The Courier Sport team are a bit lost without our sport fix at the moment, so we’ve decided to spend our extra time in self-isolation learning about a new sport. In the first in this series, Head of Sport Rebecca Johnson, takes a look at baseball and its popularity in the USA.
Baseball is a sport that’s always intrigued me, from the small snippets I’ve watched, it just seems like an incredibly long game of rounders. It arguably doesn’t enjoy the same popularity in the UK as the American football and basketball franchises do, despite games such as the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees having games staged at the London Stadium. Here, I’m going to provide a run down of why the game is so popular, and why you should get into it.
Rules
In short, baseball is rather simple. Two teams of nine players either throw a ball and catch it or bat a ball and run. Whichever team scores the most runs wins. Easy. On the fielding team, you’ve got a range of different players, here’s a breakdown:
There are nine innings in a game and each team gets to bat once. Once three players from the batting team are out, the teams swap over so the batters become fielders and vice versa. After hitting the ball, batting players run from the home plate to first base, then to second, then to third and when they reach the home plate again, that’s one run. However, the fielders are aiming to get the batter out. The pitcher throws balls flying at all speeds and angles to try and get the batter out, if the batter misses, that’s a strike, three strikes and he’s out. If the batter hits the ball, the fielders can catch him out or try and run him out on whatever base he’s heading to.
History
Baseball is one of the oldest sports in America, and like most sports, it has a legendary origin story that, of course, is completely untrue. The story goes that baseball was invented in a park by a guy called Abner Doubleday in 1839. He then became a Civil War hero and baseball flourished as America’s sport.
The history of the sport is far more complex, with many believing it was brought over by the English in the eighteenth century as a mixture of rounders and cricket. Then, in 1845, the New York Knickerbocker Baseball Club was formed, and member Alexander Jay Clarke codified a set of rules that resemble those to the modern game.
After this, baseball began to grow in New York and teams and leagues were formed as a result. The National League (which is still going today) became the first formalised league in 1876. The American League, which developed from the smaller Western League, became formalised in 1901. Both of these leagues hated each other for three years and fought constantly to establish themselves as the more legitimate league and getting the best players. Partially as a result of this, the World Series was born, pitting the league winners against each other, the first World Series occurred in 1903, where the Boston Americans defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates. This has continued annually from 1905.
Since then baseball has remained relatively unchanged, with rules being adapted and team names changing over time.
Baseball is still referred to as “America’s sport”, and is one of the most popular sports on the other side of the pond. Yet, it has still suffered its controversies over its long tenure...
“America’s sport” was the victim of one of the biggest sporting scandals on the planet with the fix of the 1919 World Series. The Chicago White Sox of the American League were playing the National League’s Cincinnati Reds. The White Sox were one of the most dominant teams in baseball during that time, with a fantastic win record and roster of good players, despite losing a couple of their best to the First World War. Additionally, White Sox players were growing restless with their penny-pinching owner, Charlie Comiskey, who was tight with money and led to the team’s nickname of “Black Sox” due to rumours Comiskey wouldn’t pay to have their kit cleaned.
During the 1919 World Series, the story goes that a few Sox players were approached by gamblers and promised money in exchange for throwing the series. A combination of factors come into play here with alleged disgruntled players and a stingy owner. There’s also rumour that mob boss Arnold Rothstein was involved in the corruption, but this has never been proven. Bookies had the odds heavily in the White Sox’s favour to win the Series, yet as the tournament approached, more people were putting money on the Reds, which started to raise suspicions.
These suspicions were further antogonised in the games, in the first and second games Sox’s pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams made a series of uncharacteristic mistakes that gifted the Reds their wins. This continued throughout the Series and the Reds won their first ever Championship. The suspicions didn’t stop there, as in 1920 the Series was investigated, and eight White Sox players gave testimonies in connection with the case. However, when it came to the trial in 1921, all of their paper testimonies mysteriously disappeared, with many believing that owner Comiskey arranged for Rothstein to get rid of the evidence.
The players involved in the scandal were found not guilty, but their careers were damaged, and they never played professional baseball again.
Another major incident in which baseball was thrown into disrepute was the “Age of Steroids”. Players would take performance-enhancing substances to help better their training and ultimately help them on the field. The number of home runs surged in 1993 and continued to do so. In 2001, San Francisco Giants player, Barry Bonds, established the record for the most home runs hit in one season, with 73 to his name. He was later investigated under the BALCO scandal, in which drug company, BALCO, marketed an untraceable steroid and pitched it to ballers.
Testing and random testing for substances began in 2003 and since 2004, more research was undertaken as a result of the use of performance-enhancing substances in Baseball, resulting in a series of investigations undertaken in 2007. Like most sports, baseball isn’t entirely clean, yet the playing field has become a bit more evened out as a result.
What major competitions should I look out for?
In football over here, we’ve got domestic games, but also FA Cup and League Cup games. In America, football’s biggest competition is the Super Bowl. Baseball’s equivalent is the World Series. The MLB is split into National League and America League. Both leagues hold a championship series, where the winners of the East and West Leagues play a best of seven play-off and the winner progresses to the World Championship. Last season the Washington Nationals won the National League to face the Houston Astros who won the America League, the Nationals went on to win the World Series 4-3.
Who should I support?
As with all sports, you usually pick those closest to you regionally. When it comes to teams I want to root for in international leagues across all sports, I usually pick whichever team I watch first. So in the Australian BBL cricket tournament, I support the Sydney Sixers and the first ever NFL game I watched, the Green Bay Packers weren’t too bad, so I always keep an eye on their scores. With baseball, I didn’t want to go for a team who do very well (I’m a Sunderland fan after all, we’re not used to that) but I also didn’t want to choose a team who are utterly hopeless and dreadful (see my previous point, I already suffer that enough). I did the next best thing, I took an internet quiz and got the Atlanta Braves.
Turns out, they’re an alright team in the MLB. Last year they topped the National League East, but didn’t progress to the World Series- so they’re a pretty decent balance for me.
Why should I follow it?
Baseball is an odd, yet incredibly interesting sport. It seems similar to cricket whereby games are longer than your average sport, but there’s a mixture of pace throughout each game. Plus, just like cricket, you can take your pint into the stands and drink the game away. However, the skill behind baseball is intriguing, and as the film 'Moneyball' illustrated, the stats behind baseball make it intriguing. Despite its lack of fast pace, games can be rammed with drama, from home runs to late run outs. It’s definitely worth looking at on YouTube.
