HOW BASEBALL HAPPENED
The True Story Revealed
Baseball history is straight out of left field. You may have heard that Abner Doubleday or Alexander Cartwright invented the game. Neither did. You may think that a club called the Knickerbockers played the first game in 1846. They didn’t. And, for the record, baseball wasn’t born in Cooperstown, Hoboken or New York City, the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings wasn’t the first professional club, and Jackie Robinson wasn’t the first to cross baseball’s color line. Baseball’s true founders don’t have plaques anywhere. They were uncredited amateurs with regular jobs and ordinary lives. They didn’t have uniforms, gloves or face masks, and professionalism wasn’t part of the plan. In fact, there weren’t even fans until we crashed the party.  In late 1850s, crowds started to show up at games in Brooklyn, and when an 1858 Brooklyn versus New York City series accidentally proved that people would pay to see a game, the writing was really on the outfield wall. The first professional league formed in 1871.  But, thanks to an amazing group of amateurs, baseball was already a fully formed modern sport with championships, media coverage, and famous stars before then.

PURCHASE THIS BOOK ONLINE FROM EIGHT COUSINS BOOKSTORE

REGISTER THROUGH EVENTBRITE
NONMEMBERS $10/MEMBERS $5

TO RECEIVE YOUR MEMBERSHIP DISCOUNT:
Click on the registration link above to go to Eventbrite.
Click “REGISTER” on the Eventbrite page.
Click “ENTER PROMO CODE” on the next screen.
In the Promo Code field, enter the email address associated with your Museums on the Green membership, then click APPLY.
You will see a discount on your ORDER SUMMARY.
Click “CHECKOUT” to complete your transaction.
For assistance, email [email protected]

MANY THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS