Baseball Writers Get in the Game

Baseball is the most written about and analyzed sport in history of America. The game lends itself to all kinds of statistics and record keeping. It is a true sportswriter’s dream. It didn’t take long for the early reporters to begin writing about baseball, even about games between members of the same club. Henry Chadwick, a New York journalist, became the first prominent baseball writer. Chadwick made the box score, the batting average and the ERA (earned run average) part of baseball. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938.

The First League

1858 was a big year for the young game of baseball. In that year the first organized league was formed. The National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) formed and agreed to play under the Knickerbocker Rules. That was also the year that another major factor entered the game– money. Enterprising baseball organizers set up a series of games between all-star players from Brooklyn and New York. More than 5,000 fans paid to watch the games. Now it was evident that baseball could be a moneymaking venture.

Though the NABBP prohibited players from receiving salaries, clubs found a way around these rules. The first official baseball salaries were paid in to players on the Rockford, Illinois, club in 1867. The Cincinnati Red Stockings (now the Red Sox) became the first semi-pro team when they hired “ringers” to help avenge a loss to the Washington Nationals. The Red Stockings went on a 57-game barnstorming tour. They won 56 of those games and tied one. The Red Stockings were also the first team to have a labor dispute. When players demanded higher salaries, club directors disbanded the team

Numerous baseball leagues came and went for 13 years. In 1871, nine teams formed the National Association of Professional Baseball Players. The nine teams were from New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Washington, D.C., Rockford, Troy, New York and Fort Wayne, Indiana. Brooklyn joined the league in 1872. These teams paid just $10 to join the league. Problems including teams folding, domination by the Boston team, players moving between teams and even signing with more than one team, and gambling plagued the league and it folded after five seasons.

Out of the problematic NAPBP (Are you keeping all of these initials straight?), came the beginnings of the National League. William Hulbert talked to other financial backers about starting a professional league run by owners, not players. In early 1876, while the NAPBP was technically still in operation, Hulbert called a meeting with representatives from seven other teams. The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs (no more initials, just the plain old National League) played its inaugural season in the summer of 1876.

The National League brought stability and respectability to baseball. Other rival leagues formed but only one would last—the Western League, which in 1901 became the American League.

The Rivalry Begins

When the Western League started it had teams in midwestern cities that had no National League clubs. In 1900, however, the new league started invading National League cities. Charles Comiskey moved his club from Minnesota to Chicago. Moves followed into Cleveland, Boston, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.

Needless to say, there was no love lost between to the two leagues. In 1903, the leagues did sit down and create the concept of their respective champions meeting in the World Series. The Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League met the Boston Pilgrims of the American League in the first World Series. Boston won the eight-game series 5-3. The next year, the National League champion New York Giants refused to play Boston. Since 1905, the World Series has been played every year except 1994 when it was cancelled by a players’ strike.