ABSTRACT
Major League Baseball Baseball’s governing body has its origins in the year 1858, when the National
Association of Base Ball Players (NABP) was formed as an organization that prohibited remuneration for the players. As the Civil War drew to a close and baseball’s popularity spread, many began to sense opportunities for exploiting the sport’s financial potential. Some teams enclosed their parks and charged between 10 and 25 cents admission to games. Some players flouted the rules and accepted a share of gate receipts, while others procured phantom jobs such as winding up a stadium clock every day, leaving them most of the day to practice.
