Take, for example, the modern game of basketball. Opposing teams play on a court with 10-foot high baskets on both ends. You get the ball in the opposing team’s basket, or hoop, you get points. The strategy in the game lies with how good you are at scoring, as well as being versatile on the defensive end and preventing the opposing team from scoring. There are some rules to follow, and by the end of the game, the team with the most points wins. The losing team- gets beheaded?

Not anymore, but if a similar game were played during the high period of Mayan civilization, losing the game meant certain death. Because the Mayan civilization came and went, leaving behind little record of itself save its enigmatic architecture, anthropologists and archeologists have only recently been able to build loose connections between the games the Mayans played and the games we played, but the rules were somewhat the same.

They played on courts roughly the size of football fields. At the opposing ends of the field were walls with small stone hoops over 20 feet up on the walls. Get the ball in the hoop and score. Some people say you had to score without hands or feet, other records show that using your hands was permissible, but by the end of the event, there was a winner and a loser. Like gladiator matches, some people might have been condemned to – play,’ but certainly the stakes were much higher than they are now.

One favorite summer activity for many Americans is joining the summer softball league.  Softball is a team game directly descended from, and sharing most of the rules of, baseball.  It could be seen as baseball’s little sister.  The main differences include a bigger – and usually softer – ball and an underhand pitch as opposed to an overhand pitch.  Positions are often similar.

The one position that softball teams may add that is noticeably absent in baseball is the short center fielder.  This position plays directly behind second base and midway between the center fielder and the base itself.  The added advantage of this position is that the center fielder can play further back, allowing for more coverage and less holes across the field.

Softball can be played either fast pitch or slow pitch.  Aside from the speed of the ball, the most stunning visual difference is the arc the pitch takes to get to the plate.  In fast pitch the ball is sent in a mostly horizontal line from the pitcher to the catcher.  In slow pitch, the ball is required to take a highly arcing course and as a result the pitch is much slower.  Often, these pitches are called floaters.  The strike zone for these pitches is also quite different.

The ball itself can range anywhere from twelve to sixteen inches.  The smallest softballs are quite hard despite their name and require a mitt in order to catch them.  The sixteen inch balls and other larger sizes are quite soft.  These are often too big for a mitt, and so the game is played with bare hands.

Aside from these main similarities, each league is often customized to the players involved.  Each softball league has their own rules about certain aspects of the game like stealing and lead-offs.  Some leagues are held indoors while some remain outdoor only leagues.  Different versions of softball can be played co-ed, all male or all female.  Some leagues have age restrictions.  With all of the different options, it’s important to know what type of league you want to play for.

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Prior to the Civil War, baseball was already being played. And as with many sports, baseball began as an amateur endeavor.

The New York Knickerbockers

Baseball and variations of it had been played in America as early as 1791. The game slowly picked up momentum, especially in the New York area.

In 1845, the New York Knickerbockers were formed by the upper middle class New York as a social club. An amateur club led by Alexander Cartwright, the team actually laid out the basic rules for playing the game. Among them were the force and tagging players (as opposed to plunking the runner with the ball to get an out).

The National Association of Base Ball Players

In 1857, several baseball teams around the New York area formed the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP). This organization oversaw the game and established a championship. The Civil War aided the growth of the sport resulting in over 400 teams in the NABBP by the 1867.

Playing together during the Civil War had the effect of not only spreading the game throughout the country, but in helping establish uniform rules for it. In 1869, the NABBP allowed professional teams, the first of which was the Cincinnati Red Stockings. Eventually twelve teams declared themselves professional.

The Major Leagues

Between 1869 and 1901, what became the National and the later, the American League were formed. Both of these leagues considered themselves major because their teams came from the major markets (New York, Chicago, etc.). Other leagues formed but eventually folded or turned into what would become “minor league teams.”

Infighting for players between teams in all of the leagues resulted in a national agreement that did the following:

• Ended cross-league raids on players
• Started the World Series
• Ensured that the major leagues dominated the independent leagues