In Toronto on 13 April 1803
| Date of Game | Wednesday, April 13, 1803 |
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| Game | "Playing Ball" |
| Location | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
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| Field | Add Field Page |
| Home Team | Add Club Page |
| Away Team | Add Club Page |
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| Has Source On Hand | No |
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| Description | From William Humber, manuscript "Early Canadian Baseball," 9/14/12: The diary of Ely Playter found in the Public Archives of Ontario contains the following notation from Wednesday 13 April 1803 at which time, "I went to Town [what we now know as downtown Toronto]...walk'd out and joined a number of Men jumping & Playing Ball, perceived a Mr. Joseph Randall [a farmer near Newmarket in Whitchurch Township, about 40 miles north of downtown Toronto] to be the most active...". Playter operated Abner Miles' tavern in the new community of York which in 1834 was incorporated as the City of Toronto. These extracts from Ely Playter's Diary, from the Public Archives of Ontario, as recorded on p. 248, ed. Edith G. Firth, The Town of York 1793-1815, A Collection of Documents of Early Toronto, (University of Toronto Press, 1962) are no doubt legitimate, but whether the “Men jumping and Playing Ball” were actually playing an early baseball-type game, as opposed to something perhaps closer to primitive football, cannot be ascertained. The influence for the play if it is of a baseball-type is most likely British. |
| Sources | Original source: Ely Playter's Diary, from the Public Archives of Ontario, as recorded on p. 248, ed. Edith G. Firth, The Town of York 1793-1815, A Collection of Documents of Early Toronto, (University of Toronto Press, 1962) |
| Source Image | [[Image:|left|thumb]] |
| Has Source On Hand | No |
| Comment | Ontario was "Canada West" at this point. Edit with form to add a comment |
| Query | Edit with form to add a query |
| Submitted by | Bill Humber |
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| Entry Origin | Sabrpedia |
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