As someone who loves baseball and history, this sounds pretty interesting: Has any one of y'all ever been to a vintage baseball game? Has Lindsay Lohan ever played in one? And on a different, are any of y'all CCfans folk interested in the early history of basketball? I came across some interesting late 19 century newspaper articles that have peaked my interest. I do know a little about 19th century baseball, but almost nothing about early basketball.
gwayneco Don't know if you caught it, but there was a decent 1 page type article in a Sports Illustrated a few months back about baseball history. Essentially dispelled the notion that it is America's game. It still is, but baseball apparently goes a lot further back, with roots in England.
I saw a Conan skit that had baseball players imitating the old baseball ways. That was TOO FUNNY!!! Conan still got it.
30-game winners, anyone? 511 career victories? Like Curt Schilling said, before 1925 it was basically sandlot ball.
You, and Curt Schilling, are wrong. Overhand pitching was required by the 1880s. Obviously it's a different game being played today than then, but there's no arbitrary cutoff point you can use to say the game became "modernized". The 1880s is as close as you get, as the field dimensions and rules were basically formalized in their current form at that time.
I'll admit I'm out of my element, but going 35-11 or something is ridiculous. There's no way those guys were throwing hard.
My opinion is that 1903 is really the year that should be considered the birth of major league baseball. The game itself has changed little since then, and the structure of MLB has remained pretty consistent as well. 1903 was the year that the National and American leagues merged. 1903 was also the year that the final significant rule change was made, and that was deeming a foul ball as a strike. Since then, other rules have been passed (such as the DH and the abolition of the spitball), but none have changed the game fundamentally. Here is an article I found detailing the history of rule changes in professional baseball.
The start of the live ball era could be used as the beginning of the modern game as well. Really, I think we are about 10-20 years into a new era.
