History

• The informal game of baseball has been around since the early 1800's. The game of baseball is thought to be a spin-off of the game of rounders, which was originally played in England and became popular in the United States in the beginning of the 19th century.
  
  

Significance

• In 1845, Alexander Cartwright, a bank teller from New York, convinced his friends to create the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club. Once the Knickerbocker club was formed, they invented the baseball field as we know it today and created a set of rules by which to play the game.
  
  

Effects

• Cartwright worked to promote baseball by teaching the game and rules while he traveled from New York to California. In 1852 he moved to Hawaii, where he began introducing the game to the islands.
  
  

Potential

• In 1938 Alexander Cartwright was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, 46 years after his death.
  
  

Fun Fact

• In 1846, the first official baseball game between the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York City and the New York Baseball Club took place.