1852.7

San Francisco Plaza Again Active, This Time with "Town Ball;"

Salience	Noteworthy
Tags
Location	CaliforniaCalifornia
City/State/Country:	sf, ca, United States
Modern Address
Game	Town BallTown Ball
Immediacy of Report	Contemporary
Age of Players	AdultAdult
Holiday
Notables
Text	"For the last two or three evenings the Plaza has been filled with full grown persons engaged very industriously in the game known as 'town ball.' The amusement is very innocent and healthful . . . . The scenes are extremely interesting and amusing, and the place is peculiarly adapted for that purpose."
Sources	"Public Play Ground," Alta California, January 14, 1852 On June 11, 2007, John Thorn reported a similar CA find: "A game of "town ball" which was had on the Plaza during the week, reminded us of other days and other scenes. California Dispatch, January 2, 1852.
Warning
Comment	In the prior year (see item #1851.2) the game at the Plaza had been called base ball in two news accounts, and town ball in none that we now have. Note the account of prior base ball in SF at 1851.2 above. Angus explains that six former members of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club in Manhattan were then in SF, and thus the reported games may have been played by modern rules. Angus adds - email of 1/16/2008 - that this appears to be the last SF-area mention of base ball or town ball until 1859. Edit with form to add a comment
Query	Edit with form to add a query
Source Image	[[Image:\|left\|thumb]]
External Number
Submitted by	Angus Macfarlane, John Thorn
Submission Note
Has Supplemental Text

Comments