Baseball like America had humble beginnings.  America was united as a country in the year 1776 on July the 4th.  Sixty-three years later baseball was created by Abner Doubleday who was born on June 26th, 1819 in Ballston, New York. 

Doubleday had a career in the United States Army.  He was a Union 2 Star General in the American Civil War.  He also fought in the Mexican-American War, American-Indian War and in the Third Seminole War. 

In the year of 1839, in Cooperstown, New York, Abner Doubleday created a new kind of game that he called “Baseball.”  Baseball was not entirely a new creation.  Most baseball historians say the basic rules of baseball came from another game, this game is called Cricket. 

Cricket was created by the English in 1844.  Baseball and Cricket have five similarities 

One similarity is they both use a small ball which is a little smaller then a person’s hand.  The second similarity is they both hit the ball with a “stick.”  In Cricket and Baseball, they call this “stick” a bat.  The third similarity the two sports have in common is runs.  Runs are what the team scores to win the game.  The fourth similarity is both sports have is men that they call umpires.  Umpires are the men who control/govern the game.  The fifth and final similarity that the two sports have in common is something called innings.  Innings is what divides the two offenses and defensives sides. 

Although these facts might say or seem that baseball is not an original game, I can assure you that it is 100% original and its’ history is 100% American. 

Baseball and America seem to go hand-and-hand when it pertains to their history.  Baseball like America had its’ unfortunate early years when it came to racial differences. 

America went through a time when even its’ own people were so divided it became a war.  This war as you know was called the Civil War.  This war divided the country into two separate parts called the Union States and the Confederate States.  The Union States, which was mainly the northern part of the country, that believed that all men were created equal no matter what the color of their skin.  The Confederate states believed that not all men were created equal because of their skin color.  Most Confederates at the time owned black people and made the black people work for them, they called this slavery.  America eventually overcame this war with the Union “the north” winning the war and declaring equal rights for all Americans throughout the land. 

However, just because the government declared free slavery did not mean all men agreed on the decision.  One of those men who did not agree was Tyrus Raymond Cobb, also known as “Ty Cobb.” 

Ty Cobb was born on December 18th, 1886 in Narrows, Georgia, and as most people know Georgia is famous for its’ delightful peaches.  Ty Cobb’s nickname was the “Georgia Peach” but, I can assure you that Ty Cobb was not a “peach” when it came to his personality or his opinion on African American’s 

Ty Cobb was one of baseball’s earliest stars and was part of baseball’s first Hall of Fame class in 1936.  Cobb started his 24-year Professional career in 1905 with the Detroit Tigers.  He played 22 of those years with the Tigers ball club and spent his last 2-years in Philadelphia with the Athletics.  Cobb has an all-time high career batting average of .366 and he hit over .400 two years in a row (1911-1912) and won the league MVP in 1911.   

Inspite all his success, Cobb still was a terrible human being.  Cobb was an extremely racist man who did not like people of color at all.  Legend has it that Cobb was so crude, that one time he jumped into the stands and attacked a cripple man for heckling him.  

As you can see very early on baseball had its’ own set of racism and hatred towards different kinds of people within the game, just like the country had at a very similar time.