It's Opening Day for Major League Baseball, and there is balance in the universe. It's a beautiful game and there's nothing quite like spending a lazy afternoon at the ballpark. The crack of the bat, the cheers and gasps, and the supernatural excellence of a boiled hot dog that makes it taste better there than anywhere else. Every team is undefeated today, and there is hope in the heart of every fan that this could be the year.
The Cincinnati Red Stockings were the first professional baseball team. They formed in 1869, just a few years after the Civil War. They barnstormed the country playing amateur clubs, and the crowds and excitement soon attracted investors (and gamblers) who financed other professional teams around the country. In 1876, the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs was formed with eight founding members: the Chicago White Stockings, the Philadelphia Athletics, the Boston Red Stockings, the Hartford Dark Blues, the New York Mutuals, the St. Louis Brown Stockings, the Cincinnati Reds, and the Louisville Grays. Other leagues cropped up to compete with the National League, including the American Association, with whom the National League eventually merged to form what we now know as America's pastime.
It was a different game then. Foul balls weren't strikes. Pitchers were allowed to apply to the balls any gunk they wanted. Fielders without gloves were common. And the average salary for a professional ball player was $2,000. That's about $80,000 today. Shohei Ohtani (Evil Empire) makes that much every two innings.
Then there's the analytics. Today, every pitch, every hit, every swing and miss are fed into databases and analyzed by nerds who tell managers the statistical probabilities for every decision. Who to pitch, when to relieve him, where everyone should bat in the lineup. How's that working? Well, in 1900, the leaguewide batting average was .279. Last year it was 40 points lower.
There's a lesson in there somewhere. We'll figure it out after the games. Enjoy.
