Baseball beginnings

Baseball Beginnings A ball, a bat, and four bases on a field. The elements of the game that became baseball have been around for hundreds of years, also know as an English game called rounders.[#1 Appositive] Americans had been playing another ball game with bases called “ town ball” since the Revolutionary War. By the 1840s, sportsmen in several Northeastern cities were gathering regularly to play several variations of what they called baseball. In 1845, Alexander Cartwright and Daniel Adams, were both leaders of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club, and developed the first set of rules for the game. Though the rules changed rapidly over the next few years and continued to evolve into the 1900s, they were close to what baseball is today, to mark the ‘ birth’ of baseball. From humble beginnings, the game has grown from a sport played by men on weekends to a sport played by women, and children of all ages in more than 100 countries. Although baseball beginnings were humble, Jackie Robinson dramatically changed history in 1947, when he broke baseball’s color barrier to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. As a very skilled player, Robinson won the National League Rookie of the Year award his first season, and helped the Dodgers achieve the National League championship, surprisingly only the first of his six trips to the World Series. In 1949 Robinson won the league MVP award, and he was introduced into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962 because of his large accomplishments. Despite his skill, Robinson faced many insults and threats because of his race. The courage and grace with which Robinson handled the insulted inspired a generation of African Americans to question the doctrine of ” separate but equal” and helped pave the way for the Civil Rights Movement. Jackie Robinson was the tipping point for many who looked upon him, he change worldwide views of segregated societies. Jackie Robinson was a Tipping Point in the game of baseball and the society. He was looked at much differently than other baseball players. A few key people that helped him through the process of changing the society’s point of view and there beliefs, was Jackie Robinson’s secretary, lawyers and his wonderful family. One early morning on April 10, 1947 Jackie Robinson received an early phone call that sparked his career. Jackie’s secretary contacted him wanting him to come up to Brooklyn, to discuss the game of baseball and having Jackie play competitively in major league baseball. And during the time, the were sixteen teams and every player on every one of those teams was white, a single black man was presented an opportunity to change the equation: to make it one black man and 399 whites. Throughout the process lawyers contacted the Brooklyn coach seeing if Jackie would have a chance to play in the major leagues. They would consult about what position he would play and to just absorb all the weight off of his shoulders. This would allow for a more smooth transfer for Jackie, many of his lawyers told him not to respond to the threats and show you have much to show and give to the game of baseball. Jackie Robinsons playing was very sticky, he showed that talent mattered more than skin color. He led the dodgers to the greatest season the teams fans had yet seen, to a World Series showdown with the New York Yankees, the outcome was outstanding. Robinson became baseball’s biggest attraction in 1947. According to one of the surveys, he was the second most famous man in America. When the Dodgers went on the road, thousands of black men and women traveled great distances to get a glimpse of him, as if to see for themselves that he was real. Black parents named their children, boys and girls after him. White kids from small white towns in the Midwest sat surrounded by black men and women in the ballpark. White business owners integrated their factory floors and wrote to Robinson to thank him for opening their eyes. Jackie Robinson left a large footprint to a large social epidemic. in conclusion, Jackie Robinson made a larger impact than anyone has since the beginning of slavery and segregation.