When was baseball first played in Major League Baseball?

Answer 1

The first major league in Baseball was the National Association (NA) which was founded in 1871.

Controversy exists over whether the National Association was a "major league."

In 1968, Major League Baseball (MLB) founded a "Special Baseball Records Committee" specifically to rule on these matters, and decided that records from the National Association would NOT count in "major league" record totals. Thus, if Joe Schmoe got 100 hits in 1875 while playing in the NA, and 150 hits in 1876 while playing for a National League (NL) team, his official total number of hits in MLB competition would be recorded as 150, not 250.

Whether that is what SHOULD have been decided is still argued today.

The first NA game was on 1871 May 4.

The first NL game was on 1876 April 22.