May 1st daily post

Today we begin with a look an event that took place on May 1, 1884. On that date the Eastern League played their first league games. The league had 8 teams on the eastern seaboard of the United States. The teams represented the Cities of Allentown, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Newark, New Jersey; Reading, Pennsylvania; Richmond, Virginia; Trenton, New Jersey and Wilmington, Delaware. All of these cities now have very long histories in baseball and in other sports as well. For most of these cities this was the beginning of their professional sports histories.

The league went through many struggles in this its first season play. The struggles started on May 19th when the Baltimore Club folded as it was competing with two other teams for the cities fans. Although it was a tough fight the league it did finish its season at the end of the September.

The league did manage to make it to the 1885 season as the New York State League and after many changes and many years the league made its final name change in 1912 when it became the International League. Today the league is a very healthy 14 team league with a very long history as the second oldest sports league in the world. It may have seemed like a very modest beginning on May 1st of 1884 but every long journey begins with a single step. The International League began as a single step some 126 years ago, this blog begins with a single step today. Tomorrow we will look at a single baseball game played only 8 years ago.

Welcome to the Lots of Sports History Blog!!!

Welcome to the Lots of Sports History Blog!!!

My name is Kevin M Saldana. I live in Mesa, Arizona. I have enjoyed studying the History of Sports and Geography for more then 2o years. I am writing a book called "This Date in Sports History", I am hoping to begin looking for a publisher in about a month. I will be taking an entry from the book on a daily basis and relating it to present day.

Today sports is a multi-billion dollar a year industry worldwide. It more then just 30 Major League Baseball teams or 32 National Football League teams or even the 30 National Basketball Association teams. It is even more then the 30 National Hockey League teams. With many minor league baseball teams, minor league basketball teams, minor league hockey teams and lacrosse teams scattered across the globe, it offers a vast array of peaks, valleys, celebrations, heart breaks and records. It is the leagues that have passed into history as well as those leagues that never saw the playing field. It is leagues of rodeo, volleyball, boxing, cricket, bowling, softball and more to be explored and understood. At the professional, semi-professional and college levels.

Please come with me on this daily journey of exploration into the vast history that has become a great part of not only the American culture but the world at large.