chapter 1 The Team That Inspired a Nation Baseball likely evolved from a British game called rounders The main difference was that in rounders the outfielders could hit the offense with the ball Baseballs used to be soft They were made from all kind of materials from the soles of shoes to fish eyes Baseball wasn’t given official rules until 1846 The game didn’t become a professional sport until after the Civil War ended in 1865 Today millions of boys and girls across 6 continents play Little League annually Over 35 million people from 122 countries are registered baseball players Around 18 million people watch the World Series each year These seven games are played in the United States and are the most popular games of the season The best team wins the 4 21st century skills library
The 1913 New York Yankees just after they changed their name from the Highlanders World Series and the players receive prize money and prestige The 2016 World Series had a whopping 23 million viewers who watched the Cubs win their first World Series since 1908 One of the greatest baseball teams is the New York Yankees They were originally called the Baltimore Orioles and later the New York Highlanders In 1913 they became the Yankees With legendary players like Babe Ruth Lou Gehrig Joe DiMaggio Whitey Ford Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle the Yankees appeared in every World Series from 1955 through 1964 except in 1959 They have won more World Series titles than any other team 5 Sports Unite Us Photo Caption
Yankees owner George Steinbrenner George Steinbrenner took over the team in 1973 The endless stream of money funneled into his team allowed Steinbrenner to outbid other teams for star players not under contract This strategy for acquiring talent led many teams and fans to feel that the Yankees act dishonorably when signing their star players For the 2001 season the Yankees paid almost 110 million in salaries to their players Because they hire the best players and win the most awards many people outside of New York do not like the Yankees 6 21st century skills library
The Yankees ended their legendary 2001 season with 95 wins and 65 losses It was their 99th season Mariano Rivera Derek Jeter Roger Clemens Bernie Williams and Scott Brosius all starred on the team during the 2001 season The Yankees played well as a team during both the regular season and their postseason The Yankees finished their 2001 season as Division Champions They lost the World Series 4 3 to the Arizona Diamondbacks But by the end of the season no one hated the Yankees They had become America’s favorite team Star Salaries The Yankees had four players in the top 30 highest salaries for the season Their top two players Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams both made 12 million each Pitchers Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina made about 10 million apiece Newspapers and TV loved to talk about the best players Many of these players were part of the Yankees The Yankees made quite a bit of money in advertisements and the players did too 7 Sports Unite Us
