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Metropolitan Baseball Nine, 1882.
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Baseball most likely grew from a British game called rounders, a similar bat-and-ball game in which players run around bases. The new American sport became a hit early on.
The earliest-known writing about baseball was a 1791 law that banned it near a building in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The city wanted to protect its “newly built meeting house, particularly the windows,” from sports that used balls. One of those sports was baseball.
In 1845, a team called the New York Knickerbockers was founded. This was an amateur club, but it established rules that helped create the game we play today.
The Knickerbocker Rules decided on nine-inning games, nine players per team, and bases that were 90 feet apart. New rules also banned “plugging” runners—a way to get runners out by throwing the ball at them. Nowadays, of course, fielders have to tag or force runners out.
In 1857, 16 New York-area teams formed the National Association of Base Ball Players. By 1867, the association had 400 clubs, some as far away as California.
The first game for which admission was charged was played in 1858 in New York. Fans paid 50 cents’ admission to see a matchup between two local teams.
Dictionary
1. rounders, n., a British bat-and-ball game that came before baseball.
→ Rounders, like baseball, uses a bat and ball and players run bases.
2. ban, v., to make a rule against something; to say people can’t do it. Also a noun.
→ Players are banned from eating in the dugouts.
3. protect, v., to keep something from being harmed or broken.
→ Catchers wear gear to protect them from the ball.
4. found, v., to start an organization, company, team, etc. A person who founds something is its founder.
→ The first professional baseball team was founded in 1869 in Cincinnati.
5. throw at, phrasal verb, to throw something to try to hit someone or something with it.*
→ James threw a water balloon at me.
6. association, n., an organization or league of people, teams, etc.
→ The Golden State Warriors are part of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
7. charge admission, v. phr., to make people pay to get into an event.
→ The school is charging admission to the baseball game.*
Language Notes
1) throw at: The difference between throw at and to is very important. If you throw a ball to players, you want them to catch it. If you throw it at them, you want it to hit them.
2) admission: The verb is to admit, meaning “to let someone enter,” as in Students will be admitted free.
(C) 2020, by Targets in English.
