Formation+of+Nation+League+of+Baseball

=The Formation of the National League of Baseball =

Elizabeth Bixler
  Baseball as a sport was slow to become popular. baseball began gaining popularity and publicity in 1869, when the Cincinnati Red Stockings were formed by Harry Wright. The Red Stockings were undefeated in a National Tour of 57 games. Soon after the Tour more teams were formed. The National League of Baseball was started in 1876. The starting teams in the NL were: Chicago White Stockings, St. Louis Brown Stockings, Hartford Dark Blues, Boston Red Caps, Louisville Grays, New York Mutuals, Philadelphia Athletics, Cincinnati Red Stockings. Once baseball started to become popular, more people became aware of it and started becoming fans, and their support made the National League and American League become popular and have the effects that they did.
 * Formation of the National League:**

Formation of the American League:
 The American League was a rival baseball organization started in 1903. In 1903 the teams playing for the AL were: Boston Americans, Philadelphia Athletics, Cleveland Blues, New York Highlanders, Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Browns, Chicago White Stockings, and the Washington Senators.

**Short-term and Long-term Effects:** The short term effects of baseball are: it distracted people from what was going on in the world, and gave them something to look forward to. The long-term effects of baseball are: when baseball became integrated, it inspired young athletes and children to chase their dreams and believe that anything is possible, also it gave more jobs to people and gave people something to do and a team to root for. Baseball is important in many peoples' lives, because it gives them inspiration, a competitive edge and it lets people have fun.

 Bans in Baseball:
When the National League was started the owners banned gambling, Sunday games, and beer to encourage Family involvement. In contrast, the American League didn't have bans on any of these things, so the fans that didn't like the bans in the National League, went to American League games instead. These bans widened the spectrum of fans, making baseball "the national pastime".

World Series:
The first year of inter-league play, now called the world series, was in 1903. The teams that played were the Pittsburgh Pirates and the   Boston Americans; the Boston Americans won 5 games to 3. The Pirates won the first game 7-3, but lost the second game 3-0. In the third game the Pirates won 4-2. In the next game the Pirates won 5-4. At this point the Pirates were up 3 games to 1. In game 5 though, the Americans win it by 9, with a final score of 11-2. For the Pirates it all went downhill from here. In the 6th game the Pirates lost 6-3. In game nine the Pirates lost by a score of 7-3. The Pirates were now down 3 games to four, they would have to win the next two to pull through to victory. Sadly, no such thing happened. In the eighth game the Pirates lost 3 to 0 to end the first World Series.

Pros and Cons and the Ideal Player:
In the 1940's, the managers in the National League were looking for a talented, (mentally) strong African American athlete with a calm temper, cool disposition and able to handle insults to be the first African American in the Major Leagues. The managers thinking about this were also thinking about the Pros and Cons of Integrating Major League Baseball. The Pro was that they would sell more tickets to a more racially heterogeneous crowd. The Cons were that the Negro Leagues would loose their best players to the Majors and they would probably not survive because of the lack of talented players, the Major league owners would lose the rent money that they received from the Negro Leagues that rented out the Stadiums and that some white audiences wouldn't want to go to unsegregated games.

Jackie Robinson:
Jackie Robinson was the first African American in Major League Baseball. His baseball career started when he accepted an offer to play with the Negro American Baseball League's Kansas City Monarchs for $400 a month. On April 11, 1947 Jackie Robinson signed a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers to become the first African American in Major League Baseball. Once Jackie Robinson began playing with the Dodgers he received many racist comments and death threats. At the end of the 1947 season Jackie Robinson received the first Rookie of the Year Award ever issued.

Reactions to Jackie Robinson:
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Many, many people were not comfortable with the idea of integrated baseball, so they let it out in racist, cruel threats or comments. Some examples of ways people treated Jackie were: threw their cleats at him, gave him death threats, sent him hate letters, spat at him, threw black cats on the field, threatened to go on strike, and beaned him (when a pitcher intentionally hits a batter). Jackie Robinson changed peoples' minds about segregation (in baseball and in other areas) by being aggressive and outgoing and not being passive or accepting things for the way they are. He fought back for what he believed in, therefore changing peoples' opinions. The year Robinson signed with the Dodgers was the year before President Truman de-segregated the army and seven years before Supreme Court ruled that segregation in Public Schools was unconstitutional. Jackie Robinson influenced many and changed many minds about segregation. He also inspired many children to chase their dreams.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dealing With (and getting rid of) Racism:
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> After rumors circulated that a few St. Louis Cardinal's players would rather go on strike than play against Jackie Robinson, the President of the National League announced that any player involved in any form of racism would be suspended. Even some of Jackie's own teammates did not approve of the de-segregation of baseball. Jackie Robinson had a large temper that he had to keep under control all the time. Some teammates helped and supported him. One example of this is Pee Wee Reese put his arm around Robinson's shoulder, this act of kindness was very significant, because it helped Jackie to calm himself down and gain his confidence back. Jackie Robinson learned how to tame his temper and how to exercise self-control, thus earning the respect of his teammates, and later on, his opponents.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Larry Doby:
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Larry Doby was the first African American player in the American League. He played for the Cleveland Indians in 1947, the same year that Robinson went to the majors. During a 6-5 loss to the Chicago White Stockings Doby pinch-hit for the Indians on July 5th 1947. The next day he started at first base.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Today:
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Today American children would rather play football like Donovan McNabb, or basketball like Shaquille O'Neal. Not many children fantasize about becoming a home-run hitter like Ryan Howard. In 1974 27% of Major League Baseball's players were descended from African Americans, but in 2006 it fell to 9%. In the NFL, more than two-thirds of the athletes are African America, and in the NBA, more than three quarters of the players are African American. Children today would rather play basketball or football than baseball.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Baseball History:
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> One of the worst pieces in Baseball history was in 1919 (before the Golden Age) when the Cincinnati Red played the Chicago White Sox in the World Series.After the series players on the White Sox admitted to intentionally throwing the game. This event was later called the Black Sox.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Baseball Connections:
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The Golden Age of Baseball was a time when baseball was 'the national pastime'. It ran approximately from the 1920's to the start of [|World War II]. One of the reasons for the end of Baseball's Golden Age was that at the beginning of World War II many baseball players joined the army to show their patriotism. The Invention of the radio and with improvements in transportation baseball became even more popular, because it was easy to get to the games, and it was easier to get the scores or have an account of the game without actually being at the game. Even during the great depression baseball was still popular because there were now night games, so more people could see games or tune in to games. Population shifts, the improvement of transportation, and the invention of radio all influenced baseball, but in the 1950's the invention of television changed the game again because more people could view baseball without having to go to the games or without having to own a radio. It changed the viewing audience, and it changed the way people viewed the games. Later, the invention of the television made many teams move to other homes to get television contracts. Examples of this are: The LA Dodgers, formerly the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Boston Braves became the Milwaukee Braves, and the New York Giants became the San Francisco Giants.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Resources:
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jackie Robinson Picture: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/sportatorium/Jackie%20Robinson.jpg Chicago Black Sox Picture: http://www-personal.arts.usyd.edu.au/sterobrt/3079/Web%20Reviews/teamphoto.jpg Larry Doby Picture: http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/g/a/gac2/56.jpg World Series Picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/6/63/20080907143716!1903_World_Series_Pittsburgh_Pirates.jpg Baseball Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56w3IrKZ3Ew http://memory.loc.gov/‌ammem/‌collections/‌robinson/‌jr1940.html http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com http://abcnews.go.com/‌Sports/‌Story?id=3001708&page=1 http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com http://www.baseball-almanac.com/‌ws/‌yr1903ws.shtml http://espn.go.com/‌sportscentury/‌features/‌00016431.html //Why We Remember; United States History// http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com http://www.baseball-almanac.com/‌yearly/‌yr1876n.shtml http://www.baseball-almanac.com/‌yearly/‌yr1947a.shtml (National League) http://www.baseball-almanac.com/‌yearly/‌yr1947n.shtml (American League) http://www.baseball-almanac.com/‌yearly/‌yr1903a.shtml