Editing Baseball (section)

==== 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" />