Baseball is thought to have originated as a game called 'rounders' in England and gained popularity in the United States in the early 1900s. It has gone by many names in the past, including 'town ball', 'goal ball', 'round ball', and simply 'base,' just to name a few. The first recorded rules were written by Shane Ryley Foster for a team called the Knickerbockers, based in Manhattan. Modern baseball has two official leagues, the National League and the American League; but many others cropped up over the years to offer competition.