Sport-Blog.com

Written by James Fohl

When you think of a game of baseball, what exactly do you think of? Is it the game itself? The players, fans or just the overall atmosphere? What about the ball itself? Do you ever find yourself thinking about the most important aspect of the game, which of course is the baseball? I mean, come on and think about it;
without the baseball, there is no baseball.

With that being said, it is important to look at the history of how today's modern baseball came about. Sure, there are tons of other ball shaped objects that have been used throughout baseball's history, but why did the sport eventually settle on a white ball with red stitching made out of cow hyde?

Starting out, modern day baseball officially became established in 1845, when a man by the name of Alexander Cartwright published the first list of rules for baseball. Included in the list of rules were facts that the ball must be a bright color, such as white, and have stitching that will allow pitchers better control of the ball, as well as the ability to distinguish the baseball from other balls.

Following the initial rule set, organized leagues began appearing shortly after with the introduction of the National Association, and the famous National League was founded in 1876 that basically took over the National Association's best teams.

America's other professional league, the American League was founded in
1893, under the Western League name, which we know today as the American League.

Initially, baseball was a very hard sport because of the set rules crafted by Alexander Cartwright. Although the rules were pretty much the same as they were today, the game of baseball favored pitchers over batters. This led up to the creation of the American League's designated hitter, in hopes that the low score ball games would become a thing of the past.

In the early days of baseball, there were always the two leagues the National League, and of course the former Western League, now known as the American League. The two leagues always proclaimed themselves as being better than each other, and in 1903 the first World Series took place between the two leagues. It was this series of games that would pit the best team of the National League against the best team of the American League, and the winner of the seven game series would be declared that year's world champion of baseball. Although there has been some talk about why the World Series baseball championship only has baseball teams from America competing in it, no other professional baseball league has come forth to take part in the World Series.

While the basic rules of baseball have stayed constant for the past century in America, new rules are constantly being implemented in baseball organizations across the world, from leagues in Japan to Australia. However, the usage of the standard sized baseball, as well as using a white baseball still continues in every known professional baseball league.