Editing Baseball (section)

=== In the United States ===
{{Further|Baseball in the United States|History of baseball in the United States}}

==== Establishment of professional leagues ====
In the mid-1850s, a baseball craze hit the [[New York metropolitan area]],<ref>Rader (2008), pp. 9, 10.</ref> and by 1856, local journals were referring to baseball as the "national pastime" or "national game".<ref>Tygiel (2000), p. 6.</ref> A year later, the sport's first governing body, the [[National Association of Base Ball Players]], was formed. In 1867, it barred participation by [[African Americans]].<ref>Rader (2008), p. 27; Sullivan (1997), pp. 68, 69.</ref> The more formally structured [[National League (baseball)|National League]] was founded in 1876.<ref>Sullivan (1997), pp. 83, 130, 243.</ref> Professional [[Negro league baseball|Negro leagues]] formed, but quickly folded.<ref>Sullivan (1997), p. 115.</ref> In 1887, [[softball]], under the name of indoor baseball or indoor-outdoor, was invented as a winter version of the parent game.<ref>Heaphy, Leslie, "Women Playing Hardball", in ''Baseball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batter's Box'', ed. Eric Bronson (Open Court, 2004), pp. 246–256: p. 247.</ref> The National League's first successful counterpart, the [[American League]], which evolved from the minor [[Western League (original)|Western League]], was established in 1893, and virtually all of the modern [[baseball rules]] were in place by then.<ref name=R71>Rader (2008), p. 71.</ref><ref>Sullivan (1997), pp. 243–246.</ref>

The National Agreement of 1903 formalized relations both between the two major leagues and between them and the National Association of Professional Base Ball Leagues, representing most of the country's [[minor league baseball|minor professional leagues]].<ref>Rader (2008), p. 110; Zimbalist (2006), p. 22. See {{cite web|title=National Agreement for the Government of Professional Base Ball Clubs|url=http://roadsidephotos.sabr.org/baseball/1903NatAgree.htm|publisher=roadsidephotos.sabr.org|access-date=January 29, 2009}}</ref> The [[World Series]], pitting the two major league champions against each other, was inaugurated that fall.<ref>Sullivan (1997), pp. 13–16.</ref>  The [[Black Sox Scandal]] of the [[1919 World Series]] led to the formation of the office of the [[Commissioner of Baseball]].<ref>Powers (2003), pp. 39, 47, 48.</ref> The first commissioner, [[Kenesaw Mountain Landis]], was elected in 1920. That year also saw the founding of the [[Negro National League (1920–1931)|Negro National League]]; the first significant Negro league, it would operate until 1931. For part of the 1920s, it was joined by the [[Eastern Colored League]].<ref>Burgos (2007), pp. 117, 118.</ref>

==== Rise of Ruth and racial integration ====
Compared with the present, professional baseball in the early 20th century was lower-scoring, and pitchers were more dominant.<ref>Sullivan (1997), p. 214.</ref> This so-called "[[dead-ball era]]" ended in the early 1920s with several changes in rule and circumstance that were advantageous to hitters. Strict new regulations governed the ball's size, shape and composition, along with a new rule officially banning the [[spitball]] and other pitches that depended on the ball being treated or roughed-up with foreign substances, resulted in a ball that traveled farther when hit.<ref>Zoss (2004), p. 90.</ref> The rise of the legendary player [[Babe Ruth]], the first great power hitter of the new era, helped permanently alter the nature of the game.<ref>Zoss (2004), p. 192.</ref> In the late 1920s and early 1930s, [[St. Louis Cardinals]] general manager [[Branch Rickey]] invested in several [[minor league baseball|minor league clubs]] and developed the first modern [[farm team|farm system]].<ref>Burk (2001), pp. 34–37.</ref> A new [[Negro National League (1933–1948)|Negro National League]] was organized in 1933; four years later, it was joined by the [[Negro American League]]. The [[Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1936|first elections]] to the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|National Baseball Hall of Fame]] took place in 1936. In 1939, [[Little League Baseball]] was founded in Pennsylvania.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.littleleague.org/about/history.asp|title=History of Little League|access-date=June 26, 2007|publisher=Little League|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070514082459/http://www.littleleague.org/about/history.asp|archive-date=May 14, 2007}}</ref>

[[File:Jackie Robinson Kansas City Monarchs.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Robinson posing in the uniform cap of the Kansas City Monarchs, a [[Negro League]] baseball team, 1945|[[Jackie Robinson]] in 1945, with the [[Negro American League]]'s [[Kansas City Monarchs]]]]

Many minor league teams disbanded when [[World War II]] led to a player shortage. [[Chicago Cubs]] owner [[Philip K. Wrigley]] led the formation of the [[All-American Girls Professional Baseball League]] to help keep the game in the public eye.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aagpbl.org/index.cfm/pages/league/12/league-history|title=League History|author=Lesko, Jeneane|year=2005|publisher=All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Players Association|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724213445/http://aagpbl.org/index.cfm/pages/league/12/league-history|archive-date=July 24, 2011|url-status=dead|access-date=January 29, 2009}}</ref> The first crack in the unwritten agreement barring blacks from white-controlled professional ball occurred in 1945: [[Jackie Robinson]] was signed by the National League's [[Brooklyn Dodgers]] and began playing for their minor league [[Montreal Royals|team in Montreal]].<ref>Burgos (2007), p. 158.</ref> In 1947, Robinson broke the major leagues' color barrier when he debuted with the Dodgers.<ref>Burgos (2007), pp. 180, 191.</ref> Latin-American players, largely overlooked before, also started entering the majors in greater numbers. In 1951, two Chicago White Sox, Venezuelan-born [[Chico Carrasquel]] and black Cuban-born [[Minnie Miñoso]], became the first Hispanic [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Stars]].<ref name="P111">Powers (2003), p. 111.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3DD113FF935A15753C1A9639C8B63|title=Baseball: White Sox and Fans Speak Same Language, with a Spanish Accent|date=October 26, 2005|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=February 4, 2009}}</ref> [[Racial integration|Integration]] proceeded slowly: by 1953, only six of the 16 major league teams had a black player on the roster.<ref name="P111" />

==== Attendance records and the age of steroids ====

In 1975, the union's power—and players' salaries—began to increase greatly when the reserve clause was [[Seitz decision|effectively struck down]], leading to the [[free agent|free agency system]].<ref>Powers (2003), pp. 178, 180, 245.</ref> Significant work stoppages occurred in [[1981 Major League Baseball strike|1981]] and [[1994–95 Major League Baseball strike|1994]], the latter forcing the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in 90 years.<ref>Powers (2003), pp. 184–187, 191, 192, 280–282.</ref> Attendance had been growing steadily since the mid-1970s and in 1994, before the stoppage, the majors were setting their all-time record for per-game attendance.<ref name="Simm">Simmons, Rob, "The Demand for Spectator Sports", in ''Handbook on the Economics of Sport'', ed. Wladimir Andreff and Stefan Szymanski (Edward Elgar, 2006), pp. 77–89.</ref><ref>Koppett (2004), pp. 376, 511.</ref> After play resumed in 1995, non-division-winning [[wild card (sports)|wild card]] teams became a permanent fixture of the post-season. Regular-season [[interleague play]] was introduced in 1997 and the second-highest attendance mark for a full season was set.<ref>Koppett (2004), p. 481.</ref> In 2000, the National and American Leagues were dissolved as legal entities. While their identities were maintained for scheduling purposes (and the designated hitter distinction), the regulations and other functions—such as player discipline and [[umpire (baseball)|umpire]] supervision—they had administered separately were consolidated under the rubric of MLB.<ref>Koppett (2004), p. 489.</ref>

In 2001, [[Barry Bonds]] established the current record of 73 home runs in a single season. There had long been suspicions that the dramatic increase in power hitting was fueled in large part by [[Banned substances in baseball|the abuse of illegal steroids]] (as well as by the dilution of pitching talent due to expansion), but the issue only began attracting significant media attention in 2002 and there was no penalty for the use of performance-enhancing drugs before 2004.<ref>Rader (2008), pp. 254, 271; Zimbalist (2007), pp. 195, 196; {{cite magazine|author=Verducci, Tom|title=To Cheat or Not to Cheat|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/magazine/05/29/baseball.steroids/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120601005751/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/magazine/05/29/baseball.steroids/index.html?|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 1, 2012|magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]]|date=May 29, 2012|access-date=May 30, 2012}}</ref> In 2007, Bonds became MLB's all-time home run leader, surpassing [[Hank Aaron]], as total major league and minor league attendance both reached all-time highs.<ref name="MajorAtRec">{{cite web|title=MLB Regular-Season Attendance Just Shy of Last Year's Record|url=http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/124427|work=Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Daily|access-date=January 29, 2009}}</ref><ref name="MinorAtRec">{{cite web|title=Minor League Baseball History|url=http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/history/|publisher=Minor League Baseball|access-date=January 29, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090120173052/http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/history/|archive-date=January 20, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>