When Baseball Started - An Overview

Baseball is a sport that pretty much everyone is familiar with in some form or another. Baseball lovers know that every game requires nine players for each team and that there is a diamond (or a square depending on your perspective) with four bases that the batter has to tag in order to score points for his team. Many people don't know that the square or diamond is a 90 foot square, but perhaps that is not as important as the game itself. What most people don't know about the game, however, is when baseball started and where. Most people think that this is a game invented in America by Americans, and they could not be further from the truth.

The first documented game of baseball was in 1744 in England, that's right, baseballs origins are rooted in England, not America. It was not until 1791 that baseball made its way to America. This does not mean that the sport has not changed. Much like Football, which has its roots in an English form of rugby but that is very different from rugby, baseball as metamorphosed into a new animal in America.

The European form of baseball included a diamond shaped field as well as sticks where the ball had to be hit past (similar to cricket). Some historians believe European baseball was inspired by cricket, but there is no corroboration for that belief. However, there is no doubt that the original form of baseball was played as early as 1344 in England, although at that time it was called Rounders and not baseball.

Since baseball has become so popular in the United States, there have been many memorable baseball players that will go down in history from Sammy Sosa to Babe Ruth and dozens of others before and after them, there will be more in the years to come as well.

Baseball may not have found its roots in the US but it sure has become the worldwide phenomenon that it is today because of the US. Countries such as Canada, Japan and China play baseball religiously as well and are making it their national pastime as well.