Field Enterprises, 1962. A major-league pitcher's fast ball usually travels at speeds of more than 50 miles per hour. The Kids' World Almanac of Baseball . Pharos Books, 1993. He became the first player to break the 100-mph barrier.
Baseball is the national sport of the United States.
No one knows quite how it began. It is believed that it may have come from a similar English game called rounders. In 1845 Alexander Cartwright set up the Knickerbocker Baseball Club of New York. The rules as he laid them out established a game of nine innings, with teams of nine players each. When the pitcher throws a ball, he knows that eventually it is going to hit the ground.