1810c.1

"Poisoned Ball" Appears in French Book of Games

Salience	Noteworthy
Tags
Location	FranceFrance
City/State/Country:	[[]]
Modern Address
Game	Poisoned BallPoisoned Ball
Immediacy of Report
Age of Players	JuvenileJuvenile
Holiday
Notables
Text	The rules for "Poisoned Ball" are described in a French book of boy's games: "In a court, or in a large square space, four points are marked: one for the home base, the others for bases which must be touched by the runners in succession, etc." To See the Text: David Block carries a three-paragraph translation of text in Appendix 7, page 279, of Baseball Before We Knew It. David notes that the French text does not say directly that a bat is used in this game; the palm may have been used to "repel" the ball.
Sources	Les Jeux des Jeunes Garcons [Paris, c.1810]. Per Robert Henderson. Note: David Block's Baseball Before We Knew It, at page 186-187, dates this book at 1815, some of the doubt perhaps arising from the fact that the earliest [undated?] extant copy is a fourth edition.
Warning
Comment	We have one other reference to poisoned ball, from about three decades later. See item 1850c.8. Edit with form to add a comment
Query	This game has similarity to base ball; could a French-speaking digger take a few moments to sort out whether more is known about the rules, origins, and fate of the game? Edit with form to add a query
Source Image	[[Image:\|left\|thumb]]
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Submission Note
Has Supplemental Text

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