The history of baseball can be broken down into various aspects: by era, by locale, by organizational-type, game evolution, as well as by political and cultural influence. The game evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England by the mid-18th century. This game was brought by immigrants to North America, where the modern version developed. By the late 19th century, baseball was widely recognized as the national sport of the United States. Baseball is popular in North America and parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, and East Asia, particularly in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.
References to baseball date back to the 1700s when in England it was referenced in 1744 in the children's book A Little Pretty Pocket-Book by John Newberry, though he was actually referring to the game "rounders". In the early 1800s "baseball" and a game first mentioned in 1828 as the aforementioned "rounders" may have been the same or very similar. During the 1830s and 1840s organized amateur club baseball grew up in eastern United States cities; however, the first official baseball game with a documented score card took place not in the US, but in Canada in 1838 The first “baseball” game ever played. While Canada invented the version of baseball we know today, innovations made by New York City clubs became the basis for the modern game, far removed from its English ancestor, but extremely similar to the Canadian version. These clubs formed a national governing body with uniform rules in 1858, the National Association of Base Ball Players. In 1871 the first professional league, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, was founded. Five years later, the National League was created; it was followed by the American League in 1901. The first World Series between the champions of the two major leagues was held in 1903, and by 1905 it became an annual event. Baseball early in the 20th century was characterized by low-scoring games, but the dead-ball era ended in the early 1920s with rule changes and the rise of power hitter Babe Ruth. The major leagues had a color barrier that lasted until 1947, when Jackie Robinson made his debut. The major leagues began the process of expansion in 1961 and attendance increased from the mid-1970s to 1994, when a work stoppage led to the cancellation of the World Series.
Professional baseball leagues featured teams from Canada as early as 1877, and the sport spread to numerous countries in the 1800s and 1900s. It was played in the Olympics as a medal sport from 1992 to 2008. Other competitions between national teams include the Baseball World Cup and the World Baseball Classic, which was first held in 2006.