Baseball | History, Definition, & Facts

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data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/baseball">baseball</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/sports/baseball">Introduction</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref229944"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball#ref229944">A national pastime</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref30429"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/History">History</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref30430"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/History#ref30430">Origin</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref30431"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/History#ref30431">Early years</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref30432"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/History#ref30432">Professional baseball</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref30433"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/League-formation">League formation</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref30434"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/League-formation#ref30434">Survival and growth</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref30435"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/The-postwar-period">The postwar period</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref30436"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/The-postwar-period#ref30436">Movement and expansion</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref30437"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/The-minor-leagues">The minor leagues</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref229945"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/The-minor-leagues#ref229945">Labour issues</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref30440"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/The-minor-leagues#ref30440">Rise of the players</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref229946"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Blacks-in-baseball">Blacks in baseball</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref229947"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Blacks-in-baseball#ref229947">Segregation</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref229948"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Integration">Integration</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref229949"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Integration#ref229949">Women in baseball</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref30443"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Amateur-baseball">Amateur baseball</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref30442"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Amateur-baseball#ref30442">Baseball abroad</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref229950"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Amateur-baseball#ref229950">Baseball in Latin America</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref229951"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Amateur-baseball#ref229951">Baseball in Asia and the Pacific</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref229952"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Amateur-baseball#ref229952">European baseball</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref229953"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Amateur-baseball#ref229953">International competition</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref229954"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Analyzing-baseball">Analyzing baseball</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref229955"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Analyzing-baseball#ref229955">The scorecard</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref229956"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Analyzing-baseball#ref229956">Records and statistics</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref229957"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Awards">Awards</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref229958"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Awards#ref229958">Fantasy baseball</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref30444"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Awards#ref30444">Play of the game</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref30445"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Awards#ref30445">Field of play and equipment</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref229959"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Awards#ref229959">Grounds</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref30446"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Awards#ref30446">The ball and bat</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref30447"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Gloves">Gloves</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref30448"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Gloves#ref30448">Protective gear</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref229960"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Gloves#ref229960">Umpires</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref30450"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Gloves#ref30450">Principles of play</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref30451" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Gloves#ref30451">Offense</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref30460"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Gloves#ref30460">The batting order</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref229961"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Gloves#ref229961">Getting on base</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref229962"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Gloves#ref229962">Advancing base runners and scoring</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref30461"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Gloves#ref30461">Substitutions</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref30462" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Gloves#ref30462">Defense</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref30467"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Gloves#ref30467">Defensive positions</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref30468"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Outfielders">Outfielders</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref30469"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Outfielders#ref30469">Infielders</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref30470"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Outfielders#ref30470">The battery</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref229963"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Outfielders#ref229963">Outs</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref229964"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Outfielders#ref229964">The putout</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref229965"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Outfielders#ref229965">The force play</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref30471"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Pitching">Pitching</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref30474"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Pitching#ref30474">The pitching repertoire</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref229966"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Pitching#ref229966">Pitching with men on base</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref229967"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Pitching#ref229967">Substitutions</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref229968"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/Baseball-and-the-arts">Baseball and the arts</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref302559"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/World-Series-results">World Series results</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref302560"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/World-Series-results#ref302560">Japan Series results</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref302561"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/sports/baseball/World-Series-results#ref302561">Caribbean Series champions</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li></ul> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/baseball/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/baseball">Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a class="section-header link-gray-900 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mb-10 mx-10" href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/baseball/images-videos">Images, Videos & Interactives</a> <div class="slider js-slider position-relative d-inline-flex align-items-center mw-100 "> <div class="slider-container js-slider-container overflow-hidden d-flex overflow-hidden text-nowrap ml-15"> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/42/254842-050-B9B39A14/mlb-major-league-baseball-first-basemen-freddie-freeman-of-the-los-angeles-dodgers-ninth-inning-against-san-francisco-giants-at-dodger-stadium-los-angeles-california.jpg" data-href="/media/1/54751/319644" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" 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Rader</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Professor of History at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Benjamin G. Rader</span>, <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/contributor/Milton-Jamail/4957" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">Milton Jamail</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Lecturer, Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin. Author of <em>Full Count: Inside Cuban Baseball</em>.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Milton Jamail</span><span class="text-gray-700 mx-5">•</span><a class="see-all border-gray-700 gtm-byline" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/baseball/additional-info#contributors">All</a> </div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2024-11-18T00:00:00CST" >Nov 18, 2024</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/baseball/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 ai-ask-button btn border-2 module-spacing btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="js-qf-module qf-module px-40 px-sm-20 py-15 mx-auto module-spacing font-14 bg-gray-50 rounded"> <div class="facts-list mt-10"> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Key People: </dt> <dd><a href="/biography/Omar-Vizquel" topicid="1729491">Omar Vizquel</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Phil-Niekro" topicid="1451991">Phil Niekro</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Roberto-Alomar" topicid="1729480">Roberto Alomar</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Aaron-Judge" topicid="2102212">Aaron Judge</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Jen-Pawol" topicid="2243650">Jen Pawol</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Related Topics: </dt> <dd><a href="/sports/history-of-baseball" topicid="2230583">history of baseball</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Baseball-Positions-and-Roles" topicid="2243868">Baseball Positions and Roles</a></dd> <dd><a href="/sports/spring-training" topicid="1470606">spring training</a></dd> <dd><a href="/sports/earned-run-average" topicid="693104">earned run average</a></dd> <dd><a href="/sports/no-hitter" topicid="1256157">no-hitter</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/baseball"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><div class="bg-gray-50 p-15 rounded module-spacing recent-news d-flex flex-column float-false"> <div> <h2 class="font-weight-bold font-14 m-0 d-inline"> News <span class="text-gray-600">•</span> </h2> <div class="recent-news-item first-recent-news-item d-inline"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/54751/ed686a821f62d0e5e32bfacd91d48f0b" rel="nofollow">Pirates ace Paul Skenes wins NL Rookie of Year award over Jackson Merrill and Jackson Chourio</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 18, 2024, 6:39 PM ET (AP) <button class="btn btn-link d-inline p-0 font-12 js-toggle-recent-news"> <span class="text-gray-500">...</span><span>(Show more)</span> </button> </span> </div> </div> <div class="rest-of-recent-news-items"> <div class="recent-news-item mt-5"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/54751/b962ec5705d47ce011ae7b4e1228749b" rel="nofollow">Suzuki and Sabathia among 14 newcomers on baseball Hall of Fame ballot. Wagner tops holdovers</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 18, 2024, 12:11 PM ET (AP) </span> </div> <div class="recent-news-item mt-5"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/54751/bd8e555b9bb5a321fff527e78e0ba637" rel="nofollow">Dodgers win World Series in 5 games, overcome 5-run deficit with help of errors to beat Yankees 7-6</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Oct. 31, 2024, 8:10 AM ET (AP) </span> </div> <button class="js-toggle-recent-news d-flex btn btn-unstyled font-14 pr-10 rounded-sm mt-10" aria-label="Toggle additional news items"> Show less <em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_less"></em> </button> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref988196"></span>baseball</strong>, game played with a bat, a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/ball-sports" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">ball</a>, and gloves between two teams of nine <span id="ref783464"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/baseball-player" class="md-crosslink ">players</a> each on a field with four white bases laid out in a diamond (i.e., a square oriented so that its diagonal line is vertical). Teams <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="alternate" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/alternate" data-type="EB">alternate</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Baseball-Positions-and-Roles" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">positions</a> as batters (offense) and fielders (defense), exchanging places when three members of the batting team are “put out.” As batters, players try to hit the ball out of the reach of the fielding team and make a complete circuit around the bases for a “run.” The team that scores the most runs in nine innings (times at bat) wins the game.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="marker h2"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref229944"> <h2 class="h1">A national pastime</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="70909" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/52/26152-050-4A6F2AAC/Enos-Slaughter-home-run-game-St-Louis-1946.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/54751/70909"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/52/26152-050-4A6F2AAC/Enos-Slaughter-home-run-game-St-Louis-1946.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/52/26152-050-4A6F2AAC/Enos-Slaughter-home-run-game-St-Louis-1946.jpg?w=300" alt="1946 World Series" data-width="1392" data-height="1042" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/52/26152-050-4A6F2AAC/Enos-Slaughter-home-run-game-St-Louis-1946.jpg" data-href="/media/1/54751/70909">1946 World Series</a><span>Enos Slaughter of the St. Louis Cardinals sliding home to score the winning run in game seven of the 1946 World Series; Roy Partee, catcher for the Boston Red Sox, lunges for the throw from the infield. </span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">The <span id="ref402512"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">United States</a> is credited with developing several popular <a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/sports" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">sports</a>, including some (such as baseball, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/American-football" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">gridiron football</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/basketball" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">basketball</a>) that have large fan bases and, to varying degrees, have been adopted internationally. But baseball, despite the spread of the game throughout the globe and the growing influence of Asian and Latin American leagues and players, is the sport that Americans still recognize as their “national pastime.” The game has long been <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="woven" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/woven" data-type="EB">woven</a> into the fabric of American life and identity. “It’s our game,” exclaimed the poet <span id="ref781494"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walt-Whitman" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Walt Whitman</a> more than a century ago, “that’s the chief fact in connection with it: America’s game.” He went on to explain that baseball</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span> <blockquote> <p>has the snap, go, fling of the American atmosphere—it belongs as much to our institutions, fits into them as significantly, as our constitutions, laws: is just as important in the sum total of our historic life. It is the place where memory gathers.</p> </blockquote> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Perhaps Whitman exaggerated baseball’s importance to and its congruency with life in the United States, but few would argue the contrary, that baseball has been merely a simple or an occasional diversion.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="10119" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/67/12267-004-728A18CF/Abner-Doubleday.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/54751/10119"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/67/12267-004-728A18CF/Abner-Doubleday.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/67/12267-004-728A18CF/Abner-Doubleday.jpg?w=300" alt="Abner Doubleday" data-width="245" data-height="300" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/67/12267-004-728A18CF/Abner-Doubleday.jpg" data-href="/media/1/54751/10119">Abner Doubleday</a><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">It was nationalistic <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="sentiment" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sentiment" data-type="MW">sentiment</a> that helped to make baseball “America’s game.” In the quest to obtain greater cultural <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="autonomy" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/autonomy" data-type="MW">autonomy</a>, Americans yearned for a sport they could claim as exclusively their own. Just as the English had <a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/cricket-sport" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">cricket</a> and the Germans their <a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/turnverein" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">turnverein</a>s (gymnastic clubs), a sporting newspaper declared as early as 1857 that Americans should have a “game that could be termed a ‘Native American Sport.’ ” A powerful confirmation of baseball as the sport to fill that need came in 1907 when a special commission appointed by <span id="ref402515"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/A-G-Spalding" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">A.G. Spalding</a>, a sporting goods magnate who had formerly been a star pitcher and an executive with a baseball team, reported that baseball owed absolutely nothing to England and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/childrens-game" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">children’s game</a> of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/rounders" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">rounders</a>. Instead, the commission claimed that, to the best of its knowledge (a knowledge based on flimsy research and self-serving logic), baseball had been invented by <span id="ref402516"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abner-Doubleday" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Abner Doubleday</a> at <span id="ref782260"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Cooperstown" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Cooperstown</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/New-York-state" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">New York</a>, in 1839. This origin <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="myth" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/myth" data-type="MW">myth</a> was perpetuated for decades.</p><a class="link-module shadow-sm d-block qa-quiz-module" href="/quiz/great-moments-in-sports-quiz" data-link-module-iframe-link=""> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/74/234474-131-7CBD1A96/Serena-Williams-womens-single-trophy-Australian-Open-Januray-28-2017.jpg" alt="Serena Williams poses with the Daphne Akhurst Trophy after winning the Women's Singles final against Venus Williams of the United States on day 13 of the 2017 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 28, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (tennis, sports)" class="rounded-sm mr-15" width="70" /> <div class="line-clamp clamp-5"> <div class="module-title bg-green">Britannica Quiz</div> <div class="font-weight-semi-bold mt-5">Great Moments in Sports Quiz</div> </div> </a><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In a country <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="comprising" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comprising" data-type="MW">comprising</a> a multiplicity of ethnic and religious groups, one without a monarchy, an <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="aristocracy" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aristocracy" data-type="MW">aristocracy</a>, or a long and mythic past, the experience of playing, watching, and talking about baseball games became one of the nation’s great common denominators. It provided, in the perceptive words of British novelist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Virginia-Woolf" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Virginia Woolf</a>, “a centre, a meeting place for the divers activities of a people whom a vast continent isolates [and] whom no tradition controls.” No matter where one lived, the “hit-and-run,” the “double play,” and the “sacrifice bunt” were carried out the same way. The unifying power of baseball in the United States was evident in the Depression-ravaged 1930s, when a group of Cooperstown’s businessmen along with officials from the major leagues established the <span id="ref402514"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Baseball-Hall-of-Fame" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum</a>. The Hall of Fame became a quasi-religious shrine for many Americans, and, since its founding, millions of fans have made “pilgrimages” to Cooperstown, where they have observed the “relics”—old bats, balls, and uniforms—of bygone heroes.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Baseball also reshaped the nation’s calendar. With the rise of industrialization, the standardized clock time of the office or factory robbed people of the earlier experience of time in its rich associations with the daylight hours, the natural rhythms of the seasons, and the traditional church calendar. <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="Yet" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/Yet" data-type="EB">Yet</a>, for Americans, the opening of the baseball training season signaled the arrival of spring, regular-season play meant summer, and the World Series marked the arrival of fall. In the winter, baseball fans participated in “hot stove leagues,” reminiscing about past games and greats and speculating about what the next season had to offer.</p><div class="module-spacing"> <DIV class="marketing-INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION marketing-content" data-marketing-id="INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION"><style> .student-promo-banner-wrapper { container-type: inline-size; margin-bottom: 15px; } @container (min-width: 475px) { .student-promo-banner { flex-direction: row; } .student-promo-banner-img-wrapper { margin-bottom: 0; margin-right: 10px; justify-content: flex-start; } .student-promo-banner-text-wrapper { text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; } .student-promo-banner-button-wrapper { margin-right: 0; } }</style> <div class="student-promo-banner-wrapper"> <div class="student-promo-banner d-flex flex-column align-items-center bg-blue rounded p-20"> <div class="student-promo-banner-img-wrapper mb-20 mr-0 d-flex justify-content-center"> <img class="rounded" style="max-width: 100px; min-width: 80px" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/marketing/BlueThistle.webp" /> </div> <div class="student-promo-banner-text-wrapper ml-0 mb-10 text-center text-white"> <div class="h2 mb-10">Get Unlimited Access</div> <div class="h4 font-weight-semi-bold">Try Britannica Premium for free and discover more.</div> </div> <div class="student-promo-banner-button-wrapper d-flex justify-content-center align-items-center ml-auto mr-auto"> <a class="btn btn-m btn-orange" href="https://premium.britannica.com/premium-membership/?utm_source=premium&utm_medium=inline-cta&utm_campaign=black-friday-2024">Subscribe</a> </div> </div> </div> </DIV></div><span class="marker MOD7 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD8 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The <span id="ref402513"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/World-Series" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">World Series</a>, inaugurated in 1903 and pitting the champions of the American and National Leagues in a postseason play-off, quickly took its place alongside the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Independence-Day-United-States-holiday" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Fourth of July</a> and Christmas as one of the most popular annual rites. The series was, said <em>Everybody’s Magazine</em> in 1911, “the very <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="quintessence" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quintessence" data-type="MW">quintessence</a> and consummation of the Most Perfect Thing in America.” Each fall it absorbed the entire nation.</p><span class="marker MOD8 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD9 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Baseball terms and phrases, such as “He threw me a curve,” “Her presentation covered all the bases,” and “He’s really out in left field,” soon became part of the national vocabulary, so entrenched is baseball in the ordinary conversation of Americans. During the administration of President <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-H-W-Bush" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">George H.W. Bush</a>, a baseball player during his years at <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Yale-University" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Yale University</a>, the foreign press struggled to translate the president’s routine use of baseball <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="metaphors" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metaphors" data-type="MW">metaphors</a>. As early as the 1850s, baseball images began to appear in periodicals, and, in the 20th century, popular illustrator <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Norman-Rockwell" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Norman Rockwell</a> often used baseball as the subject for his <em>The Saturday Evening Post</em> covers. “<span id="ref782431"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Casey-at-the-Bat" class="md-crosslink ">Casey at the Bat</a>” and “<span id="ref782430"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Take-Me-Out-to-the-Ballgame" class="md-crosslink ">Take Me Out to the Ballgame</a>” remain among the best-known poems and songs, respectively, among Americans. Novelists and filmmakers frequently have turned to baseball motifs. After the mid-20th century, at the very time baseball at the grassroots level had begun a perceptible descent, baseball fiction proliferated. American colleges and universities even began to offer courses on baseball literature, and baseball films likewise proliferated. In 1994 the Public Broadcasting System released <span id="ref782261"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ken-Burns" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ken Burns’s</a> nostalgic <em><span id="ref782262"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Baseball-film-by-Burns" class="md-crosslink ">Baseball</a></em>, arguably the most monumental historical television documentary ever made.</p><span class="marker MOD9 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD10 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">While baseball possessed enormous integrative powers, the game’s history also has been interwoven with and reflective of major social and cultural cleavages. Until the first decades of the 20th century, middle-class Evangelical Protestants viewed the sport with profound suspicion. They associated baseball, or at least the professional version of the game, with ne’er-do-wells, immigrants, the working class, drinking, gambling, and general rowdiness. Conversely, these very qualities provided a foothold for the upward ascent of ethnic groups from the nation’s ghettos. Usually encountering less <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="discrimination" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discrimination" data-type="MW">discrimination</a> in baseball (as well as in other <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="venues" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/venues" data-type="MW">venues</a> of commercial entertainment) than they did in the more “respectable” occupations, in the 19th century Irish and German Americans were so <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conspicuous" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conspicuous" data-type="MW">conspicuous</a> in professional baseball that some observers wondered if they had a special capacity for playing the game.</p><span class="marker MOD10 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD11 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="110411" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/68/80368-050-E5CD4DA3/Jackie-Robinson-home-game-Boston-Braves-league-1948.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/54751/110411"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/68/80368-050-E5CD4DA3/Jackie-Robinson-home-game-Boston-Braves-league-1948.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/68/80368-050-E5CD4DA3/Jackie-Robinson-home-game-Boston-Braves-league-1948.jpg?w=300" alt="Jackie Robinson" data-width="1600" data-height="979" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/68/80368-050-E5CD4DA3/Jackie-Robinson-home-game-Boston-Braves-league-1948.jpg" data-href="/media/1/54751/110411">Jackie Robinson</a><span>Baseball star Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers stealing home as Boston Braves catcher Bill Salkeld is thrown off-balance by the pitcher's throw to the plate during a baseball game at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn, August 22, 1948.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">For a brief time in the 1880s, before <span id="ref782434"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/racial-segregation" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">racial segregation</a> became the norm in the United States, <span id="ref782432"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/African-American" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Black</a> players competed with whites in professional baseball. After that period, however, Blacks had to carve out a separate world of baseball. Dozens of Black teams faced local semiprofessional teams while barnstorming throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Despite playing a high quality of baseball, the players frequently engaged in various forms of clowning that perpetuated prevailing <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="stereotypes" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stereotypes" data-type="MW">stereotypes</a> of Blacks to appeal to spectators. From the 1920s until the ’50s, separate Black professional leagues—the <span id="ref782435"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/Negro-league" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Negro league</a>s—existed as well, but in 1947 <span id="ref782436"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jackie-Robinson" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jackie Robinson</a> crossed the long-standing colour bar in <span id="ref783145"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Major-League-Baseball" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">major league baseball</a>. Because baseball was the national game, its racial <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="integration" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/integration" data-type="MW">integration</a> was of enormous symbolic importance in the United States; indeed, it preceded the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision ending racial segregation in the schools (in 1954 in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Brown-v-Board-of-Education-of-Topeka" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Brown</em> v. <em>Board of Education of Topeka</em></a>) and helped to usher in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/American-civil-rights-movement" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">civil rights movement</a> of the 1950s and ’60s. Moreover, in the 1980s and ’90s a huge influx of Hispanics into professional baseball reflected the country’s changing ethnic <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="composition" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/composition" data-type="MW">composition</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD11 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD12 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Baseball likewise contributed to the shaping of American <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conceptions" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conceptions" data-type="MW">conceptions</a> of gender roles. Although <span id="ref782437"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/women" class="md-crosslink ">women</a> were playing baseball as early as the 1860s, their involvement in the sport was confined for the most part to the role of spectator. To counter the game’s reputation for rowdiness, baseball promoters took pains to encourage women to attend. “The presence of an assemblage of ladies purifies the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="moral" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moral" data-type="MW">moral</a> atmosphere of a baseball gathering,” reported the <em>Baseball Chronicle</em>, “repressing as it does, all the out-burst of intemperate language which the excitement of a contest so frequently induces.” When women played on barnstorming teams in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, the press routinely referred to them as “Amazons,” “freaks,” or “frauds.” In 1943, during <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">World War II</a>, when it was feared that professional baseball might be forced to close down, the <span id="ref782439"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/All-American-Girls-Professional-Baseball-League" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">All-American Girls Professional Baseball League</a> made its debut. After having provided more than 600 women an opportunity to play baseball and to entertain several million fans, the league folded in 1954.</p><span class="marker MOD12 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD13 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">But, even if unable to heal conflicts arising from fundamental social divisions, baseball exhibited an extraordinary <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="capacity" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/capacity" data-type="EB">capacity</a> for fostering ties. In the 1850s, young artisans and clerks, frequently displaced in the city and finding their way of life changing rapidly in the midst of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Industrial-Revolution" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Industrial Revolution</a>, conceived of themselves as members of what was known as the “base ball fraternity.” Like the volunteer fire departments and militia units of the day, they donned special uniforms, developed their own rituals, and, in playing baseball, shared powerful common experiences. Playing and watching baseball contests also strengthened occupational, ethnic, and racial identities. Butchers, typesetters, draymen, bricklayers, and even clergymen organized baseball clubs. So did Irish Americans, German Americans, and African Americans.</p><span class="marker MOD13 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD14 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Professional baseball nourished and deepened urban identities. “If we are ahead of the big city [New York] in nothing else,” crowed the <em>Brooklyn Eagle</em> as early as 1862, “we can beat her in baseball.” Fans invested their emotions in their professional representative nines. “A deep gloom settled over the city,” reported a Chicago newspaper in 1875 after the local White Stockings had been defeated by the St. Louis (Missouri) Brown Stockings. “Friends refused to recognize friends, lovers became estranged, and business was suspended.” Even in the late 20th century, in an age more given to <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="cynicism" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cynicism" data-type="MW">cynicism</a>, the successes and failures of professional teams continued to evoke strong feelings among local residents. For example, during the 1990s, after having experienced urban decay and demoralization in the previous two decades, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Cleveland-Ohio" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Cleveland</a> experienced a great civic revival fueled in part by the success of the Indians baseball team.</p><span class="marker MOD14 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD15 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies multiple medialist slider js-slider position-relative d-inline-flex align-items-center mw-100" data-type="other"><div class="slider-container js-slider-container overflow-hidden d-flex"><div class="rw-track d-flex align-items-center"><div class="position-relative rw-slide col-100 px-20 "><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="113944" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/62/82562-050-2D6061ED/Babe-Ruth.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/54751/113944"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/62/82562-050-2D6061ED/Babe-Ruth.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/62/82562-050-2D6061ED/Babe-Ruth.jpg?w=300" alt="Babe Ruth" data-width="1577" data-height="1600" loading="eager"></picture><div class="position-absolute top-10 left-10 assembly-slide-tag rounded-lg">1 of 2</div><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/62/82562-050-2D6061ED/Babe-Ruth.jpg" data-href="/media/1/54751/113944">Babe Ruth</a><span>When he joined the New York Yankees in 1920, Babe Ruth embarked on a home-run hitting campaign that would transform baseball and establish a record that would stand for nearly four decades.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div><div class="position-relative rw-slide col-100 px-20 "><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="13343" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/42/3342-050-71381145/Satchel-Paige-1942.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/54751/13343"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/42/3342-050-71381145/Satchel-Paige-1942.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/42/3342-050-71381145/Satchel-Paige-1942.jpg?w=300" alt="Satchel Paige" data-width="671" data-height="945" loading="eager"></picture><div class="position-absolute top-10 left-10 assembly-slide-tag rounded-lg">2 of 2</div><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/42/3342-050-71381145/Satchel-Paige-1942.jpg" data-href="/media/1/54751/13343">Satchel Paige</a><span>Legendary pitcher Satchel Paige, shown here in 1942, is regarded as one of the best pitchers in the history of baseball.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div></div><button disabled="true" class="prev-button js-prev-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-lg btn-blue-dark m-20"><span class="material-icons" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_left"></span></button><button disabled="true" class="next-button js-next-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-lg btn-blue-dark m-20"><span class="material-icons" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></span></button></div><p class="topic-paragraph">The significance of specific baseball teams and individual players extended beyond the localities that they represented. The <span id="ref782440"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/New-York-Yankees" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">New York Yankees</a>, who in the first half of the 20th century were the quintessential representatives of the big city, of the East, of urban America with its sophistication, and of ethnic and religious heterogeneity, became synonymous with supernal success, while the <span id="ref782441"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/St-Louis-Cardinals" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">St. Louis Cardinals</a> emerged as the quintessential champions of the Midwest, of small towns and the farms, of rural America with its simplicity, rusticity, and old-stock Protestant <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="homogeneity" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homogeneity" data-type="MW">homogeneity</a>. In the 1920s <span id="ref782442"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Babe-Ruth" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Babe Ruth</a> became the diamond’s colossal demigod. To those toiling on assembly lines or sitting at their desks in corporate <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="bureaucracies" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bureaucracies" data-type="MW">bureaucracies</a>, Ruth embodied America’s continuing faith in upward <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-mobility" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">social mobility</a>. His mighty home runs furnished vivid proof that men remained masters of their own destinies and that they could still rise from mean, vulgar beginnings to fame and fortune. For African Americans, Black stars such as <span id="ref782443"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Satchel-Paige" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Satchel Paige</a> and <span id="ref782444"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Josh-Gibson" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Josh Gibson</a> furnished equally compelling models of individual inspiration and success.</p><span class="marker MOD15 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD16 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><span id="ref782445"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/baseball-park" class="md-crosslink ">Baseball parks</a> became important local civic monuments and repositories of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="collective" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collective" data-type="MW">collective</a> memories. The first parks had been jerry-built, flimsy wooden structures, but between 1909 and 1923 some 15 major league clubs constructed new, more permanent parks of steel and concrete. These edifices were akin to the great public buildings, skyscrapers, and railway terminals of the day; local residents proudly pointed to them as evidence of their city’s size and its achievements.</p><span class="marker MOD16 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD17 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Seeing them as retreats from the noise, dirt, and squalor of the industrial city, the owners gave the first parks pastoral names—Ebbets Field, Sportsman’s Park, and the Polo Grounds—but, with the construction of symmetrical, multisports facilities in the 1960s and ’70s, urban and futuristic names such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Astrodome" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Astrodome</a> and Kingdome predominated. In a new park-building era in the 1990s, designers sought to recapture the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="ambience" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ambience" data-type="MW">ambience</a> of earlier times by designing “retro parks,” a term that was something of an <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="oxymoron" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oxymoron" data-type="MW">oxymoron</a> in that, while the new parks offered the fan the intimacy of the old-time parks, they simultaneously provided modern conveniences such as escalators, climate-controlled lounges, high-tech audiovisual systems, Disneyesque play areas for children, and space for numerous retail outlets. The increasing corporate influence on the game was reflected in park names such as Network Associates Stadium and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/Bank-One" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Bank One</a> Ballpark.</p><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD17 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD18 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="303813" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/87/237587-050-8A4B9F08/Shohei-Ohtani-Los-Angeles-Angels-pitcher-baseball-player-2022.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/54751/303813"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/87/237587-050-8A4B9F08/Shohei-Ohtani-Los-Angeles-Angels-pitcher-baseball-player-2022.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/87/237587-050-8A4B9F08/Shohei-Ohtani-Los-Angeles-Angels-pitcher-baseball-player-2022.jpg?w=300" alt="An international game" data-width="1600" data-height="1084" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/87/237587-050-8A4B9F08/Shohei-Ohtani-Los-Angeles-Angels-pitcher-baseball-player-2022.jpg" data-href="/media/1/54751/303813">An international game</a><span>Shohei Ohtani pitching for the Los Angeles Angels, 2022.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">After about the mid-20th century, baseball’s claim to being America’s game rested on more precarious foundations than in the past. The sport faced <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="potent" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/potent" data-type="EB">potent</a> competition, not only from other professional sports (especially gridiron football) but even more from a massive conversion of Americans from public to private, at-home diversions. Attendance as a percentage of population fell at all levels of baseball, the minor leagues became a shell of their former selves, and hundreds of semipro and amateur teams folded. In the 1990s, player strikes, free agency, disparities in competition, and the rising cost of attending games added to the woes of major league baseball. Yet, baseball continued to exhibit a remarkable resiliency; attendance at professional games improved, and attendance at minor league games was close to World War II records by the end of the century. As the 21st century opened, baseball still faced serious problems, but the sport was gaining in popularity around the world, and a strong case could still be made for baseball holding a special place in the hearts and minds of the American people.</p><span class="marker MOD18 mod-inline"></span> <div class="mb-20"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="303814" data-asm-type="infogram"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="infogram"><script id="infogram_0__/laqvDCNa1XnaFQVPVj8f" src="https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?Itp" type="text/javascript" title="Which city has the most sports titles?"></script></div></figure></div></div> <span class="md-signature"><a href="/contributor/Benjamin-G-Rader/5536">Benjamin G. 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