New
#21
I've researched the origins of baseball extensively (in the U.S. and England), and let me assure you that Russia had nothing to do with it. The rest of that Wikipedia entry is filled with crap.
1.) Baseball developed in America, primarily, because it wasn't British. Cricket was the national pastime in the U.S. until the 1850s.
2.) It was not uncommon in 19th century sports to declare yourself "world champion" anything. Before the World Series there was the Temple Cup, which was sometimes referred to as the World's Championship Series. Before that was the Dauvray Cup, and players got medals that declared them the "World Champion." I'm thinking that the 1869 Red Stockings were occasionally called world champions, but I'm going on memory here and that might not be correct.
3.) Rangers fan here, and I want to puke.