By the 1890s
baseball, or Base Ball as it was known at the time, was already
America's sport. Originally, Base Ball was a game played in the
northeast of the United States, and, while some claim it is a
descendant of rounders or cricket, it really had no parent sport. It
was unique in the world of sports, and it was popular. As one
baseball scholar noted, "During the 1850s popular enthusiasm for
baseball inspired a veritable mania in the northeastern sections of
America" (Voigt 3). Base Ball was a game for amateurs, and towns all
over America had a local team. Amateurism was an important aspect of
the game. In fact, in 1858 the National Association of Base Ball
Players (NABBP) formed. It dictated the rules of the game and the
definition of amateurism. By 1860 it had sixty base ball clubs as
members. Nevertheless, throughout the 1860s, teams concocted
different ways of compensating their best players. The number of
spectators attending games was constantly on the rise, and this boom
pushed owners to start charging admission to games. It also led to
owners competing with other teams for talented players. More players
than ever before received one form of compensation or another by this
time. The NABBP lost control of this aspect of the game.
In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first openly professional baseball team. The move by the Red Stockings to openly pay their players was a radical step, and, at the same time, it infuriated the NABBP. In 1870 the tensions between the professional players and the amateur players ended with the amateurs walking out of the NABBP annual meeting. The professionals responded by forming their own league. The NABBP was dead. Other professional clubs formed, and in the years that followed attention turned from the amateur game, while it was still popular, to professional clubs. From then on, the dominant force in baseball would be the professional players and clubs.
This new focus on professionalism led to the formation of the National Association of of Professional Baseball Players (NAPBBP) in 1871. The players dominated this organization, and perhaps, controlled too much of the game. The NAPBBP only lasted five years. During its reign, most clubs lost money or broke even, and players had little discipline. The game was tarnished. Players were consorting with gamblers and jumping their contracts. The association was too easy to join; in order to enter a club had to pay a ten dollar fee. Many mediocre clubs joined, and then dropped out after being repeatedly humiliated by good clubs. The NAPBBP lacked parity; in five seasons the Boston Red Stockings won four championships. In any case, this association promoted the professional game, and popularized it.
In 1876 a Chicago promoter, William A. Hulbert replaced the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players with the National League. Unlike the NAPBBP, the National League was dominated by club owners. It would control the rules of the game, and it limited entrance into the leage so that it would be financially stable. In order to be admitted to the league, a team needed to have solid financial backing, and it had to be from a city with a population of at least 75,000 people. The league began with eight members, and the first years of the league yielded small profits. Later two of the most profitable teams, New York and Philadelphia, were expelled from the league for failing to play their quota of games. The National League was buckling.
Matters worsened in 1877, when four players from the Louisville franchise received bribes to lose the championship. This situation seriously challenged the image of base ball. It was originally supposed to be a game played by gentlemen. Gentlemen did not wager or receive money for play. By 1877, base ball was losing respect. The National League acted quickly, banning the four Louisville players for life from playing in the NL, and it took the franchise out of Louisville and relocated it in Milwaukee. The NL also faced competition from a rival professional league, the International Association, but the association went bust in 1879. Finally the National League controlled the professional game. It would, however, lay seeds for future controversey when, in 1879, it allowed the use of the reserve clause. Clubs could exercise reserve clauses in all player contracts, and that process took power away from the players.
The 1880s were a prosperous and generally successful time for professional base ball. It is usually called Baseball's first golden age. The National League rebounded from its early problems and became the dominant force in base ball. Most importantly more fans than ever before were coming to new, large ballparks to watch games. This prosperity and popularity encouraged other leagues to form. In 1882, the American Association formed. It used the lure of Sunday games, cheap admission prices ($0.25), and the optional sale of liquor. The association also raided NL rosters. The combinaiton of fan concessions and quality players, whether new or stolen from the NL, led to a successful formula. The American Association provided a quality game and catered to the desires of the fans. The National League, in order to stay alive, signed a deal with the American Association in 1883 recognizing them as a professional organization. In return the American Association promised to stop raiding NL rosters, and it accepted the use of the reserve clause.
This two league system led to a post-season championship series. The first incarnation of the World Series began in 1884 when the American Association champion, New York Mets, played against the National League champion Providence Grays. They arranged to play in New York, and the Mets lost the series 3-0. The National League would dominate the series for the rest of the 1880s winning championships in 1887, 1888, and 1889 in addition to their inagural 1886 win. Two series ended in ties: in 1885 St. Louis (AA) tied Chicago (NL) 3-3-1, and in 1890 Louisville (AA) tied Brooklyn (NL) 3-3-1. The American Association did win the 1886 World Series title; the St. Louis Browns defeated the Chicago White Stockings in a winner-take-all series. This era also saw the game with the highest paying attendance in the 19th century. It occured at the final game of the 1889 series as Brooklyn beat St. Louis for the World Series title.
The decade of the 1880s also saw several important rule changes that would make the game more familiar to the modern day enthusiast. First, bases on balls, which the NL and AA decided in 1887 to count as hits, no longer counted as hits by 1888. In 1889 the distance between the pitcher and home plate was extended to an even fifty feet. Overhand pitching was approved in the same year. No longer would pitchers merely lob the baseball to the batter. A permanent strike zone was established; a ball had to be pitched in the area between the knees and the pectorals, and it had to be over home plate. The four ball, three strike rule was also established at this time.
Also, while the leagues profited handsomely from then game, the players did not. Salaries were not commensurate with the growth of professional baseball. The players had no real union or organization, and they suffered from this lack of a players organization. Baseball players were also sometimes forced to do more than play for teams. Ticket selling and other promotions were required in order to help teams streamline costs and promote the game.
Despite all of these problems, base ball was a strong cultural force that swept the nation. Amateur clubs still thrived, even though they never received the attention or respect that professional organizations did. Rule books were published and writers discussed the game. even Mark Twain wrote about the game in 1880 in part of his travel reminiscence Innocents Abroad. Base ball cards appeared during the first golden age, and they targeted not children, but adults. The first cards were packaged with plug tobacco, snuff, and the newly popular cigarettes. Big games were reported live via telegraph, and The Sporting News and Sporting Life appear at this time. These magazines were dedicated solely to the game of base ball. This sport became a permanent fixture in American life.