A Brief History of Baseball
Part II: Professional Baseball's First Hundred Years

Professional baseball was built on the foundation of the amateur leagues that preceded it. Interest in baseball as a spectator sport had been nourished for more than 25 years when the first professional league began operation. The National Association fielded nine teams in 1871, and grew to 13 teams by 1875.

The National Association was short-lived. The presence of gamblers undermined the public confidence in the games, and their presence at the games combined with the sale of liquor quickly drove most of their crowds away. Following the 1875 season, the National Association was replaced with the National League. Previously, players had owned the teams and run the games, but the National League was to be run by businessmen. They established standards and policies for ticket prices, schedules, and player contracts.

The businessmen demonstrated that professional baseball could be successful, and a rival league soon emerged. In 1882, the American Association started to compete with reduced ticket prices and teams in large cities. Rather than fight each other, the two leagues reached an accord, ratifying a National Agreement. It called for teams in both major leagues and all of the minor leagues to honor each other’s player contracts. In addition, the agreement allowed each team to bind a certain number of players with the Reserve Clause. This clause granted teams the rights to unilaterally renew a player’s contract, preventing him from entertaining other offers.

Needless to say, this infuriated the players. In 1884, they tried to form their own league, the Union Association. Many players left their teams for the freedom of the Union Association, but the league lasted only one season. The teams lost too much money to attempt a second season. Another attempt was made in 1890, when the Players League was formed. Most of the best players from the American Association and National League joined, but like its predecessor, the Players League went bankrupt after one season. The competition and loss of players forced the American Association to fold, too, with four of its best teams joining the National League.

The turn of the century brought another challenger, the American League, which started play in 1901. They raided most of the National League’s best players. In their attempt to meet the challenge, the National League owners turned on each other. A court injunction impaneled a three-man commission to run the league, and they found a way for the two-leagues to co-exist peacefully.

Through the first decade of the twentieth century, baseball remained a game of strategy. The so-called “dead ball” provided few homeruns. The game relied on contact-hitters, bunting, and base-stealing for its offense. The adoption of a ball with a cork center in 1911 change the game dramatically. Forty years of batting records began to fall, and the popularity of the game began to explode.

In 1914, yet another rival league tried to gain a foothold. The Federal League sought to establish its presence both on the field and in the courtroom. They sued, contending that the American and National Leagues constituted a monopoly. While the case languished in the legal system, the Federal League folded after just two seasons. In 1922, the Supreme Court settled the matter by ruling that baseball was exempt from anti-trust legislation. The Court unanimously acknowledged and confirmed baseball’s monopoly.

The Roaring Twenties were a great time for the United States and for baseball. A huge gambling scandal in 1919 brought sweeping reforms, and in the nation’s largest city, a legend was born. George “Babe” Ruth had been a successful pitcher with the Boston Red Sox, but the New York Yankees bought his contract and made him an outfielder. He was the most tremendous hitter the league had ever seen. Ruth revolutionized the game with his prowess as a homerun hitter. He ushered in an era of economic prosperity for baseball, and became one of the most popular individuals in American history.

Like other American men, a large percentage of ballplayers entered the armed forces during World War two. The forties were a difficult time for baseball, but a new era beckoned. Although it was not a written rule, baseball had always been racially segregated. In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, joining the Brooklyn Dodgers. But integration was a very slow process. Other teams were slow to adopt African-American and other minority players. It was another ten years before all of the teams had integrated , and it wasn’t until the early sixties that professional baseball could truly call itself integrated.

In 1960, yet another rival league appeared. Although a handful of teams had moved, most of them were concentrated in the northeast. Large cities in the south and west wanted teams of their own. The Continental League sought to win in court before they had a chance to go bankrupt on the field. Faced with the possibility of losing their monopoly, major league owners reached a compromise. They would agree to expand, growing from 16 teams to 24 by the end of the decade.

The players loved this, because expansion meant more jobs. Baseball prospered economically, as attendance continued to grow and national television and radio contracts brought in huge amounts of money. Soon, the players began to see that the owners were not sharing the wealth. Salaries had remained stagnant for many years, and the players were still bound by the reserve clause. Although they had a union, its only real function was to administer the meager pension former players received. Seeing the success of organized labor in the auto industry and the steel industry, the players decided to put some teeth into their union. After nearly a hundred years, the players wanted to regain some control of the game. And they would get it.