Why six points for a goal in football, and not one, as in baseball and hockey?
Because there are different types of ways to score, some are harder than others and so different point values are assigned.
See [http://www.footballresearch.com/articles/frpage.cfm?topic=d-to1889]here]( [url).
An excerpt:
In order to avoid such messes in the future, Walter Camp came through with another ace. At the Convention of October 17, 1883, he introduced the point system of scoring and it was quickly adopted. The original values were one point for a safety, two for a touchdown, four for a successful goal after a touchdown, and five for a goal from the field.
The idea was right, but the mix was wrong. Two months later, at another meeting, the values were changed:
Touchdown = 4 points
Safety = 2 points
Goal following a touchdown = 2 points
The goal from the field (or, as we would say, a field goal) remained at five points.
These values proved quite workable and were retained until 1897, the only addition being an 1885 codicil which awarded two points to the offended side in the event of intentional off-side and slugging the referee.
Off topic, but thanks for an interesting post showing the development from rugby (and that the reasons for the changes were mainly things subsequently changed in rugby itself, only in different ways…)