Baseball is different now than it was in the old days because origanally it took nine balls rather than four to take a walk. The pitching distance was only forty-five feet to home plate. It wasn't until 1889, that the pitcher was permitted to throw overhand. In the 1880's, the players began to wear gloves on thhe field. First, the players only wore a thin piece of leather over the palm of the hand. The fingers of the glove were short and fairly flexible. They had to put holes in the glove if it was too small. The field wasn't taking good care of, and had rocks everywhere. There are no rocks on the field now. Some ballparks even have plastic grass. In the old days, the ball would bounce in weird ways because of the pebbles on the infield. Only two or three baseballs were used in a game by the seventh or eighth inning. THe ball wasn't good. Sometimes the leather on the ball busted. Now fifty to sixty baseballs are used in an average big league game.

Players didn't get the kind of money like now. Many other things have changed about baseball too, but the most important in change is attitude. In the old days, people played for the fun of it. Now professionals play for the money just like in basketball and other sports.

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