Block:"Base-Ball" Mentioned in 1755 Novel

From Protoball
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Block English Games
Baseball 1833.gif

English Baseball


Add a Block Game
Data

Reference to a game of "Base-Ball" in the satirical novel The Card, written by John Kidgell, a clergyman, but published anonymously: "…the younger Part of the Family…retired to an interrupted Party at Base-Ball, (an infant Game, which as it advances in its Teens, improves into Fives, and in its State of Manhood, is called Tennis.)"

Sources

The Card, John Newbery, London, 1755, p. 9 (There was also a Dublin, Ireland, reprint edition published in 1755.)

Block Notes

The book has a publication date of 1755, but a newspaper account indicates it was already in production by Christmas, 1754. It was reviewed in a literary journal in February, 1755. All this is to say that it predated the baseball entry in the Bray diary by a few months. Given the highly satirical nature of The Card, it is hard to know whether to take Kidgell's characterization of baseball literally.

Comment Edit with form to add a comment
Query Edit with form to add a query