When March Madness ends, there is absolutely no reason to get off the couch and start being useful. Because I have quite the project in mind. You need to watch 162 games and obsess over the statistics of each one. It’s called baseball season, and it used to be a favorite pastime of mine. But even I have to admit that the slow-moving game’s transition into our brisk, modern world has been a little rough. To try to pick up the pace, I’ll give you the history of baseball in 10 quick numbers.
1839
The year in which Abner Doubleday, a future Union general in the American Civil War, is credited with inventing baseball in Cooperstown, New York. Although baseball historians have since classified this origin story as mythology, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is located in Cooperstown. The true origins of baseball are a bit murkier, but the game is generally accepted to have derived from one or more bat and ball games brought over from Europe.
1846
The year of the event that is recognized as the first officially recorded baseball game in American history. In that year, on June 19th, the New York Knickerbockers baseball club lost 23-1 to the “New York nine” in Hoboken, New Jersey.
1903
The year in which Major League Baseball (MLB) is considered to have come into existence. The National League (NL) formed in 1876 and the American League (AL) in 1901, with the competing leagues agreeing to cooperate in 1903. That year, the first World Series was won by the Boston Americans (later known as the Red Sox) of the AL over the Pittsburgh Pirates of the NL.
1939
The year of the first televised MLB game. On August 26th of that year, a doubleheader between the Cincinnati Reds and Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn was broadcast using two camera angles. Needless to say, time would prove this experiment to be a smashing success. Specifically, once someone realized that the rights to televise games could be sold, serious cash started entering the sports landscape.
1947
The year in which Jackie Robinson, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, broke the MLB color barrier. Prior to this occurrence, African Americans had generally played in the Negro leagues. Among existing teams of the era, the Boston Red Sox were the last to integrate (1959).
27
The number of World Series won by the New York Yankees, the winningest MLB franchise.
1:51
The average time in hours and minutes of a nine-inning MLB game in 1921. In 2021, that number had increased to 3:10. Mercifully, rules changes helped decrease the duration back to 2:36 in 2024.
20
The number of teams that participated in the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC). Technically, since Puerto Rico and the US were separate teams, that amounted to 19 countries. Of the five WBCs, Japan has won three, the Dominican Republic one, and the US one.
856,850
The estimated earnings in US dollars of Babe Ruth over his entire 22-season playing career (about $16 million if adjusted for inflation from 1934 dollars). Mike Trout, one of today’s best players, makes about $219,393 per game and $35.5 million per season.
11.6 billion
The annual revenue of MLB in US dollars as of the 2023 season. As alluded to above, a large chunk of this revenue comes from selling media rights deals to large networks. While much has been made about the decline of MLB, this figure makes the 30-team league the second wealthiest in the world (behind the NFL).
Now it’s time to put down that work or home improvement project or whatever. We got some baseball to watch. It’ll be quick. Actually, no it won’t.
(This article was updated on October 1, 2024.)
