Although Abner Doubleday is traditionally credited for inventing the sport in Cooperstown, New York, the "American Pastime" actually has its roots in Great Britain in a similar game called "rounders."
Following Doubleday's 1839 "invention," baseball quickly became popular in the United States. Alexander Cartwright of the country's first organized team, the New York Knickerbockers, wrote the first set of modern rules in 1845 which included a pair of regulations (nine men on a team and 27.43 meters (90 feet) between bases) that still exist today. Other original rules, such as hitting baserunners with a thrown ball for an out and throwing nine balls for a walk, were either changed or discarded until arriving at a set of regulations in the late 1800s. Those rules remain very close to the regulations governing the sport today with very few changes instituted over the past 100 years.
Baseball's Olympic history has not enjoyed the same continuity. Baseball first appeared at the Olympic Games in 1912 when U.S. athletes competing in other sports formed a team to play against a Swedish squad. Since that inaugural game, baseball appeared in six additional Olympic demonstration competitions until earning full-medal status at the 1992 Games in Barcelona.
Cuba | Gold |
Chinese Taipei | Silver |
Japan | Bronze |
This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for
the Olympic Games Sports Publication Department. Written by Howard
Thomas.
| Closing Ceremony of the 1996 Games involved a crew of 2,100 who worked with more than 3,500 performers as well as thousands of athletes who celebrated on the field of Olympic Stadium. |