The man who was the driving force behind the formation of this league was Andrew Rube Foster. Andrew is known as the “father of black baseball” because of his support for this league. Andrew basically invented baseball for African Americans. The National Negro League, as this organization was called, had member teams in the South and Midwest and functioned very successfully until the beginning of the 1930′s. Read more…