There is some speculation about the origins of baseball. Some records show that there was mention of a game very similar to baseball as far back as 1744. It is difficult to pin down a certain year that baseball was created. There are several books that detail games that have similar rules to baseball. The game that was referred to as baseball surfaced in America as far back as the eighteenth century.
Throughout America and Canada, there have been mentions of a game like baseball in letters, diaries, and books. Baseball owes its rules to many other games that were popular in England and other European countries. Cricket is a very similar game that has been around much longer than modern baseball. Some say that baseball is an extension of Cricket with a few small adjustments to the rules and guidelines. Baseball took words from Cricket such as “outs,” “innings,” and “umpires” to use in their modification of the game.
Knickerbocker’s
In 1845 a New York City club established the rules for “base ball.” Alexander Cartwright is considered to be the father of baseball. The rules of “base ball” were written by William Wheaton and William Tucker. Important rules that were added to the game included: not putting a runner out by hitting them with the ball, establishing the three out system instead of one, and forbidding runners to advance on foul balls. These rules played an integral part in shaping modern-day baseball. With a few rules mended in the developing of modern-day baseball, these rules laid the groundwork for all”base ball” games at that time. Congress credited Alexander Cartwright as the creator of modern baseball in 1953.
Doubleday
The myth that Abner Doubleday invented baseball is a widespread falsehood. The Mills Commission had dubbed Abner Doubleday to be the creator of modern baseball. Albert Spalding put the Commission together to discover the origin of baseball. In 1907 Spalding sent a letter to the Commission about an encounter he had with Doubleday. Doubleday is seventy-one years old at the time described how he had taught a group of young boys a sport he just created. Without any further research into the statement, Spalding took Doubleday’s word for it and declared he was the creator of baseball. The Commission agreed that the invention of baseball was in 1839, where Doubleday would have been five years old at the time.