Here’s an interesting article from the “Voice of America.” Alexander Cartwright (pictured right) is credited with writing the first rules for the sport in 1846. Baseball was a part of leisure time for Civil War soldiers. Company versus company within regiments and often regiment (top players) versus other regiments played in sometimes highly competitive games.
The origins of baseball are centered in the northeastern United States. The first official game under modern rules was played at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1846. The man who wrote the rules was Alexander Cartwright, who was part of the first official team, the New York Knickerbockers.
During the Civil War in the 1860s, baseball became an increasingly popular sport among Union soldiers. Frank Ceresi is a baseball historian. “This [photograph] is from the Civil War period and this takes place in the 37th Massachusetts volunteer army from during the Civil War and if you can see it, they’re playing a bat and ball game,†Ceresi said. “What they’re doing is relaxing before the battle.”
Baseball’s popularity grew after the Civil War. It attracted donors who wanted to sponsor teams.
