Origins of Baseball in Wisconsin
After the Civil War in the 1860's and 1870's, baseball started to become popular all across Wisconsin. But, back then baseball was referred as "base ball." It was a popular game that was played on summer afternoons. Communities would establish their own teams and play other communities near by. The teams usually consisted of men in their early 20's that were from middle class families. Players typically only remained on the team for a couple of seasons until they could start a family and start making a living. The fundamentals of the game back then were very similar to today. A wooden bat and a leather stitched ball were used much like today. There were three outs per inning and "aces" were scored when a runner reached home plate. Force out and fly out rules also applied to the game back then. Also, four bases that were 42 paces across from each other(1st to 3rd and home to 2nd) and were arranged like today. Fair and foul territory rules were the same as today as well. But, there were some very distinct differences in the game of baseball back then, and then game of baseball today. First, the "hurler" had to pitch the ball underhand to the "striker" as close to the center of home plate as possible. The striker could only strike out if he swung and missed three times and the "behind" caught the third strike on the fly or the first bounce. Foul balls did not count as strikes. another way that a batter could get out that is different from today is if the ball is caught in foul territory after one bounce. Also, there were no walks. Players also did not use gloves back then. These rules allowed for some very high scoring games. But, despite some very definite differences, the game has changed little since it originated in Wisconsin in the 1860's and 1870's.