Since Abner Doubleday helped make baseball into the game that would become the national pastime of the United States, the field of dreams where it is played has been refined and honed to perfect every aspect of the game. The recorded history of baseball parks began in the Elysian Fields of Hoboken, New Jersey, where the first recorded game was played in the summer of 1846.
Batter's Box
The batter's box started as a line. Beginning in 1857, home base, a round, iron, white-painted, 12-inch disk, was defined as one of the four corners of the 30-yard-square infield. The batter's line, unmarked and 6 feet long, ran through the center of home base, 3 feet to either side. The batter, called the striker, could stand anywhere behind that line but could move forward as the ball was pitched. The first baseball convention, in 1857, required the striker to place one foot on the line while awaiting each pitch. The batter's box came into being in 1874, centered on the middle of home base and 6 feet long. The relation of the batter's box to home base, its dimensions and placement outside, astride or inside the foul lines remained in almost constant flux well into the 20th century with resultant changes in fair/foul, ball and strike rules.
Pitcher's Mound
Until the baseball convention of 1857, the pitcher could throw from any location behind a 12 foot, first-to-third base line centered on the square field's diagonals. Pitching since 1845 had been only straight-armed, underhanded and the pitcher could take a running start for each throw but must have both feet on the ground at release. In 1874, a pitcher's box was designated, though the exact distance to home base remained a point of controversy. The pitcher's mound did not appear until well into the 20th century.
Bases And Foul Lines
The 1857, rules located the bases 30 yards from home plate at the corners of the 30-yard-square infield with second base at the opposite corner to home. In 1860, foul poles were placed 100 feet beyond first and third on a line with home so the umpire could call fair and foul more accurately. Base lines were designated to be marked in white chalk. By 1884, a designated home-to-first-base, required runner's path was defined. Many minor changes regarding how much of a base should be inside or astride base lines and fence locations continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.
Night Games
The first night baseball game was played in 1880. Boston's Northern Electric Company provided 90,000 candle-power, temperamental carbon-arc lighting for a game between two department store teams on Nantasket Beach in Hull, Massachusetts. Three 100 foot towers, 500 feet apart, illuminated the Thursday night game in early September. Newspaper reviews were mixed on whether or not the experiment was a success. The game ended in a 16-to-16 tie, and spectators said they could only see the batter and pitcher but not a hit ball or the outfield. Attempts at night games were few and unimpressive through the end of the 19th century. By mid-20th century, lighting had been perfected and night games became routine.
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