Who Invented Baseball (continued)
The formation of today’s Major League Baseball began with the founding of the National League on February 2, 1876. Replacing the National Association of Base Ball Players, it currently stands as the world’s oldest extant professional team sports league. Eight teams were members of the new league in 1876; of those, the Philadelphia Athletics, Hartford Dark Blues, Mutual of New York, St Louis Brown Stockings, Cincinnati Red Stockings (unrelated to the Red Stockings previously mentioned), and Louisville Greys, either were expelled or folded by 1881. Of the two remaining teams, the Boston Red Stockings would go on to become today’s Atlanta Braves, and the Chicago White Stockings would become today’s Chicago Cubs.
After the 1891 season, the National League merged with the American Association, a rival league. By this time, the teams that would become the Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers (then the Brooklyn Dodgers), Pittsburgh Pirates, and St Louis Cardinals had joined the league. The twelve team league had a monopoly on professional baseball for ten years until Bancroft “Ban” Johnson, president of the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, ambitiously positioned his league to rival the National League. The Western League was renamed the American League in 1899, though it remained a minor league until January 28, 1901, when it declared itself a major league. After a period of hostility, the two leagues settled into a lasting peace.
The first World Series, a playoff between the champions of the American and National leagues, was played in 1903 between the Boston Americans (now Red Sox) and Pittsburgh Pirates, and was won by Boston. This initiated a partnership between the National and American leagues that would develop into Major League Baseball as it is known today.
The question of who invented baseball has been a topic of romantic mythology for almost a century. While it may seem unfortunate that this myth must be shattered, it does not diminish the game of baseball to learn that its place in history is not unique, for those special characteristics which make modern baseball the great game it is are just as admirable as ever.
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