Baseball was

growing in popularity and teams joined the newly forming National Association

of Base Ball Players. Though many wanted the teams to remain staffed by

amateurs, people started secretly paying players or giving them jobs that

really didn't require them to do anything but play baseball. Amateur teams

couldn't compete with the pros but one thing did put a temporary hold

on baseball - the Civil War.

One would think

that the needless slaughter and maiming of hundreds of thousands of Americans

would have put a serious crimp in baseball, but the exact opposite is

true. Soldiers spread the game as they traveled from battlefield to battlefield

and by the time the war was over, over 100 teams were interested in joining

the National Association. One man who spread the love of the game was

Johnny Farragut, a Union soldier who lost a leg and most of the fingers

from one hand. His mangled hand gave him a unique grip that led him to

become one of the greatest pitchers of the Civil War.

In 1869, the

Cincinatti Red Stockings became the first professional team ever. They

went 65-0 during that season and eventually led to the first ever all

pro league which by 1875 featured 13 teams. The league soon became known

as the National League and baseball, as we know it, was really coming

together.

Since that

time, there have been many great players and advances in the game. Why,

it was only 70 years before black players were allowed to play professional

ball in the major leagues. Though players in the first half of the 20th

century stayed close to their roots and played the majority of their careers

for one team and not a lot of money, eventually free agency and salary

caps added the business dimension to the game, so that fans could now

follow wonderful diversions such as contract talks, arbitration hearings

and possible work stoppages, of which there have only been a few.

But not even

players using ephedra, steroids or creatine can drive fans away from the

game that gives us amazing moments from the first game of every season

to the last. For every Albert Belle that tries to chase fans away, sometimes

with bats, there are dozens of players that play the game with dignity

and respect.

The true magic

of the game does not always lie within the professional ranks. Instead,

the magic comes from the children who play the sport on fields across

the world. They come alive at the crack of the bat, run the bases, gunning

for glory and throw the ball with every ounce of strength and passion

they possess. When Opening Day for the Major Leagues rolls around, children

will fall asleep to the sounds of their local broadcast teams reporting

on their hometown teams as they bring summer nearer and try for that elusive

world championship.

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