Glossary of Games

Those attempting to learn about the origins of baseball confront a large zoo of different games that are candidates as predecessor games. Even more complicated is the array of names for those games as they evolved over the years; some games appear to have sported different names, depending on the region and the era of play; and some names – including “baseball” -- have been used for rather different games.

This glossary is intended to provide a focus for our learning, as a group of researchers, about the full range of “safe-haven” games and their names. We hope that users will add other games, and tell us of mistakes in the current version. We chose to call this set of games “safe haven” games because what they seem to have in common: a set of bases where players gain immunity from being put out, and for which a round trip results in a run. (Some writers have called these games the “stick and ball” games, which would, if taken literally, embrace croquet and golf and tennis, etc., and would exclude kick-ball and punch-ball and all games played with cats instead of balls. Tom Altherr has used the term “baseball-like games,” and Richard Hershberger uses “the baseball family” to denote the class of games of interest. [Richard thus denotes a subset of Group 1 below, but omitting non-US games, two-base games, games arising after 1870, and the o’cat games]. Doubtless future usage will define agreeable generic terms to better convey say what we all mean.)

A kind of game

21st Century Townball (California, Michigan, Oregon)

This game has evolved from the guidance of Daniel Jones in California.  It is a blend of baseball predecessor games (citing the Massachusetts Game -- "TMG" below) with aspects of early town ball and cricket.

(A background account is included in the Supplemental Text field, below.)  

The game's expansion as of 2022 is also included there.

 

From the developer of the game, Daniel Jones, in 2017:

"Some features of 21st Century Townball:

1. No foul balls (like TMG - the Massachusetts Game).

2. Stakes, but no base lines (like TMG).

3. Pegging the runners allowed (like TMG).

4. No set batting order (can change each round) (unique).

5. Stakes are 42, 68, 110, 110, 110 feet away, from first to fifth, respectively, in a (Fibonacci) spiral (Similar formation to TMG, but better geometry).

6. A “zone” behind the batter. If the pitch hits it, you are out (like cricket or stoolball).

7. If you hit the ball and don’t run, a strike is called against you (similar to cricket with limited overs).

8. A swing and a miss is only a strike if the catcher catches it (like TMG).

9. Three strikes and you are out. Third strike hit, batter obligated to run (unique, similar to TMG).

10. First team to eight runs, win by five, cap at thirteen, wins the game (similar to TMG).

11. 13 players per side (similar to TMG).


Equipment:

1860 baseball used (developed by Eric Miklich).

1930’s gloves only (or similar size)

bamboo bats recommended (because the ball is a little heavier)"

 

Sources:

 

Email from Daniel Jones to Protoball, April 30, 2018.

The project website is at  https://sites.google.com/mail.fresnostate.edu/21ctownball

 

A kind of game

Aipuni (Hawaii)

[A] A boys’ game reportedly played in Hawaii before the game of base ball was introduced in the 1860s. As described, its rules were consistent with those of wicket, but no running or scoring is mentioned.

[B] See also item 1855c.10:

"In 1855 the new game of wicket was introduced at Punahou [School] and for a few years was the leading athletic game on the campus. . . . [The] fiercely contested games drew many spectators from among the young ladies and aroused no common interest among the friends of the school."

"One game they all enjoyed was wicket, often watched by small Mary Burbank. Aipuni, the Hawaiians called it, or rounders, perhaps because the bat had a large rounder end. It was a forerunner of baseball, but the broad, heavy bat was held close to the ground."

[Through further digging, John Thorn suggests the migration of wicket to Hawaii through the Hawaii-born missionary Henry Obookiah. At age 17, Obookiah traveled to New Haven and was educated in the area. He may well have been exposed to wicket there.  He died in 1818, but not before helping organize a ministry [Episcopalian?] in Hawaii that began in 1820.

See also John Thorn's 2016 recap is the supplementary text to 1855c.10.

 

Sources:

Monica Nucciarone, Alexander Cartwright (UNebraska Press, 2009), page 201.  The author cites the source as W. R. Castle, Reminiscences of William Richards Castle. (Advertiser Publishing, 1960), page 50.

 

See also Item 1855c.10, "New Game" of Wicket Played in HI."

A kind of game

Aleut Baseball (Alaska)

Aleut Baseball, called a "Sugpiat novelty," has been played on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska.  The Sugpiat are a Native population.

Although called baseball, its rules resemble the Russian game lapta, and players point out that the game differs from modern baseball in having only two safe-haven bases, retiring runners by throwing at them, and lacking a strike-out rule.  The area was once a Russian colony, and hundreds of residents are reportedly of Russian descent.  An airplane landing strip was the site of a game observed in 2007 and described in 2010.  The game is associated locally with Easter Sunday, with some games played in the dawn light after Easter services.

Attributes of Aleut baseball include:

[] there are no umpires

[] two large safe zones for runners at the ends of the field 

[] two "home" areas for batting near the ends of the field

[] sides take turns batting

[] runners score one points when reaching an opposing base, and another for a safe return.

[] multiple baserunners after any  hit ball

[] caught flies put the side out.

[] soft tosses to batters

[] baserunners can pick up balls thrown at them and try to plug members of the fielding side

[] games can last several hours.  Some games end when one side passes an agreed number of points (runs).

 

 Note: Schoolchildren play a form of kickball resembling American baseball, using kicked rubber balls in place of batted tennis-style balls.

   

 

Sources:

M. DeHass and A. Droulias, "Aleut Baseball:  Cultural Creation and Innovation Through a Sporting Event," Études/Inuit/Studies 342 (2010), pp. 21–37.

A kind of game

American Cricket

A hybrid cricket-baseball game reportedly introduced in Chicago in 1870. The game is described as generally  having cricket rules, except with no LBW rule, and with the addition of a third base, so that the bases form a triangle with sides of 28-yards. We have no other accounts of this game.

Full text:  

"A NEW AMERICAN GAME

The Philadelphia Mercury contains the following: 'A new game of ball has recently been introduced in Chicago, under the name of American cricket.  The field is laid out like a cricket-field, and the striker wields the willow instead of the ash.  The bowler, who stands twenty-two yards from the striker, bowls as in cricket.  The striker, in making a tally, runs to first base and then to third (dispensing with the  second), these being in the form of a triangle and at a distance of twenty-eight yards apart.  There are no fouls to cause delays. There are none of the stupid and senseless six-ball 'overs.' 'Out leg before wicket' is dispensed with, a rule which, while in force, gives great annoyance to the umpire and general dissatisfaction to the batsman.  The prominent and attractive features of both the English game of  cricket and the American pastime of base-ball are taken and rolled into one, thereby making a magnificent game.'"

 

 

Sources:

Reportedly in the Philadelphia Mercury.  An account of the article  appeared in the Penny Illustrated Paper (London), December 17, 1870 (page 370).  Contributed by Tom Shieber, email of 2/25/2009.

This game is cited -- ("this contrived game proved to be acceptable to no one and was quickly forgotten") in Tom Melville, The Tented Field: A History of Cricket in America (Bowling Green State University Press, 1998), page 149.  Melville attributes the introduction of the game to game to J. Wood, secretary of the Chicago Cricket Club. 

Protoball does not have a Philadelphia Mercury source for this report. 

 

A kind of game

Anauligatuk (Canada)

"Anauligatuk or mukpaun is played on a court of two wooden bases, approximately ten feet in length, spaced from 70 to 100 feet apart.  A single batter stands at one of the bases and faces a pitcher and a group of fielders.  The ball is thrown, the batter hits the ball and tries t run to the opposite base and back before the ball can be fielded and returned.  If the ball is returned before the runner reaches 'home,' he is out and is replaced by the fielder who made the successful throw. The game is not limited to sex and age group and is played in some contexts such that one team is pitted against another"

The author here is describing Inuit games.

Sources:

 

Kendall Blanchard, The Anthropology of Sport (Bergin and Garvey, 1995), page 150.

A kind of game

Aqejolyedi (New Mexico)

From the 1860s to the 1880s, Navahos in NM played a gmae that evolved from one (possibly the Massachusetts game?) taught to them on a NM reservation mannned by the US Cavalry.  This game is recalled as involving plugging, very feisty baserunning customs, no foul ground, four strikes, one-out-side-out innings, and multiple batters at the same time.

Sources:

S. Culin, Games of the North American Indians, 1907.

A kind of game

Ba'Baises

the 1818 Dictionary of the Scottish Language defined the word ba'-baises as 'the name of a particular game at ball.' 

Sources:

Cited in David Block, Pastime Lost (U Nebraska Press, 2019, page 186.

A kind of game

Bace

In 1805 a game of “bace” was reportedly played among adult males in New York City. Its rules were not reported. The word “bace” is extremely rare in sport: it appeared in a 1377 English document, and, in a list of obsolete Cornish terms, for the game Prisoner’s Base in Cornwall in 1882. Unlike the usual case for prisoner’s base, however, a final score [41-35] was reported for this match.

"Bace" is also reported as an obolete term for a British game, the nature of which is not yet known.  

Sources:

See Protoball Chronology entries 1805.4 and 1805.5.  The game was reported in the New York Evening Post of April 13, 1805.

A kind of game

Backyard Cricket (Britain, India, Australia South Africa, New Zealand)

"Backyard Cricket, Bat Ball, street cricket, beach cricket, garden cricket, box Cricket (if the ground is short) referred to as Gully Cricket in the Indian subcontinent, is an informal ad hoc variant of the game of cricket, played by people of all genders and all ages in gardens, back yards, on the street, in parks, carparks, beaches and any area not specifically intended for the purpose.  Backyard cricket has connotations to the pastimes of Australian, South African, and New Zealander children who had large expansive backyards where they were able to play this informal game of sport often with friends, family and neighbors. In the South Asian region, gully cricket is very popular."

Though loosely based upon the game of cricket, many aspects are improvised: the playing ground, the rules, the teams, and the equipment. Quite often there are no teams at all; the players take turns at batting and there is often no emphasis on actually scoring runs"

.

Sources:

Wikipedia, accessed 1/20/2023

A kind of game

Ball Stand

Elmore (1922) describes this as a game of attrition for ages 8-12 that involves throwing a ball against a wall. One player is named to catch it. If the player does, “stand” is shouted, and other players are to freeze in their places. If the player with the ball can plug someone, that player is out; if not, the thrower is out. This game has not batting or baserunning.

Sources:

Emily W. Elmore, A Practical Handbook of Games, (Macmillan, NY, 1922), pages 16-17.

A kind of game

Ball and Bases

per Perrin (1902). A school-time running game of one-on-one contests between a pitcher and a batter, who propels the tossed ball with the hand and runs bases while the pitcher retrieves the ball. Caught flies and a failure to reach third base before the pitcher touches home with the ball in hand are outs. Batters receive one point for each base attained, and five for a home run. Three-out half innings are used.

Sources:

E. Perrin, et. Al., One Hundred and Fifty Gymnastic Games (G. H. Ellis, Boston, 1902), pages 58-59.

A kind of game

Ball-Bias (England)

Ball-bias, a term as yet only found in seven scattered British sources from 1856 to 1898, was evidently the name of a batting-running game in the south-east of England.

David Block, who came across the game in 2013, tentatively concludes that, unlike early English base-ball, ball-bias probably used a bat.  The 1898 source's description: "ball-bias, a running game much like 'rounders,' played with a ball."

Most references to ball-bias appear from 1856 to 1880 in newspaper accounts of school picnics or church outings in the vicinity of the Sussex-Kent border south of London. 

The rules of the game are not well understood.  Block writes that "It appears that ball-bias was distinct from other baseball-related, locally-based games that I'd discovered in 19th century England.  These included Tut-Ball, played in the Sheffield area, and Pize Ball that was mostly found in the vicinity of Leeds.  These latter games were played without a bat, like English base-ball, whereas . . . ball-bias falls more in the bat-using category, alongside rounders."

 We have no present evidence that this game preceded English base-ball.

 

Sources:

See David Block, "Base-Ball-Bias," December 2013 issue of the Next Destin'd Post (volume 2, number 7), page 1ff. 

The 1898 source cited above is the English Dialect Dictionary.

A kind of game

Ball-Paces (Scotland)

per Block. The 1836 book Perth Traditions described Ball-Paces, by then almost extinct, as a game that used a trap to put a ball into play, at which point in-team runners at each of four bases run to the next bases, stopping only when the ball was returned to the original batsman’s station. There is no mention of plugging.

Sources:

David Block, email of 5/17/2005.

A kind of game

Ball-Stock (Germany)

per Dick, 1864. A team game like rounders, but having large safety areas instead of posts or bases. A feeder makes a short gentle toss to a batter, who tries to hit it. The batter-runner then chooses whether to run for a distant goal-line or a nearer one, for which there is a smaller chance of being plugged. The nearer station can hold several runners at once. Three missed swings makes an out, as does a caught fly. Versions of Ball-Stock are found in British and American boys’ books in the mid-Nineteenth Century.

From another source:

BALL-STOCK, or Ball-stick, is, as its name would indicate, a German game, but in some respects resembles our favorite English sport of "Rounders." The players are divided into two parties; six bases are then marked out, as in the accompanying Diagram; and for the first " innings" the players toss up.

         C _l_l_l_l_l_l_l_ D

                    E   (.)     F

         A _l_l_l_l_l_l_l_ B

                   l     l    l

                  c     b   a

The in-players occupy the "home" — A to B; the out-players station themselves as in Cricket, having one boy as feeder who stands at a, and another at c who acts as wicket-keeper, and tosses back the ball when tipped or missed. The striker stands at b. The ball having been thrown, and, we will suppose, well hit by the striker, he runs off to the base C — D, touching on his way at the resting base E — F; but if he has only tipped the ball, or struck it but a very short distance, or if it is stopped by one of the out-players, he should make off at once for the resting base E — F, and remain there until relieved by one of his fellow-players, whose fortunate hit may drive the ball so far out of range as to enable him to escape to C — D, or even run " home." If struck with the ball on his way from one base to another, he goes out. The other regulations are the same as in "Rounders."

From Elliott, The Playground and the Parlour (1868), p. 57

Sources:

Dick, ed., The American Boys Book of Sports and Games: A Practical Guide to Indoor and Outdoor Amusements (Dick and Fitzgerald [reprinted by Lyons Press, 2000], 1864)., pages 112-113. Elliott, The Playground and the Parlour (1868), p. 57.

A kind of game

Balle au Camp (France)

Translated as “rounders” in an 1855 translation of a French poem. Maigaard identifies it as a longball-type game with four bases [set in a line] and in which the ball is thrown into the field by a member of the in team to initiate play.

Sources:

W. Chapman, Every-Day French Talk (J. B. Bateman, London, 1855), page 20.

P. Maigaard, “Battingball Games,” reprinted in Block, Baseball Before We Knew It, Appendix 6.  See page 263.

A kind of game

Balloon

A fungo-like game played in Elizabethan times in England. The ball was an inflated leather bag, and was knocked with the arm - sometimes aided by a wooden brace. Hitting for distance was evidently desired, but no running or fielding is described.

An illustration and description of "balloon ball" is in Hone, p. 96

Sources:

Paul G. Brewster, "Games and Sports in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century British Literature," Western Folklore 6, no. 2 (1947)., page 143.

Hone, "The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England..." (1831) p. 96

A kind of game

Balslaen

As depicted in Protoball Chronology entry 1660c.3, balslaen was prohibited on the Sabbeth in New Netherland (now New York City) in the 17th century.  The source is a 2009 book's translation from a Dutch ordinance of the 1600s.  The translator mentions that while "balslaen" has been [where?] translated as "cricket," it "simply means 'hitting the ball.'

With the generous help of Pamela Bakker, we find that "balslaen" can be taken as a description of games like hand-ball, or a team game like volleyball in which players propel a ball with their hands.  The game described in Item 1660c.3 appears to be the game of Kaatsen -- Pamela's summary:

"Kaatsen/Ketsen, Caetsen, Caatsen

"Kaatsen is a Dutch-Flemish form of handball which is largely played in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands, and in about 50 other countries. The game is mentioned in the 1600’s in records of New Netherlands (New York) with prohibitions against playing the game on the Sabbath. It is related to American handball and tennis with the first team to score 6 games winning the match. The game is played on a rectangular field which measures about 61 meters by 32 meters. Two teams of three players each operate on opposing sides. One side is the serving side (A) and one the receiving side (B).

"The center of the shorter field line, a 5 meter by 19 meter zone, is the receiving area which has two players positioned there to defend it with the third player in the field out front. The serving opponent (A) serves the hard leather ball with their bare hand from a serving box which is about 30 meters from the receiving zone. If it reaches the opponent’s receiving zone (B), they receive a point.
The receiving team (B) wears a single hard leather glove. They return the ball and if it reaches over a short line behind the serving box (called a boppe), they receive a point. The place where the ball lands is marked by a kaats, or woodblock. It is an undecided score. When two undecided points are reached or if one team is on game point, the teams change places.

"The team on the receiving position now tries to hit the ball past the first kaats which landed and if another rally takes place, they try to hit the ball past the second kaats and then add in the points if successful.
Belgium has a similar game called jeu de balle-pelote which uses five on a team. The field has a trapezoid shape. Balslaen, "hitting the ball," appears to be a general Dutch term for handball."

 

 

Sources:

See 1660c.3.

A kind of game

Balyagu (South Korea)

Balagu ("foot-baseball") is identified as a form of kick-ball in Korea, a "staple in PE classes within elementary schools."

Sources:

"Kickball" article in Wikipedia, accessed October 25, 2012.  No further source is given.

A kind of game

Banana Ball

In May 2022, Protoball first heard of Banana Ball from Brett Hammond, who advised us of the following 2022 article in the Los Angeles Times.  Additional input will be welcomed.  

 

"For a collegiate summer league team — playing a rung below the minors — the Savannah Bananas draw big crowds when they barnstorm through the South and Midwest during the offseason. Fans come to see “Banana Ball,” a quirky version of baseball with a whole different set of rules. “We looked at every boring play,” franchise owner Jesse Cole says, “and we got rid of it.”

It's time for Banana Ball -

Fans in the game: Any foul ball caught by a spectator counts as an out.

No time to waste: Neither managers nor catchers can visit the mound and if a batter steps out of the box between pitches, it’s a called strike.

Run don’t walk: The moment the umpire calls “ball four,” the batter takes off sprinting and the defense snaps into action. Runners can keep going until the ball is thrown to every fielder, including outfielders. A walk can turn into a home run.

More running: Batters can steal first on any passed ball or wild pitch, regardless of the count.

No bunting. Really: If a batter bunts, he is thrown out of the game.

Match play: “Banana Ball” is like match play in golf. The team that scores the most runs during an inning gets a point for that inning. The win goes to the team with the most points at game’s end.

Skeleton crew: During extra innings, the defense gets only a pitcher, catcher and one fielder. If the batter puts the ball in play, he must try to round the bases and score before the ball is chased down and thrown home for an out.

Early to bed: “Banana Ball” has a strict time limit, with no new inning started after 1 hour 50 minutes."

 

More stuff to ponder: 

• Meet the Savannah Bananas, who’ve captivated fans and MLB. ‘We exist to make baseball fun’
• Why it takes so long for MLB to change rules: Battle between tradition and innovation
• What is Banana Ball? Here are the Savannah Banana rules of the game
• Choreography in baseball? Savannah Bananas first base coach can dance to that
• How do the Savannah Bananas draw sold-out crowds? Five fun facts about the team

Read full series

Sources:

Los Angeles Times, 5/16/2022, 4PM.

A kind of game

Bandy

Bandy was a game that reportedly resembled shinty or modern field hockey, in which players on two teams attempted to advance a ball with a club into the opposing team's goal.

The Richmond Whig, Aug. 21, 1866 speaks of southerners 20 years prior playing bandy and chermany. In 1850 Tarborough, NC banned the playing of bandy in the streets. In 1858 boys were arrested in DC for playing bandy on the streets (Washington Star, Nov. 27, 1858).

The New York Clipper, June 1, 1861 has a long article on Bandy, which it describes as a Welsh version of Hurling.

Sources:

Altherr, "Southern Ball Games--Chermany, Round Cat, etc. " Base Ball (Spring 2011).

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