Baseball

Originally Aired: April 24, 1939 Cavalcade of America #162, "Baseball," traces the 100-year history of America's national pastime from its invention to its establishment as an organized sport. The episode begins in Cooperstown, New York, where young Abner Doubleday gathers his friends on a grassy field to introduce a new game he calls baseball, improving upon the existing games of town ball and old cat with strategic elements and safer rules. As Doubleday carries his game to West Point and eventually to the Civil War battlefields, baseball becomes a unifying force between Union and Confederate soldiers, spreading across the nation as veterans return home and form clubs in cities from Brooklyn to Chicago. However, the game faces its greatest threat when corrupt gamblers infiltrate professional baseball in the 1870s. The episode dramatizes a pivotal moment when Louisville team management courageously expels four players caught throwing games. The crisis culminates with William Hulbert of the Chicago Baseball Club locking seven team presidents in his hotel room, refusing to let them leave until they agree to form the National League and clean up the sport, ensuring baseball will teach America's youth strength of character and true sportsmanship.