Electronic Highways
Play ball!
Cheer up! The days are getting longer and warmer, the songbirds are returning and baseball is back.
For many, the baseball is more than simply a sandlot game or a professional sport; it is a cultural phenomenon. American vernacular is replete with baseball idioms. There are baseball motion pictures, baseball documentaries, baseball songs and poetry, and veritable libraries of baseball books. There also is the scientific study of baseball, including the mathematics and the physics of the game. There are even peer-reviewed baseball journals, such as Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game.
Although baseball is commonly referred to as America’s national pastime, its origins date back to 14th century England and the game of stoolball. The earliest print reference to baseball is found in the 1744 publication “A Little Pretty Pocket-Book,” which was authored by Englishman John Newbery. This publication includes a woodcut depiction of stoolball and a rhyme entitled “Base-ball.”
It is thought by many that Abner Doubleday invented the modern game of baseball in Cooperstown, N.Y. in 1839. That myth has been debunked by baseball historians. The inventor distinction belongs to Alexander Cartwright, who, in 1845, devised and then led the codification of the Knickerbocker Rules—modern baseball’s first official set of rules and regulations. Baseball became popular in New York City during the mid-1850s; several clubs were formed and in 1857, they established the game’s first governing body, the National Association of Base Ball Players(NABBP). The Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first professional team in 1869, and the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players was established as the game’s first professional league in 1871.
From its beginning, modern baseball has reflected important social and historical aspects of American life. In 1867, the NABBP barred African Americans from playing professional baseball. This led to the formation of the first Negro League in 1887. Major League Baseball began the slow process of integration in 1947 when the Brooklyn Dodgers famously signed Jackie Robinson. Despite racial and ethnic discrimination, Asian-American, Jewish-American, Native-American and, in particular, Latino players also have had a significant impact on the game of baseball.
The Web sites for the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Hall of Fame provide a wealth of additional information about the game of baseball, its history and its significant players, coaches and owners. Baseball is a game that lends itself to statistics and trivia. Aficionados can find comprehensive statistical information about current and past players at Baseball-Reference.com and unearth a wealth of trivia in the Baseball Almanac.
As I write this column, spring training is in full swing. So, too, is the World Baseball Classic, an ambitious endeavor to increase the game’s popularity internationally. For fans of professional baseball, MLB.com provides requisite information regarding teams, players, schedules, scores and current news. The same relative information is available for different levels of the game on the Web sites of the American Women’s Baseball Federation, Minor League Baseball and Little League Online.
—Christopher Hollister, Arts and Sciences Libraries
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