In truth, this is a hard question to answer. The sport evolved over a period of time, rather than being “born” on a certain date. For many years, it was widely believed that baseball started in Cooperstown, New York in the 1860s. It was said that Abner Doubleday, a general during the American Civil War, devised the rules for the game and thus invented the sport. The city of Cooperstown celebrated its invention of baseball for a long time.

In more recent years, however, historians have disproved the Cooperstown / Doubleday theory. Historical documents discovered in 2004, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, suggest that baseball may have been invented much sooner than we originally thought. The document of mention dates back to 1791. It was a city ordinance that prevented people from playing baseball within 80 yards of a new meeting hall that had been built in Pittsfield.

Some historians claim that it’s virtually impossible to say when baseball was first invented, or when the first game was played with rules like the ones we have today. This is because the sport is believed to have evolved from older sports (such as cricket). If that’s the case, then the rules of the game were gradually shaped over time — as opposed to being invented on a certain date.

So, when did baseball really start in this country? Currently, we can only say with certainty that it was invented sometime prior to 1791. Because the Pittsfield, Massachusetts document shows that the sport was popular enough to make them worry about broken windows!

We hope you found this article helpful. While we many never truly know when baseball began in this country, there are plenty of sports facts we do know … such as the birth of football.