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