Hey Batter, Batter!

The founding guidelines for baseball were not set until 1845, when the New York team The Knickerbockers published a set of rules. These were rules based on The Knickerbockers' experiences over their three years as America's premier organized club. In the 21st century, nineteen million amateur baseball players played by these rules in parks across the country, according to USA Baseball, the National Governing Body for the sport and Olympic and amateur representative. Little League Baseball has grown to the largest youth sports program in the world. Begun in 1939 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania with 30 boys playing on three teams, the Little League of 1997 boasted over three million boys and girls of ages 5 to 18 playing on 200,000 Little League teams in 90 countries.