Baseball started in the United States in the 1700s and 1800s, The game was made by Abner Doubleday. Many people in North America, South America, and East Asia play baseball, but the sport is most known in the United States and Japan. In the U.S., baseball is called the "national pastime", because so many people in the United States used to spend a lot of time playing or watching baseball games. Today, though, most Americans follow football more than baseball, especially when it comes time for the Super Bowl.