1786.1

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"Baste Ball" Played at Princeton

Salience Noteworthy
Tags College, Pre-Knicks NYC
City/State/Country: Princeton, NJ, United States
Game Base Ball
Immediacy of Report Contemporary
Age of Players Youth
Text

From a Princetlon student's diary:

"A fine day, play baste ball in the campus but am beaten for I miss both catching and striking the ball."

 

Sources

Smith, John Rhea, March 22 1786, in "Journal at Nassau Hall," Princeton Library MSS, AM 12800. Per Thomas L. Altherr, "A Place Leavel Enough to Play Ball," reprinted in David Block, Baseball Before We Knew It, page 240 (ref # 45). Also found in Gerald S. Couzens, A Baseball Album [Lippincott and Crowell, NY, 1980], page 15. Per Guschov, page 153.

 

Comment

This use of the tern "baste ball" precedes the first known use of "base ball" in  the US:  see protoball entry 1791.1.

Note: Princeton was known as the College of New Jersey until 1896.

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Query

An article has appeared about Smith's journal. See Woodward, Ruth, "Journal at Nassau Hall," PULC 46 (1985), pp. 269-291, and PULC 47 (1986), pp 48-70. Note: Does this article materially supplement our appreciation of Smith's brief comment?

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