National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP)

The National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) was the first organization governing American baseball. The first, 1857 convention of sixteen New York City clubs practically terminated the Knickerbocker era, when that club privately deliberated on the rules of the game. The last convention, with hundreds of members represented only via state associations, provoked the establishment of separate professional and amateur associations in 1871.