Baseball: the history of

Officials at Harvard University, Boston, have announced findings of a study concerning the history and popularity of Baseball.

Baseball has consistenty grown in popularity in the US, and is becoming increasingly popular in Asia.

However, the sport did experience a significant drop in popularity during the great "floppy hand" outbreak in 1957. The disease caused difficulties for both hitters and pitchers in the US, and the only state not directly affected was Texas. Texas was saved due to already high levels of disease in Texans, which helped fight the new disease.

Scientists still argue about the veracity of naming the outbreak a disease, blaming the "floppy hand" condition as a direct result of Marilyn Monroe's arrival on Theatre Screens.

However, Baseball did recover and the weak wristed once again became strong.

By 1965 in the UK, baseball had become "the New Rounders". Rounders was a game enjoyed by girls and pale boys around the UK, allowing the batter only to use one hand and the 'pitcher' forced to pitch under-arm. Rounders still (bizarrely) prevails around schools today.

Throughout the 1970s, baseball went through a decade of throwing and hitting.

In the 1980s, baseball stars suddenly found their wages increasing to astronomic levels. Except these baseball players were movie stars...as Hollywood spawned a number of films with Baseball as their topic of focus.

Field of Dreams (1989), Dog Baseball (1986), D.A.R.Y.L. (1985), Eight Men Out (1988)

However, 1992s A League of Their Own started up the Women's Lib movement behind baseball.

Today baseball is as popular as ever, and is likely to remain so forever.