History
Timeline
| Baseballist Baseball History Timeline | |||||||
| Year | Event | ||||||
| 1823 | Baseball referred to in National Advocate, a New York newspaper. | ||||||
| 1856 | Phrase, 'the National Pastime' coined by the New York Mercury. | ||||||
| 1839 | In Cooperstown, New York, Abner Doubleday is erroneously given credit for inventing baseball. | ||||||
| 1845 | Alexander Joy Cartwright develops the rules of baseball. | ||||||
| 1846 | A group of cricket players and the Knickerbockers play the first official game. | ||||||
| 1866 | A group from Vassar College forms the first women's team. | ||||||
| 1867 | The first curveball is credited to being thrown by Candy Cummings. | ||||||
| 1869 | Cincinnati Reds become first all-professional baseball club. Team folds in next year. | ||||||
| 1876 | William Hulbert is named president of the newly-formed National League. | ||||||
| 1877 | For accepting bribes, baseball bans four players. | ||||||
| 1879 | Reserve clause adopted by professional baseball, which let teams automatically renew a player's contract at the end of the season. | ||||||
| 1882 | The American Baseball Association, also known as The Beer and Whiskey League (the American Baseball Association) is formed. | ||||||
| 1884 | Moses Fleetwood Walker debuts. He is the first African-American player in the Major Leagues. | ||||||
| 1884 | Pete Browning is the first to use a Louisville Slugger bat. | ||||||
| 1889 | Creation of the Players' League. | ||||||
| 1890 | Cy Young debuts in the Major Leagues. | ||||||
| 1894 | Pitching mound moved from 50 feet to 60.6 feet from home plate. | ||||||
| 1900 | The American League is formed. | ||||||
| 1903 | The first World Series is played by the Pittsburgh Pirates and Boston Pilgrims. It will be won by the Pilgrims. | ||||||
| 1904 | As a result of a feud between John McGraw and Ban Johnson, the World Series is not played. | ||||||
| 1905 | Ty Cobb premieres with the Detroit Tigers. | ||||||
| 1906 | The Chicago Cubs have one of the greatest seasons in history, winning 116 and losing 36. | ||||||
| 1907 | Walter Johnson debuts for the Senators. | ||||||
| 1908 | Fred Merkle's error results in the Giants losing the pennant to the Cubs. | ||||||
| 1909 | Ty Cobb wins the Triple Crown. His Tigers will lose the Series to Wagner's Pirates. | ||||||
| 1912 | Tiger Stadium opens in Detroit and Fenway Park opens in Boston. A ball dropped by Fred Snodgrass loses the Series for the Giants. Baseball endures its first strike. | ||||||
| 1913 | The Federal League forms. Ebbets Field opens | ||||||
| 1916 | The black in 20th century organized baseball, Jimmy Claxton, is fired to due to his African-American ancestry. | ||||||
| 1918 | The 'Star-Spangled Banner' is sung for the first time at a game. Many ballplayers serve in World War I. | ||||||
| 1919 | The Chicago White Sox throw the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. | ||||||
| 1920 | Ruth is sold to the Yankees. Ray Chapman is killed by a pitch from Carl Mays. | ||||||
| 1921 | First live radio broadcast of a major league game from station KDKA in Pittsburgh. | ||||||
| 1923 | Yankee Stadium opens. | ||||||
| 1927 | The Yankees win the World Series | ||||||
| 1928 | Ty Cobb retires with the highest lifetime batting average. | ||||||
| 1933 | The first All-Star Game is played. | ||||||
| 1935 | The first night game in the major leagues at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Reds beat the Phillies 2-1. | ||||||
| 1936 | The Baseball Hall of Fame inducts its first players. Joe DiMaggio debuts for the Yankees. | ||||||
| 1939 | Lou Gehrig takes himself out of the lineup, ending his streak. Gehrig makes his 'Luckiest Man' speech on July 4. | ||||||
| 1941 | Joe DiMaggio hits safely in 56 games and Ted Williams hits .406. | ||||||
| 1945 | Jackie Robinson debuts in the major leagues. | ||||||
| 1947 | First televised baseball game. | ||||||
| 1954 | Willie Mays makes 'The Catch' in the World Series. | ||||||
| 1956 | Mickey Mantle wins the Triple Crown. Don Larsen pitches a perfect game in the World Series. | ||||||
| 1957 | The Giants and Dodgers will move from New York to the West Coast. | ||||||
| 1961 | The death of Ty Cobb, the greatest hitter and player of all-time. Maris breaks Ruth's single season home run mark. | ||||||
| 1966 | The first artificial sports surface, Astroturf, is installed in the Houston Astrodome. | ||||||
| 1969 | Curt Flood begins his battle against the reserve clause. | ||||||
| 1973 | George Steinbrenner buys the Yankees. The designated hitter rule goes into effect. | ||||||
| 1975 | The reserve clause ends. | ||||||
| 1981 | A seven week strike occurs by players. | ||||||
| 1983 | George Brett is declared out after homering, when it is discovered that he had more than the legal amount of pine tar on his bat. The last inning was later replayed with Brett's homer being counted. The final score, Royals 13, Yankees 8. | ||||||
| 1985 | Ty Cobb's all-time hits record is broken by Pete Rose. | ||||||
| 1989 | Pete Rose is banned from baseball. An earthquake interrupts the third game of the World Series. | ||||||
| 1994 | For the second time in its history, the World Series is not played when players strike. | ||||||
| 1995 | Cal Ripken, Jr. breaks Lou Gehrig's consecutive games streak. | ||||||
| 1998 | Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire break the single season home run record of Roger Maris. | ||||||
| 2000 | Baseball, for the first time in its history, opens in Japan. | ||||||
| 2001 | Barry Bonds hits 73 home runs, breaking the single season record set by Mark McGwire in 1998. | ||||||
| 2002 | Strike is averted at the eleventh hour. | ||||||
| 2003 | Roger Clemens becomes only the third player with 300 wins and 3,000 strikeouts. | ||||||
| 2004 | The Boston Red Sox win their first World Series since 1918 by beating the St. Louis Cardinals in four games. In the ALCS, they came back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Yankees in seven games. | ||||||
Ty Cobb has the highest batting average at .367.
