Did he actually "invent" the game of baseball as many would have you believe? Was it baseball truth, or baseball bullshit? There is more controversy involving this matter than who killed Kennedy, and no, it was not Abner Doubleday! He was not the lone gunman and he had nothing to do with the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa or Amelia Earhart. More mysteries abound as well such as the Roswell UFO crash, fact or fiction?
Doubleday, a Union General during the Civil War was born in 1819. Most "believers" say he invented the game in 1839. but at the time he was engrossed in his military studies at West Point in that year and if you have ever been in the military, they don't play game unless it involves the death of an opponent, real or supposed. During the Civil War he had more pressing business protecting the red, white and blue from the southern stars and bars. Besides, Doubleday never claimed to have invented it all in any writings, newspaper interviews or on his deathbed, so no, all you dreamers and believers, his last dying breath did not utter the words.."Play Ball!"
(In a 1905 statement, however, by the Mills Commission chaired by the 4th President of the National League, they determined that Doubleday did invent the game and it was played in a cow pasture in Cooperstown in 1939. Again, Abner was at West Point getting ready for Johnny Reb!
The game of baseball is said to have actually derived from a British game called Rounders, as in "rounding the bases" and the word and game of baseball was first seen in print in the United States was in 1791 when the town fathers of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, (Massholes) posted a notice that they were banning the game of baseball in town as it was being played too close to the town meeting hall. The next known mention comes along in 1823 (Doubleday was about 4 at the time and could barely walk a mile let alone run the bases! In this account it talked about a "game of baseball" being played in New York City at the Elysian Fields, or today's Greenwich Village, home of the beatnik generation and apparently....baseball..New York Style. The first team to agree to play under "modern" rules were the New York Knickerbockers in 1845 and the first game under those rules was in 1846 in New Jersey where the Knickerbockers took on the New York Nine, final score? Knickerbockers won handily 23-1!!
What Doubleday actually did and can be proven is that he moved to San Francisco after the Civil War and took out a patent on a cable car railway, and it is the same one in use today. The game of baseball is said to have actually derived from a British game called Rounders, as in "rounding the bases" America...land of the free where all men are created equal was a sham for centuries. Blacks well held in slavery and servitude and not allowed to vote. Women were treated as second class citizens in this land of "equal opportunity" and like society in general, African Americans were not allowed to play on established league teams..you know, Whites Only!
There are more ways to win a ballgame however and in 1897 the Negroe League was formed in Galveston, Texas called the Lone Star Colored Baseball League. Before the league there were Negroe teams and the first was formed in 1885 under the name of the Cuban Giants, and the first non-league amateur game between Negroe teams was in 1860 in New Jersey. The first black pro baseball player, who also played against and on white teams was Bud Fowler who emerged in 1878 when he began a career that broke the Negro record for seasons and games played, until Jackie Robinson came along and played his 11th season in 1956. The last season of the Negro League was 1951.
Jackie Robinson, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Micky Mantle and Babe Ruth. Legendary names in a legendary game, all have their own tales to tell but that is for another time. Don't forget Joltin' Joe Dimaggio..koo koo ka choo..a nation turns it lonely eyes to you...woo woo woo! Along with the players came the food. Get yer redhots, get yer redhots. Who the hell doesn't enjoy a dog with their ballgame. Bases loaded, the sun is shining, you can hear the crack of the Louisville Slugger as a ball goes sailing out of the par, Dodger Stadium in New York, the old Briggs Stadium in Detroit, Fenway Park in Boston..it doesn't matter a ballpark dog is a ballpark dog and is the food of choice in Horsehide Heaven. The Hot dog was introduced at Fenway Park in Boston in ........ and it's been a plump when you cook 'em mainstay ever since. There is a story however that has more creedence than clearwater, (sorry, it just sounded right!) is the one that goes back to 1893 where in St. Louis there lived a German immigrant and butcher, hot dogs or frankfurters being his specialty. Turns out, Chris von de Ahe along with his prowess with a sausage making machine also owned the St. Louis Browns baseball team. You can't tell me a dog or two didn't make it to the old ball game in St. Louie, Louie!
There comes a time when baseball has to be played under the lights and artificial illumination had been around for decades by the turn of the 20th Century. The first night game was one played in the minor leagues in the 1920's. The major's scoffed at the idea as a gimmick and not worthy of pro ball, but by 1935, the Cincinnati Reds played the Philadelphia Phillies under the lights at Crosley Field, and somehow the Majors managed to maintain integrity..even while using a proven "gimmick" (yeah, right!) The first actual "league" game under the lights was played by the Kansas City Monarchs, a Negro League team in 1930 beating the majors by five years.
Now..the sing a long moment we have all been waiting for...Take Me Out to the Ballgame...the definitive summertime boys of summer unofficial anthem sung by fans during the 7th inning stretch. It was written in 1908 by Jack Norworth and Albert von Tilzen, the Lennon-McCartney of the ballpark. (Hell, the Beatles did play Shea Stadium, eh?) They also wrote and performed in vaudeville..Shine on Harvest Moon.
Now..the sing a long moment we have all been waiting for...Ready? Play Ball and Sing!
Katie Casey was base ball mad.
Had the fever and had it bad;
Just to root for the home town crew,
Ev'ry sou Katie blew.
On a Saturday, her young beau
Called to see if she'd like to go,
To see a show but Miss Kate said,
"No, I'll tell you what you can do."
"Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,
I don't care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game."
Katie Casey saw all the games,
Knew the players by their first names;
Told the umpire he was wrong,
All along good and strong.
When the score was just two to two,
Katie Casey knew what to do,
Just to cheer up the boys she knew,
She made the gang sing this song:
"Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,
I don't care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game."