U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for April 22

WASHINGTON, April 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090226/CENSUSLOGO)

THURSDAY, APRIL 22: NATIONAL LEAGUE FORMED

Profile America — Thursday, April 22nd.  Baseball's recently formed National League opened for its first games on this day in 1876 — with eight teams taking the field.  Three teams have moved on to other cities and the original list included Hartford and Louisville.  In the new league's first game, Boston beat Philadelphia, 6-to-5, with 3,000 fans watching.  Seventy games were scheduled that first year.  Now, there are 30 major league teams from coast-to-coast — 16 of them in the National League.  The top-drawing team in the National League last year was the Los Angeles Dodgers, with nearly 3.8 million fans.  Overall, Major League Baseball is witnessed by close to 80  million people annually, with many millions more watching on television.  You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.  

Sources:  440 International Calendar of Events, Those Were the Days

Statistical Abstract of the United States 2010, t. 1208

Profile America is produced by the Public Information Office of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look under the "Newsroom" button).  

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau