Baseball Is The Oldest Professional Sport - 1312 Words

Peanuts, bratwursts, and fireworks after a home team win are everything that reminds all of us of Major League Baseball. Baseball is the oldest professional sport played in the United States. The Majors have two leagues known as the National and the American League. Each MLB year is composed of a spring training, a regular season, an All-Star break, a postseason, and an off-season. Hoboken, New Jersey hosted the first official game between the New York Nine and New York Knickerbockers with the New York Nine winning twenty-three to one in four innings. However, it wasn’t until 1869, when the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first professionally founded team. A few years later the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players†¦show more content†¦Opening day rings in the beginning of another long, stressful one hundred and sixty-two game regular season. Many teams do not play on opening day, therefore, opening day is extended a week from the first game. In f act, former St. Louis Cardinal Ozzie Smith with Anheuser-Busch started a petition on Whitehouse.gov, stating that Opening Day should be considered an official holiday. The regular season of major league baseball is composed of one hundred and sixty-two games for thirty teams ranging from April-October. Twenty of these games is between the American and National league called interleague play. Each of these games are a minimum of nine innings and twenty-seven outs. However, if the game was tied in the 9th inning, it continues until the winning run comes across home plate. These games lead up to the famous All-Star Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game in the second or third Tuesday in July. At the mid-point of the regular season, there is an All-Star break. Besides the postseason, this break is known for the All-Star Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game. The players are elected by fans, coaches, and players. The team managers from the previous World Series are selected as the managers for the All-Star game. The break begins a day before and extends to the day after giving enough rest for players and coaches. The Home Run Derby has a total of ten players, 5 from the American