[Leo_The_Lip]

How Baseball Happened: Outrageous Lies Exposed! The True Story Revealed by Thomas Gilbert

Well worth everyone's time, as it details the 'truth' of baseball's origins.

What you'll find is, there were no 'minor leagues'. Teams were called 'clubs' as in 'drinking clubs'. The players were doctors, firemen and policemen. they played for fun, not money. they were the middle class who had the leisure time to play. All the teams were based in Manhattan, and took the ferry to Hoboken to play games. No stadiums in Manhattan or elsewhere because no one watched the games except the players themselves.

So there were no real histories for the teams, they came and went until after the Civil War when baseball began to solidify.

There were no such things as 'leagues' and 'seasons'. If you had a free weekend you invited your friends in an other club to Hoboken's Elysian Fields for a game or two, followed by a feast, topped off with drinking.

The point for all was the feast and drinking, not the games.

I'm simplifying this excellent work of history, but do read it.