MLB

AMERICAN　BASEBALL, Major League Baseball

Baseball Origin

There are two origins for baseball. Cricket originated from the U.K. is one of them which later became rounders. Rounders grew in the form of baseball. Namely, in the U.K., it was common to use a bat and a ball in the beginning of the nineteenth century. The puritans emigrated from England to America played this ball game. They often played the ball game in the east coast before the American Revolution (1775-83). It supplied and grew in the middle of the nineteenth century. Town ball imitating rounders started in Boston in the 1830s, which was spread to Philadelphia and New York in other ways. It grew into the game of baseball. A Cartwright developed baseball then which was similar to today’s baseball. He organized a baseball club called Knickerbocker, the first club in the world and devised diamond-shaped stadium. He made the modern baseball rules. For example, there are nine players on each team and three-strike rule.

American Baseball

Major League Baseball (MLB) is the North American professional baseball league, which is called the big league. Major League Baseball is divided into the National League and the American League. Baseball was a popular sport throughout American in the 1860s. American professional baseball started in 1869 as founding Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first professional team. Baseball club delegation organized the National League in 1875. With an increasing number of baseball fans, the American League was organized against the National League. So the MLB became the two major league system like today’s. Among the team finishing the regular season game, the winners in baseball is filtered through the Wildcard, Division, Championship and the World Series. The National League consists of 15 teams including New York Mets, Washington Nationals, Miami Marlins, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, LA Dodgers, San Francisco Giants whereas the American League consists of 15 teams including New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Blue Jays, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers. In the center of American sports culture, Korean baseball players are active in MLB. There are Hyun-Jin Ryu in LA Dodgers, Jung-Ho Kang in Pittsburgh Pirates, Hyun-Soo Kim in Baltimore Orioles and Dae-Ho Lee in Seattle Mariners.

Baseball is a national sport representing America which is the most beloved sport to Americans. After the regular season, the 2016 MLB post-season has been in progress since October 5th for a month to qualify the World Series finalist per league. American professional league attracts millions of spectators in baseball parks and millions of Americans enjoy baseball through the media. The biggest reason that baseball has gained popularity in the America is that Americans view the baseball park as a cultural space rather than simply consider it as a baseball stadium. American baseball’s main spectators are family units. So American baseball parks are well-equipped for families to watch the game in comfort. For example, they usually have a restaurant within the grounds of the baseball park. While eating, spectators can watch a baseball on the glass at the same time. Thus, baseball is life itself, not just a sport to Americans.

MLB has quickly become a melting pot. In this process of globalization, more Latin American-born players are playing in the league. As a result, 87 % of the bench clearing collision is caused by people with different cultural backgrounds. In the process of globalization, baseball players of different nationalitities will have to try to understand cultural difference.

Chicago Cubs’ “Curse of the Goat”

Chicago Cubs of National League is the oldest baseball club, which was created in 1870. It has been known as the team that hasn’t won for 108 years. One commentator spoke that Chicago Cubs’ victory might not exist in the planet. Chicago Cubs is very famous for the “Curse of the Goat.” One of the Chicago Cubs’ big fans tried to enter the Cubs park to watch World Series with a goat he loved. He bought a total of two admission tickets, one for him and the other for the goat. He was asked to leave the field because his goat was disgusting. The man was very angry and left the field with his goat. He shouted and cursed that Chicago Cubs would lose this series and would never win the World Series in the future. Since then, it has become a famous curse and the Cubs has never even reached the World Series. However, it finally seems to break out of the “Curse of the Goat” this year. In the MLB post-season Championships this year, Chicago Cubs pressed LA Dodgers to advance to the World Series for the first time since 1945. Although they still need three wins for the World Series Victory, it already seems they have transcended the curse. In 2011 Theo Epstein, a young header contributed to eliminating the curse. He decided that the team would not be able to become a winner in short-term. He thoroughly comprehended and slowly reconstructed his team. He planned how to fill in the gaps for the long term. He drastically recruited promising minor league players. With this effort, it is fun to watch whether they break out of the “Curse of the Goat.” Theo Epstein and Chicago Cubs’ efforts have overcome the long defeat. This would not be limited to the baseball game, but it is better to apply to our lives. When you face a difficulty, do not rely on superstition with ignoring reality. Instead, be a person who makes effort to overcome the difficulty.