Block:"Englische Base-ball" Described in 1796 German Book
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| English Baseball |
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| Data | Seven-page description of a game called "Ball mit Freystäten (oder das englische Base-ball)" in a German book on games and sports. This is the earliest description of a game called baseball and it details the familiar elements of pitching batting, base running and fielding. |
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| Sources | Spiele zur Uebung und Erholung des Körpers und Geistes für die Jugend, ihre Erzieher und alle Freunde Unschuldiger Jugendfreuden, by J.C.F. Gutsmuths, Schnepfenthal, 1796, pp. 78-83 |
| Block Notes | The first edition of this book appeared in April, 1796 and the second edition appeared in October of the same year. Gutsmuths' source for the information about English baseball is not certain, although one very likely candidate is an English student, Samuel Glover, who was a student of his in Schnepfenthal between 1788 and 1791. A surviving letter from Gutsmuths to a friend of Glover's documents that the English student was a favorite of his and had a close relationship to the author's family. It may be that the game described by Gutsmuths was incipient rounders rather than English baseball in its pure form, as the latter is not known to have been played with a bat. Glover came from the west of England where rounders first appeared. |
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