The Feb. 27, 1907 NYT reports the final schedule for the National and American League baseball teams I hesitate to say that hope was in the air the same as today because there had only been three World Series and therefore an utter lack of ~100 year droughts that make people avid fans of teams like the Cubs, White Sox, and Red Sox.

The article also reports on several rule changes - some of which are still with us today. Rule changes in most sports are generally intended to increase the social welfare of the league members - teams and players - by making the game safer for the players, safer for the fans, and/or more entertaining for fans (which implies that fans will be willing to spend more to attend the events and increasing the returns to players, managers, and owners).

Many times rule changes aim to improve offensive efficiency, and hence scoring, as it is believed that fans like to see scoring. Other rule changes are intended to bolster the defense and improve the parity of the league, as it is believed fans like more evenly matched contests. And still other times rule changes might address off-the-field behavior, as it is believed that bad behavior of a few players might reduce the overall appeal (demand) of the sport.

The rules changes in 1907 were as follows (with my opinion as to where the advantage lies in parentheses):

Rule 14: No other player except the pitcher shall be allowed to take the gloss of the ball, under a penalty of $5(?) for each offense (advantage: pitcher/defense);

Rule 51: A batsman stepping from one box to the other after the pitcher has taken his position shall be declared out (advantage: pitcher/defense);

Rule 83, Section 4: In all cases where a base runner is retired by being hit by a batted ball, unless batted by himself, the batter shall receive credit for a base hit (advantage: batter/offense);

Where two umpires have officiated in games it has always been the rule for the assistant umpire to decide all plays at first and second bases. This clause in the rule has been eliminated and the two umpires will have to come to an agreement about the matter (advantage: junior umpires);

If a catcher interferes with a batsman while striking at a pitched ball, the batsman becomes a base runner (advantage: batter/offense);

If there are two base runners and one passes another in an effort to make a run while the first runner is being "touched" the runner who passes is to be declared out (advantage: defense).

An interesting aspect of baseball rule changes is that they often aim to close a loophole that one or more teams had found and exploited in the previous rules. This is one reason I find the rules of baseball so interesting. Unlike the rules in football, which are mainly designed to keep the players from causing serious bodily harm to each other, the rules of baseball are set to limit the strategy space of managers, players, and umpires.