I. Introduction
A. Attention Grabber – 74,026,895 people attended baseball games in person in 2013, with hundreds of millions more watching on television during the course of the year.
B. It is clear that baseball is a popular sport in the United States, and though it might have been replaced by football as America’s true pastime, it remains a part of the national consciousness for more than half of the year. Why is baseball so popular? Part of that has to do with the game’s great history.
C. Baseball’s history has been long and illustrious, and it can be separated into three eras: the pre-Jackie Robinson era, the “Golden era,” and the age of steroids.
II. The Pre-Jackie Robinson Era
A. Baseball can be traced back as far as the 1700s in some form, when people played a game that looked a lot like baseball, but lacked the structure and the rules of the modern game.
B. In 1845, semi-professional teams began to play, with the earliest being the New York Knickerbockers, who obviously played in New York City.
C. Around 1875, the first professional leagues began to form, with the National League taking prominence shortly thereafter. The National League gave the teams the power to enforce player contracts, and they had a gentleman’s agreement to exclude black players.
D. A number of famous players developed during this era, giving baseball its characteristic flair and setting up the development of the game.
1. Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, and others all played from 1900 to 1919, during what was known as the dead ball era, when pitchers dominated the game.
2. Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb were the two most famous hitters to come about during this time, putting up big numbers despite the poor hitting conditions.
3. The 1919 World Series brought a black eye to baseball, as the Chicago White Sox were found to be losing on purpose so that bettors could win money off of the games. Led by Shoeless Joe Jackson and others, this became known as the “Black Sox Scandal.”
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"History of Baseball Speech".
III. The Post-Robinson Era
A. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, allowing black players to become a part of the highest levels of baseball. Before that, they had been relegated to the so-called Negro Leagues.
1. Robinson was signed by Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers when Robinson showed himself worthy at UCLA.
2. While putting up with poor treatment, he won the Rookie of the Year award and eventually the National League MVP, while also leading the Dodgers to a World Series during his career.
B. After Robinson, the game experienced a renaissance, with talented players like Frank Robinson, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and others taking the field.
1. The game began to be played with more flair, especially on defense.
2. Mays, Mickey Mantle, and Duke Snider all played center field for different clubs in New York City, and combined, their play helped to bring the game into the spotlight during this time.
3. Home runs became more common during this time, too, as ballparks became much smaller than they had been in the past. Mays, Ted Williams, and many others posted big home run totals before Hank Aaron finally broke the all-time home run record that has previously been held by Babe Ruth.
IV. The Steroid Era
A. Most recently, baseball entered what has been considered by some to be a steroid era.
B. Most believe the steroid era to have begun in the late 1980s or early 1990s, with players like Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Rafael Palmiero being the prime contributors.
1. The steroid era saw players grow larger and home run totals spike, even for players who were not used to hitting home runs.
2. A good example is that of Brady Anderson, who hit more than 50 home runs for the Baltimore Orioles after doing very little from the plate earlier in his career.
C. The steroid era brought the emergence of Barry Bonds as perhaps the most feared and controversial baseball players of all-time.
1. Bonds had been an all-star player and perhaps a future Hall of Fame player during the early part of his career, combining good speed with strong power and solid defense.
2. As Bonds watched Sosa and McGwire get rich and famous off of home runs, he is alleged to have taken steroids. As a result, he began to post some of the best offensive numbers in the history of the game.
3. Bonds eventually broke both the single-season home run record and the all- time home run record, passing Hank Aaron in the process.
D. The steroid era has brought about many changes in baseball policy, as players are now tested for steroids and HGH, and punishments for testing positive are high.
1. Some suspect that despite these regulations, doping still exists in baseball in some form, with HGH being the most popular supplement taken by today’s players.
V. Conclusion – Baseball is one of the most popular sports in the world, and in America, it holds a special place in our collective heart. The game is one that brings joy to the young, and while it has taken many twists and turns over the course of time, it is still one that draws millions of people to the stands each year to take in America’s game.
- Fainaru-Wada, Mark, and Lance Williams. Game of shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the steroids scandal that rocked professional sports. Penguin, 2006.
- Tygiel, Jules. Baseball’s great experiment: Jackie Robinson and his legacy. Oxford University Press, 1997.
