Keeping the Competitive Spirit of American Sports Alive: Part III of a Part III Series

This is the third part of a three-part series on the competitive nature of America and its love of sports, particularly its love of boxing and baseball. In part two, we examine the history of boxing, now we examine America’s history and love of its national pastime, baseball.

Baseball

Although Abner Doubleday is famous for having invented the sport, baseball is a sport derived from the English game of rounders. It became a popular and professional sport just before the Civil War. Abner had nothing to do with his invention. In fact, Alexander Cartwright of New York State invented the game we now know as baseball in 1845, though it has undergone some changes since then. The first known baseball game in the United States took place in 1846. The New York Baseball Club beat the Knickerbockers 23-1.

The first organized baseball league began in 1857. The 16-team league was known as the National Association of Baseball Players (NABBP). The league grew to include over 400 teams. The Cincinnati Red Sox were the most popular and well-known team, becoming the first “professional” team in Major League Baseball (MLB). The “league” emerged after the Civil War with 6-8 teams until the Golden Age of baseball began in the 1920s with the appearance of Babe Ruth and the Bronx Bombers. When Babe Ruth smashed 60 home runs in 1927, the nation was wowed.

Babe Ruth and the New York Yankees rescued baseball from what became known as the “dead ball era.” The dead ball era passed from nearly 1900 to 1919, and was known for low-scoring games dominated by pitchers like Cy Young, the winningest pitcher of all time to this day, though there were some great average hitters like Ty Cobb, who had a staggering .366 batting average for his entire career. The dead ball era ushered in the construction of astronomical stadiums that were built specifically for playing baseball games. These parks included Fenway Park in Boston, which still exists, as well as Comiskey Park and Wrigley Field in Chicago. It also included stadiums that are long gone, as well as the teams that played in them, like Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field.

In 1936, the Baseball Hall of Fame was built in Cooperstown, New York, to honor the history of the game. He introduced 4 great players from the dead ball era and the man who changed the game: Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Babe. Babe Ruth, the man who built Yankee Stadium, who ended the dead-ball era with his long home runs, and the American icon who made baseball America’s favorite sport. Joe Dimaggio was one of the earliest baseball icons other than Babe Ruth. He set a batting record that captured America’s heart one hit at a time when he set the consecutive-game hitting streak in 1941. Dimaggio had one hit in 56 consecutive games. In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, and in Willie Mays, the “Say Hey Kid” hit the “shot heard around the world” in the 1951 World Series during the height of his career at the Hall of Fame. Television provided a great help to the popularity of the sport in the 1950s.

Babe Ruth set some slugging records that lasted for decades. His 60 home runs in 1927 were the most hits in a single season until the Yankees’ Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in 1961. The quest for the home run record was so traumatic for Maris that he lost much of his hair. him during the season. His teammate, Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle, was the heir apparent to Babe’s record, but Maris beat him to it. Babe Ruth’s career home run record of 714 was the most by any player until April 8, 1974, when Hank Aaron finally broke the record. Although Aaron received death threats because many upset fans did not want to see an African American break the white Ruth’s hallowed record, Aaron prevailed and ended up hitting 755 home runs. That record stood until broken by Barry Bonds. He ended up hitting 762 long balls. His legacy, though, is tainted by alleged steroid abuse, and both he and hitters like Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa consider themselves tainted, as they all played during what is now called the steroid era. This was a period from the early 1990s to the early 2000s. Though McGwire, Sosa, and even Bonds helped save the popularity of the sport.

The 1994 labor dispute canceled the World Series for the first time since 1904, and many fans were upset that a strike cost the United States its beloved postseason. Baseball’s popularity took a massive hit due to unsavory labor negotiations and the outcome of those negotiations.

Cal Ripken Jr. was the first player to help bring baseball back to popularity when he broke Lou Gherig’s iron man streak by playing in 2,131 consecutive games on September 6, 1995. The record stood for 56 years, and the Ripken’s record of 2,632 consecutive games played likely stands. never be broken Gherig’s record chase generated much fanfare, and festivities when he broke the record highlighted the game, but the chase for Maris’ home run record by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa ultimately restored the game’s popularity. As McGwire and Sosa battled throughout the summer of 1998, trading the home run lead, it became apparent that one of the two was going to eclipse the single-season home run record of 61. In fact, both broke the record, and United States United was enthralled as the long balls continued to roll out of the park, day after day after day. Then, on September 8, 1998, McGwire hit his 62nd home run to become the first to break the twenty-seven-year-old record. Sosa congratulated McGwire with a big hug as McGwire played for the St. Louis Cardinals and Sosa played for the Cubs and they met in that historic game. McGwire finished with the record with 70 home runs, 4 more than Sosa’s 66 total. McGwire’s record was broken 3 years later when Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs in 2001.

America loved and watched every minute of the home run chase as the country has loved and adored baseball and boxing for so many years. Why? Simply because competition breeds winners and America was built and filled with competitors and winners. That is why the nation is so strong and vibrant and why it has been so for so many years. We are a competitive people who will strive to succeed and work hard to achieve it. Watching the competitors on the field or in the ring is like watching an extended family member succeed or fail. We just enjoy the effort. Now, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll go make myself a cold one and make myself a hot dog and watch my team compete. It’s the American way to spend a relaxing evening!