History of Baseball Baseball’s history began with earlier bat-and-ball games played in Europe for centuries. Games such as rounders in England and stoolball involved hitting a ball with a bat and running between bases. During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, these games evolved in North America into forms that more closely resembled modern baseball. The first known references to baseball appeared in the United States in the 1830s and 1840s. In 1845, Alexander Cartwright and the New York Knickerbocker Base Ball Club helped establish formal rules, including the diamond-shaped infield, three strikes, and the elimination of “soaking,” or hitting runners with the ball. The first recorded baseball game under these rules was played in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1846. Baseball grew rapidly in popularity during the American Civil War and afterward. Professional teams emerged in the late nineteenth century, and the National League was founded in 1876. The sport soon spread beyond the United States to Canada, Cuba, Japan, Latin America, and other parts of the world. By the early twentieth century, baseball had become an international sport, with professional leagues, amateur competitions, and national teams developing across several continents.

Reaction of football coaches.