In the 19th century, the first real American sport took off in popularity,

baseball. It went from being a children's game to one of the most popular and

lucrative professional sports in the world. Yet its origins have been shrouded in mystery, in no small part because of all the

legends and myths surrounding it. Learn more about baseball, how it really came to be and

grew into the sport it is today, on this episode of popular sports.

Many of them have rather

straightforward origin stories. In the case of baseball, however, its origin is not so straightforward.

Not only was much of the early history never recorded, but it was also shrouded for decades in a legend that didn't have any basis in historical fact.

I might as well start with the legend, which many of you if you grew up in the United States or Canada might be familiar with.

The myth states that the game of baseball was invented by one man,

Abner Doubleday of Couberstown, New York. Doubleday of Couberstown, New York.

Doubleday supposedly invented the game in 1839

as a modification of an 18th century game called Townball.

In Doubleday's version of Baseball,

there were four bases, a pitcher, a batter, and 11 players on each team.

The first game supposedly took place between the Atsego Academy and Green Select School.

This version of the origins of baseball held such sway for so long

that the Baseball Hall of Fame was established in Cooper's Town, New York, in honor of Abner Doubleday.

I was a huge, huge baseball fan growing up and I learned the story of Abner

Doubleday and never had any reason to question it. So why do I now insist that

it's just a myth?

The origins of the story date back to the first years of the 20th century, when baseball was

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