Baseball Pastime Essay

Most people know the national pastime of America is baseball, but, where did it originate? It is fascinating that no one is sure where the game of baseball originated. In the early to the mid-1800s, the debate over the origin of baseball was at its highest with varying thoughts on the subject. David Block a baseball historian states in Baseball Before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game, “The age-old debate over baseball’s ancestry has always been long on bluster and short on facts. Since the earliest days of the game’s prominence in America, writers have been eager to expound upon its origins”. There are multiple theories about the origin of the modern game and its rules, including a German children’s game, the English game of rounders,

Then, the number of bases increased or decreased depending on the number of players playing in the game. After the defense records one out the batting team was finished. Also, home plate was a large area, not like the plate we see in the modern game. The pitcher served the ball, threw underhand, to the batter who had only three chances to hit it. This German game differs from the modern game where the batter had as many pitches needed, as long as you do not strike out or get walked first. The batter in “das englische Base-ball”, after hitting the ball, ran counterclockwise and would see how far he could make it without making an out. The goal of the batter was to touch all the bases and to touch home base last to score. Also, a batter was recorded as out in one of three ways; first, when a fielder caught a fly ball, second, when a fielder would throw the ball at the batter/runner hitting them and third, when throwing the ball to another fielder touching the base before the batter/runner reached the base. (Block 67-68). As one can see this German game is similar to the modern game. While, the German game closely resembles the game of baseball we know today, others think another game more directly resembles the modern