Critique On Origins of Baseball

Baseball is a fun game enjoyed by many sports fan across the world. But did you know that no one really knows where baseball originated? The origin of baseball is a subject of debacle among historians since its roots or traces be found in various countries during the early times.

Some have said that the origins of baseball came from England. This is disputed due to the fact that Romania also has a ball sport wherein the players also use a bat and a ball. Russia also has a similar ball sport called Lapta that was widely played back in the 1300s. In America, they are also playing a similar sport during the 1800s, which is referred to as Town Ball.

Before it was officially known as “baseball”, the game and its name took various transformations. Some of these are “base ball”, “goal ball”, “round ball”, “base”, “fletch catch”. But more or less, the official baseball game is said to have originated in what the people call as “town ball”. Everytime “town ball” is held, people around the town gather together to watch the game.

However, it is reported that there are recent discoveries that might just settle the issue concerning the origins of baseball. These are the “Pittsfield Find” which purports to be a bylaw from 1791 uncovered in a town in Massachusettes and the other one is a vintage card depicting kids who are playing something that looks like baseball. These new evidence are said to distinguish baseball game from other bat and ball games that originated in other countries. It may even yield the exact date as to when baseball began. In the so-called Pittsfield Find, it provides some important information about a banning of a certain form of game in Pittsfield in 1791, which seems to be baseball. This document is found in a courthouse. Meanwhile, in the old baseball game card that was found in an attic shows what seems to be an old game of baseball.

All these “evidence” is said to point out that America had its own authentic game. I am apologetic to the fact that there are some people who seem to want to get the credit for everything. Why can’t we not just say that baseball is a product of evolution and a conglomeration of influences from all other sides and not only from America. The origins of an age-old game such as baseball is really hard to prove by all other country that may not have the means to provide the evidence needed to prove such fact. I think it would be totally unfair for the ones who have also come up with the same idea on their own.

I am saying this because I played baseball too in the rural area without having known what baseball is all about. Does that mean that we copied the game from America? All I can say that once you have a ball and a stick, a natural tendency of man is to beat the ball with the stick.