Changes

==History==

==History==

A well-publicized [[tradition]] holds that the game was invented by Abner Doubleday in [[Cooperstown]], [[New York State|New York]] in 1839. In fact, the origins of the game are unknown. Famous baseball writer Henry Chadwick stated that the game evolved from the British game of "rounders."<ref>[http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/about/history.htm The Origins of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum]</ref> In response, Albert G. Spaulding, another baseball pioneer, urged the formation of a commission to determine the game's origin; one was formed, and in due course issued a report on December 30, 1907 stating "the first scheme for playing baseball, according to the best evidence obtainable to date, was devised by Abner Doubleday at Cooperstown, N.Y. in 1839." This led to the 1939 founding of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in that city.<ref>The National Baseball Hall of Fame was inspired by the Hall of Fame for Great Americans in New York. Established in 1901, with a 600-foot colonnade ultimately containing bronze busts of 98 great Americans, the Hall of Fame was at one time a major landmark, and the additions of honorees to it was a national news event. Ironically, the Hall of Fame for Great Americans has itself passed into obscurity; today, the phrase "Hall of Fame" has practically come to mean the National Baseball Hall of Fame.</ref>   

A well-publicized [[tradition]] holds that the game was invented by Abner Doubleday in [[Cooperstown]], [[New York State|New York]] in 1839. In fact, the origins of the game are unknown. Famous baseball writer Henry Chadwick stated that the game evolved from the British game of "rounders."<ref>[http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/about/history.htm The Origins of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum]</ref>. In response, Albert G. Spaulding, another baseball pioneer, urged the formation of a commission to determine the game's origin; one was formed, and in due course issued a report on December 30, 1907 stating "the first scheme for playing baseball, according to the best evidence obtainable to date, was devised by Abner Doubleday at Cooperstown, N.Y. in 1839." Baseball was reffered to in England in 1817, in the [[Jane Austen]] book, [[Northanger Abbey]], however it is likely it was not seen as politically prudent to associate a sport enjoying a patriotic boom with nineteen centuary Britain.

 

The results of the Spaulding commitee led to the 1939 founding of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the city of Cooperstown.<ref>The National Baseball Hall of Fame was inspired by the Hall of Fame for Great Americans in New York. Established in 1901, with a 600-foot colonnade ultimately containing bronze busts of 98 great Americans, the Hall of Fame was at one time a major landmark, and the additions of honorees to it was a national news event. Ironically, the Hall of Fame for Great Americans has itself passed into obscurity; today, the phrase "Hall of Fame" has practically come to mean the National Baseball Hall of Fame.</ref>   

"Base-ball" or "base ball" was being played, under that name, during the [[Civil War]]:

"Base-ball" or "base ball" was being played, under that name, during the [[Civil War]]: