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Baseball Logan Mayes

Ms. Lane English7 16 Apr. 2013

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Why is baseball known as the national pastime of the United States of America? It could be the history. Baseball is one of the most popular sports in the United States of America. Many people think of Babe Ruth when they hear baseball, since he was one of the greatest players to ever play the sport of baseball. There are many reasons that make it a popular sport. Have you ever thought really long and hard about a certain sports history or facts? Baseball is a sport that contains nine people to play in the field. Many people played baseball long ago and it is still

played today. It is the history, technology, and math that make baseball the national pastime of the United States of America. The great sport of baseball has an interesting history behind it. It has a history that goes back long ago. A Union Army general by the name of Abner Doubleday invented or came up with the sport of baseball in 1839. He invented it in Cooperstown, New York which is now where the Baseball Hall of Fame is currently located today. [Kelley 10] This sports rules were developed by Alexander Joy Cartwright in 1845. The first baseball game was played in 1846 between the Knickerbockers and a cricket team. In 1867 the Brooklyn Stars pitcher Candy Cummings threw the first curveball, which is a pitch slower than a fastball and is thrown to curve down. The MLB or, Major League Baseball was created in 1875. The World Series started in 1903. In 1918 the Star-Spangled Banner was played for the first time at a baseball game. [Nickolsen] Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball on April 10, 1947, becoming the first African American player in Major League Baseball. Before he did this all African Americans played in the Negro Leagues. According to Lou Gehrig, There is no room in baseball for discrimination. It is our national pastime and a game for all. There was only one

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year without a World Series, it was in 1994. The reason there was no World Series in 1994 is because there was a strike that ended the season with a third left and the entire postseason. Baseball also has technology behind the ball. The technology of the ball is very interesting. The baseball is the most important part of the game, because without it you cannot play the sport. There are eight layers of a baseball. The order from the outside to the inside is following. The outside white part of the ball is made out of full grain, alum tanned cowhide leather. The second layer of the baseball is made out of one hundred percent cotton finish winding. The third layer of the baseball is made out of four-ply gray wool winding. The fourth layer of the baseball is made out of three-ply white wool winding. The fifth layer of the baseball is made out of four-ply gray wool winding. The sixth layer of the baseball is made out of red rubber. The seventh layer of the baseball is made out of black rubber. The middle or eighth layer of the baseball is made out of a combination of cork and rubber. [Kelley 21] On the outside of the ball, it is stitched with 88 inches of waxed red thread which is known as the seams. On many balls the signature of the current and appropriate league president is printed on the outside layer of the ball. In Major League baseball in every regular season game, the home team supplies five dozen or sixty new balls. Rawlings is a popular supplier of baseball equipment, including the ball. Baseball also has math behind it. The math of baseball includes records and statistics. There are many records in the sport of baseball. These records make the game more interesting. It makes the fans craze over someone breaking a record. Cy Young had five hundred eleven career wins. Cal Ripken is known as the Iron Man of baseball and played in 2,632 consecutive games. Ty Cobb had a .367 lifetime batting average. [Kendrick] Nolan Ryan struck out 5,714 batters in his career. Ricky Henderson stole 130 bases in a season. Pete Rose ended his career with 4,256 lifetime

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hits. Barry Bonds hit seventy-three homeruns in the 2001 season. He went on to be the all-time homerun leader with 762. Joe DiMaggio had a fifty-six game hitting streak. Orel Hershiser had fifty-nine consecutive scoreless innings while pitching. Johnny Vander Meer had back to back no hitters. The statistics of baseball sometimes turn into many records. Babe Ruths batting average in 1926 was .356. Babe Ruth is currently third on the all-time homerun list with 714 career homeruns. He also had 2,213 career RBIs, or runs batted in. In conclusion baseball is a popular sport which is played by many people which is why it is known as the United States of Americas national pastime. It is the history, technology, and math that make baseball the national pastime of the United States of America. Now you know little or much more about the sport of baseball.

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Works Cited Kelley, James. Baseball. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2000.

Kendrick, Scott. Top 10 Most Unbreakable Baseball Records <http://baseball.about.com/od/majorleaguehistory/tp/unbreakrecords.htm>

Nickolsen, Jonathan. Timeline Help. < http://www.timeline-help.com/baseball-history-timeline.html>