Despite having to endure labor strikes, scandals, and the rise in popularity of football and basketball, baseball—America's National Pastime—has managed to maintain its allure and produce an array of legendary larger-than-life heroes. Among Americans' most prized cultural traditions are still "baseball, hotdogs, and apple pie."

The origin of baseball has long been a subject of controversy. What is certain is that the game initially was played in the United States before the mid-nineteenth century; in the 1840s, the New York Knickerbockers, the first baseball team in the United States, played in Madison Square in Manhattan, New York, and at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey. During the following decade, teams began sprouting up throughout the Northeast, and even in the Midwest and the Far West. After the Civil War (1861–65), teams started charging admission to games. In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first team to field...