BY ERICA GUSTAFSON, OPINION EDITOR
Baseball is most famously known as America’s National Pastime, even by those who are not necessarily baseball fans. Though we may like to think that baseball started here, it’s origins could be tied to other areas of the world.
According to an updated information about who invented baseball on history.com, baseball origins can be traced back to other sports. It “references to games resembling baseball in the United States date back to the 18th century. Its most direct ancestors appear to be two English games: rounder (a children’s game brought to New England by the earlier colonists) and cricket.”
In February of 1876, a Chicago businessman named William Hulbert founded the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs. This is more known today as the National League (NL). The founding of the American League (AL) followed in 1901, and the first World Series game was held in 1903. Much development and evaluation of the league led to the splitting of the league into East and West divisions in the year 1969.
My love of this game runs back further than I can remember. I started playing baseball in little leagues when I was a young child and worked my way up to playing softball for a college club team today. Making a note of it, I understand that baseball and softball are different sports. It is something I preach myself. They are different sports, but a part of the same family.
Overall, baseball is one of the most amazing sports there are in athletics today. Baseball is a team sport with personal effort. You have to play as a team. No one person has the ability to fully play a baseball game without some help of teammates. It also asks that you bring personal strength and determination to the diamond. You may not get a lot of action when you are standing on the field in defense, but you can make up for it in the batter’s box. If you don’t give any effort, you can’t circle the bases.
In general, I see baseball as an all or nothing type of sport. As a pitcher, I feel this personally. When out on the field, you try to give every throw, movement and swing of the bat your everything.
Baseball brings people together in so many ways. It bring players and fans an escape. Since the early start of baseball, people in America have grown to love the sport more and more. People of all ages enjoy the game on television and live in stadiums across the country.
Baseball joins the past and present together, while giving American citizens something to look forward to each and every year. It has been around for hundreds of years, and is something that should be continued. It’s a tradition worth continuing so that future generations can experience this beloved sport many of us have come to know and love so much.
Though many sports are amazing in their own particular ways, baseball truly is the “cream of the crop” when it comes to the athletic world.
