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Called Strike Rule Change.
The umpire is allowed to call strikes on a batter that repeatedly refuses to not swing at good balls pitched. -
"One Bounce" Rule.
Up until 1864 defense could get a player out by catching the ball after one bounce. This was because the baseball glove had yet to be invented. -
National League Born.
This was the second professional league in the United States. -
Under Hand Pitching.
Before the change from under to over hand pitching, underhand was a batters paradise. The pitchers objective was to just throw the ball so it could go into play. The real action happened between the batter and the defense. -
American League Born.
Created 25 years after the National League, the AMerican League was formed from a smaller league formerly called the Western League. -
End of Dead Ball Era.
February 1920 marked the end of "doctored" pitches. In summary, those are pitches like spitballs, scuffed balls, sanded balls, and any other trick pitch. -
Night Games.
May 24, 1935 the first night baseball game was played. With over 20,000 fans attending that was 10 times more than people going to day games. This allowed people working during the day hours to watch at night and not be tempted to take the day off. -
Jackie Robinson into MLB.
Jackie Robinson was the first African American to break the color line and join the Major Leagues. -
Game Season Starting.
162 game season (could only find year for the date) The baseball season was expanded from 154 games per season to 162 games when the American League added two teams. A year later, National League played 162 games also when they expanded to 10 teams. -
Designated Hitter.
The designated hitter was put into effect in 1973. The reason was so the pitcher, who are only trained to pitch balls at 90 mph, could be taken out of the line up and replaced by someone whose only job was job hit.
