A Very Early Baseball Milestone

    Although bat and ball games have been played for many thousands of years, the game of baseball that we know and love it took its present form over the course of the mid Nineteen Century. The first games under the New York Rules were played during the 1845-46 period in the immediate area in Manhatten and across the river in Hoboken, New Jersey. A little more then 11 years later, on January 22, 1857 an organization called the National Association of Baseball Players was formed.
 
   This organization steered the sport through an important growth period in its history. It oversaw many, mostly minor changes that honed the game, into the sport we all love today. Many of the group were unhappy when Alfred J Reach of the Philadelphia Club announced in 1864 that he would be drawing a salary from the club simply for playing the game as the organization was dedicated to preserving the sports amateur status. They were further in their disapproval when in 1869, the Cincinnati Redstockings announced they would field an all professional club for the upcoming season. The organization was amazed and dimayed as well when at the end of the season, the club announced a profit of $1.39. The group knew at that point that their days as spokesmen and leaders of the game were numbered. They did a great job for what they did, as did those who took of the mantle of leadership from them, to give us the game we know today.

   Tomorrow we will look at a very one sided Hockey game.