Contrary to popular myth Abner Doubleday had nothing to do with the invention of the game of baseball. The origin of the sport can be traced to two English games rounders and cricket.
Seventeenth and eighteenth century Americans took these two games and molded them into America’s National Pastime, baseball.
As early as 1848, reporters describe baseball mania in America, and by the time of the Civil War baseball was a popular pastime. In September 1845, a group of men in New York City formed the New York Knickerbockers Baseball Club. One of the members of this club, Alexander Cartwright, put together a set of rules for the game that formed the basis of modern baseball. He established the diamond-shaped infield, foul lines and the three-strike rule. He also abolished the practice of tagging runners with thrown balls.
This ca. 1894-1904 print by A. B. Frost is from an unidentified magazine, likely "Harper’s Weekly." The artist Arthur B. Frost (1851-1928) is known as an illustrator, for comics, graphic art, lithography and painting. He documented American cultural life for over five decades. Frost, an avid sportsman himself, captured the drama of various sporting events. Many of his subjects were either hunting, fishing, baseball, golf, and other sports. Frost’s work appeared in books and publications throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including "Harper’s Weekly," "Scribner’s" and "Life" magazines.