Baseball is much more than a game – it's woven into the USA's psyche. Part of the nation’s sense of identity through good times and bad, it represents shared experiences across the generations and enduring notions of the American Dream. From iconic players and fabled stadiums to historic games and quirky rituals, we’ve delved into the archives to uncover old images that capture the spirit of the sport.

Click through this gallery to immerse yourself in the history of baseball…

Compared to the glossy images of today, which showcase the extraordinary athletic exploits of Major League Baseball in minute detail, this photo might not seem like much. But it is believed to be the first known shot of a baseball game in progress.

Taken on August 4, 1869, at the first alumni reunion of the Gunnery in Washington, Connecticut, it includes the school’s founder Frederick Gunn, whose early enthusiasm for the sport helped it grow. The photo appeared in Ken Burns' seminal documentary series Baseball.

Whether or not you're a baseball fan, Fenway Park is a name that transcends sports culture. Home to the legendary Babe Ruth when he wore the Boston Red Sox colors, it's grown over the years into one of the world’s bucket-list arenas.

This photo, taken in February 1912, shows the now-famous stadium under construction just a few months before it opened on April 20. Today, Fenway stands as the oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball.

Arguably the most infamous incident in baseball history, the notorious Black Sox Scandal remains a stain on the sport. It centers on the charge that eight members of the Chicago White Sox had been bribed to deliberately lose the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. Suspicions of conspiracy were aired immediately after the Reds’ victory, but confessions didn’t occur until an investigation in September 1920.

The indicted players stood trial in summer 1921 but were acquitted when key evidence went missing from the grand jury files (almost certainly stolen). Here we see "Shoeless Joe" Jackson of the White Sox caught stealing second base.

To say that the selling of Babe Ruth – one of the most celebrated athletes in American history – to the New York Yankees went down badly with Red Sox fans would be an understatement. What the Fenway Park faithful, who had seen their team win five of the first 15 World Series, couldn't have known is just how bad the ensuing drought would be.

While Ruth, nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat," would transform the Yankees into the most dominant franchise in baseball, the Red Sox would not win their next championship for more than eight decades. It became known as "the curse of the Bambino."

No line-up has struck as much fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers as the batting order of the 1927 Yankees. Widely considered the most formidable set of hitters in the sport’s history, "Murderers' Row" consisted of Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bob Meusel, and Tony Lazzeri.

This offensive powerhouse (pictured here, among teammates) was the reason the 1927 World Series-winning team was able to put nearly 1,000 runs on the board, outscoring opponents by a whopping 376. That year, Ruth broke his own record by hitting 60 home runs in a season.

Quite possibly the most famous home run in World Series history went down on October 1, 1932, during Game 3 of the Fall Classic. Featuring the New York Yankees and the Chicago Cubs, it took place at Wrigley Field in Chicago and took Babe Ruth’s immortal status to new heights. 

After taking some flak on his way to the plate in the top of the fifth inning, and failing to make a good connection off the first four pitches, Ruth gestured towards center field before pelting the ball into the seats exactly where he’d just pointed. Debate rages over the "called shot" to this day, but its place in baseball folklore remains undiminished.

Immortalized in the lyrics of Simon & Garfunkel’s hit song "Mrs Robinson" (made famous by classic 1960s film The Graduate), Joe DiMaggio was more than just a baseball player, he was an American icon. Husband, at one time or another, to Hollywood starlets Marilyn Monroe and Dorothy Arnold, DiMaggio is still regarded as one of the game’s greatest ever players.

A star attraction for an always impressive Yankees, his record-setting streak of hitting safely in 56 consecutive games was, even by his lofty standards, incredibly special. The feat stands as one of baseball's greatest achievements.

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play Major League Baseball in the modern era. Taking to the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers, he broke a decades-old "color line" in the sport and marked a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement. Fifty years later, in 1997, the MLB honored Robinson by retiring his number 42 across the entire league.

The issue of segregation in US sport came to a head in the 1940s, with African Americans actively participating in World War II. During the global conflict, protest signs outside New York's Yankee Stadium read, "If we are able to stop bullets, why not balls?"

The stop-start nature of baseball, with games that build to crescendoes like pieces of classical music, means it’s always been a sport where fortunes pivot on individual moments. But even within its story-rich canon, arguably no home run looms larger than Bobby Thomson’s "shot heard round the world."

The iconic hit over the left field fence from the Scottish-born Thomson, nicknamed "the Staten Island Scot," secured the New York Giants the National League pennant against their bitter rivals the Brooklyn Dodgers. Capping the team's miraculous rise, the radio broadcast went out live to millions of Americans, including thousands of servicemen stationed in Korea.

When you take into account both the degree of difficulty and the circumstances, there’s a case to be made for Willie Mays' famous grab in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series being the greatest ever defensive play. Known simply as "The Catch," the moment of magic from the "Say Hey Kid" combined a remarkable full sprint with an over-the-shoulder snag and a pinpoint throw to second base.

Without the outfielder’s brilliance in the eighth inning of a tied contest, history for the New York Giants – who went on to win the game and the World Series – could have been very different. Mays is seen here sprinting back to make the catch at the Polo Grounds.

On October 8, 1956, Don Larsen (pictured) achieved sporting immortality when he pitched the first perfect game in postseason history. What made the feat even more remarkable was that, before serving up his 97-pitch masterpiece in Game 5 of the World Series, the 27-year-old from Michigan City had a mediocre record in Major League Baseball. 

Effortlessly cutting through a Brooklyn Dodgers line-up that included future Hall of Famers Pee Wee Reese, Gil Hodges, Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, and Roy Campanella, it was a performance that helped the New York Yankees to a 2-0 win. It’s still the only no-hitter in World Series history.

For baseball fans of a certain age, especially those from the Big Apple, the moving of the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers 3,000 miles across the country to California still hurts. They’d been two of the sport’s leading lights for over 50 years but financial incentives, combined with new stadium desires, ultimately won out.

The decision was voted through by MLB owners on May 28, 1957, and left New York with only the Yankees to support. This photo, taken on the opening day of the 1958 season, shows the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers lining up in front of 78,682 fans in LA.

Born out of the disappointment of the Dodgers and Giants’ departure from New York came the Mets. Donning the orange of the Giants and the blue of the Dodgers, they were established as an expansion team in 1962 following public outcry.

And while the new franchise didn’t get off to the best of starts, winning 40 of their 160 games across one of the worst seasons in MLB history, the decade would end on a much better note. Taken at Shea Stadium, New York, this image shows fans pulling up chunks of grass as mementoes after the "Miracle Mets" unexpectedly won their first World Series.

Until Hank Aaron (pictured) came along, most people in the baseball world thought that Babe Ruth’s career record of 714 home runs would never be broken. But in April 1974, after finishing the previous season on 713, Aaron finally took his tally to 715 to trigger jubilant scenes at the home of the Atlanta Braves.

For Aaron, it was a moment he’d been working towards for 20 years. He had hit his first homer for the team in April 1954, back when they were called the Milwaukee Braves and the Dodgers and Giants still played in New York. He would eventually finish on 755.

Known for their party-hard lifestyle, the New York Mets of 1986 had a wild reputation and were never far from the headlines. Scandalous stories of their off-field exploits and on-field successes are well documented in the book The Bad Guys Won by sportswriter Jeff Pearlman.

Putting their notoriety to one side, the '86 Mets rank among the most talented teams in National League history and one of the best the Big Apple has ever seen. This photo shows the players celebrating during their World Series win against a Boston Red Sox team still, at this point, considered "cursed."

Made famous for international audiences by the 2011 film Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, the story of the Oakland A’s remarkable 2002 season is the kind to give hope to underdogs everywhere. It centers on the team’s innovative use of data and computer-led analysis to compete with rival franchises on far bigger budgets.

Led by general manager Billy Beane, played by Pitt in the movie, the high point of the A’s season was, undoubtedly, their astonishing 20-game winning streak over the course of August and September. Pictured here at their home stadium in California, during their game against the Kansas City Royals, A’s fans hold up signs hoping for another win.

For 86 years, fans of the Boston Red Sox had tried everything they could think of to lift "the Curse of the Bambino." Since losing Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in the early 20th century, they had even staged an exorcism outside their home stadium, Fenway Park.

The Red Sox appeared in four World Series during their "cursed" era, but managed to lose all of them. In 2004, though, everything changed. After making it to their first World Series since 1986, following a dramatic comeback against the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, they swept the St Louis Cardinals four games to nothing in the Fall Classic to end their agonizing drought.

It’s barely exaggerating to say that, for some, baseball is more like a religion than a sport. But nothing beats the time Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass for an audience of 60,000 people at Yankee Stadium in New York.

Part of the Pope’s visit to the United States, this religious event at the "Cathedral of Baseball" – as it was known – took on added significance as it occurred in the arena’s final year. As part of a season when Yankees young and old were saying goodbye to "the house that Ruth built," it was an unforgettable moment.

To see how much the Chicago Cubs’ 2016 World Series win meant to the team’s fans, just look at this incredible photo of Groundhog Day actor Bill Murray in the aftermath. Murray, a lifelong Cub, was born in 1950 but the team he supported hadn’t won the most important contest in baseball since 1908 – until that night. 

The long-suffering franchise had, over the years, suffered enormous heartbreak. And of all the hexes that were finally laid to rest against the Cleveland Indians, the most famous was "the Curse of the Billy Goat." It stemmed from an incident in 1945, when an incensed local tavern owner was refused stadium entry with his pet goat. 

In recent years, Major League Baseball has been working hard to expand the global appeal of the sport. Over a weekend at the end of June 2019, at West Ham FC’s London Stadium, the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox contested the first ever MLB games in Europe. The games proved to be entertaining, high-scoring affairs, with the Yankees winning the first 17-13 and the second 12-8. These fireworks (pictured) were set off upon completion of the London Series' opening encounter.

Currently plying his trade for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani is to baseball what Lionel Messi is to soccer. A generational two-way player, meaning he excels at both pitching and hitting, he signed a 10-year, $700 million contract – then the largest in the sport’s history – at the end of 2023.

For the Dodgers, this eyewatering sum of money saw an immediate return with the iconic Ohtani inspiring the Californian franchise to the 2024 World Series. Here we see a fan snapping a photo of Ohtani’s mural in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles.

Now discover a bucket-list sports experience for every state in the US