Search by property

Jump to navigation Jump to search

This page provides a simple browsing interface for finding entities described by a property and a named value. Other available search interfaces include the page property search, and the ask query builder.

Search by property

A list of all pages that have property "Comment" with value "<p>"Athletic" proved to be the most durable club name in baseball.</p>". Since there have been only a few results, also nearby values are displayed.

Showing below up to 26 results starting with #1.

View (previous 50 | next 50) (20 | 50 | 100 | 250 | 500)

    

List of results

  • 1870.11  + (<div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab … <div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"></br><div dir="auto">Richard Hershberger, <span><em>150 years ago in baseball</em>, FB posting 10/29/2020:</span></div></br><div dir="auto"><span> </span></div></br><div dir="auto">Chadwick on the improvement of the Chicago Club. They wisely took his advice and switched from a lively to a dead ball. Success inevitably followed.</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br></div></br><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"></br><div dir="auto">Much as I enjoy tweaking Chad for this sort of thing, in fairness it was pretty standard in this era. A newspaper would publish helpful advice to the local club. If the club did something that could plausibly be taken as consistent with the helpful advice, the paper would claim credit for the suggestion. Say what you will about modern sports talk radio, even those guys don't usually claim that the GM turns to them for trade ideas.</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br></div></br><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"></br><div dir="auto">Does the claim about the deal ball make a lick of sense? It is classic Chad, but there is a kernel of truth. Good and poor fielding teams generally favored a dead or lively ball respectively, on the grounds that a dead ball gave the infielders a chance to show their stuff while a lively ball was more likely to get to the outfield. The Red Stockings revolution was mostly about improved fielding, so they favored a dead ball. As clubs' fielding caught up, they followed suit. The eventual consensus was a relatively dead ball, with later discussions being how live or not, within the range of a relatively dead ball. So as the White Stockings got their act together, it is entirely plausible that they moved to a dead ball. In other words, they didn't get getter because they switched to a dead ball; they switched to a dead ball because they got better. And certainly not because Chadwick convinced them. </div></br></div>et getter because they switched to a dead ball; they switched to a dead ball because they got better. And certainly not because Chadwick convinced them. </div> </div>)
  • 1872.4  + (<div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab … <div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"></br><div dir="auto">Richard Hershberger, 3/18/2022</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br><div dir="auto">"150 years ago today in baseball: Harry Wright is making arrangements with the Harvard ball team. If I am reading it correctly, the secretary of the Harvard club goes by "J. Cheever Goodwin." I hate him already. Wright proposes a date just two and a half weeks out. This is typical of scheduling in this era, done on the fly. It also was a major pain. A lot of Wright's correspondence consists of back and forth to find a date that works for both sides.</div></br></div></br><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q"></br><div dir="auto">I'm not sure what is the story about the offer to let Harvard use the Boston grounds. Harvard had a field, but I don't know if it was enclosed at this period. You can't charge admission if there is no fence. This would explain the discussion here, where we can assume that the "satisfactory arrangements" he mentions is a discreet way to say "financial arrangements," with the Boston club getting a piece of the action.</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br></div></br><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q"></br><div dir="auto">Then there is the discussion of the Fast Day game. Fast Day is an obsolete New England holiday: a quasi-pagan fertility ritual where people were supposed to go to church and look solemn in order to ensure a good harvest. In practice they went to ball games. It was the traditional opening of the baseball season. This year it will be on April 4. Wright is arranging the "picked nine" the Bostons will trounce. Sometimes a picked nine was an impromptu affair, picking players from the crowd. This one is a bit more organized, with the players chosen ahead of time and publicized. Wright is offering three slots to Harvard. He doesn't specify which positions. This picked nine is not totally random, but neither is it totally organized."</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br><div dir="auto">Joanne Hulbert, FB posting, 3/18/2022:</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br><div dir="auto"><span>"Yes, Richard, Fast Day was made obsolete by baseball. But who wants to eliminate a holiday off the annual schedule? No one. This is how Patriots Day, April 19 was added to replace Fast Day - and Patriot's Day is still to this day an important baseball day in Boston. It is the one day in Boston when there is always a Red Sox home game on the schedule."</span></div></br><div dir="auto"><span> </span></div></br><div dir="auto"><span>Richard replied, 3/18/2022:</span></div></br><div dir="auto"><span> </span></div></br><div dir="auto"><span><span>"My take is that Fast Day was made obsolete by New England's cultural shift, from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God to Walden Pond. But the point about Patriot's Day is entirely fair."</span></span></div></br><div dir="auto"><span><span> </span></span></div></br><div dir="auto"><span><span>Bruce Allardice added, 3-19-2022:</span></span></div></br><div dir="auto"><span><span> </span></span></div></br><div dir="auto"></br><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">"It was common for pro league teams to play amateur clubs, especially early in the year. The 1876 Chicago White Stockings played 2 local amateur clubs before their regular season started, as sort of a warm-up. They also played 30+ amateur, semi-pro and non-league pro clubs during the year.</span></div></br><div> </div></br><div dir="ltr"> The [Boston club] played the Tufts College club 4-24-72, winning 43-5 (<em>Boston Herald</em> 4-25-72). </div></br><div dir="ltr"> </div></br><div dir="ltr">The April 4th game was played, against a 'picked nine' of local amateurs that included several from the Harvard team. The Red Sox won 32-0. <em>(Boston Journal</em>, 4-5-72). The amateurs made only 3 hits off Spalding's pitching."</div></br><span><span><br/></span></span></div></br><div dir="auto"><span><span> </span></span></div></br><div dir="auto"><span><span><span> </span></span></span></div></br></div> </div> <div dir="ltr">The April 4th game was played, against a 'picked nine' of local amateurs that included several from the Harvard team. The Red Sox won 32-0. <em>(Boston Journal</em>, 4-5-72). The amateurs made only 3 hits off Spalding's pitching."</div> <span><span><br/></span></span></div> <div dir="auto"><span><span> </span></span></div> <div dir="auto"><span><span><span> </span></span></span></div> </div>)
  • 1870.16  + (<div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab … <div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"></br><div dir="auto">"The Cincinnati Club holds a meeting. Recall that the Executive Committee recently announced that the club will not be fielding a professional team next season. This meeting is the membership's chance to second guess the committee. There is a moral there, about volunteering to be a club officers. Been there, done that.</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br></div></br><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"></br><div dir="auto">"Here Champion backs up [Current President ]Bonte without reservation. We get a lot of inside information about the business of baseball in 1870."  -- Richard Hershberger (From FB posting. 12/7/2020.)</div></br></div>all in 1870."  -- Richard Hershberger (From FB posting. 12/7/2020.)</div> </div>)
  • 1870.12  + (<div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab … <div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"></br><div dir="auto">Richard Hershberger, <em>150 years ago in baseball</em>, posted October 23, 2020: "Chadwick considers the question of the Red Stockings' decline. How steep a decline this is in fact will be the topic for a post-season roundup. The season has a bit more to go yet, so this would be premature today. But it is certainly true that the Red Stockings are no longer dominant in the way they were in 1869.</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br></div></br><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"></br><div dir="auto">"Chad, frankly, doesn't have a great answer. The "lack of harmony" stuff is boilerplate Chadwick, and he doesn't even pretend he has any factual basis for it. Beyond that he falls back on a parity argument. This isn't wrong, but doesn't explain what is different in 1870 from 1869. The rest of the baseball world was catching up, but he doesn't explain what exactly this means.</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br></div></br><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"></br><div dir="auto">"The Red Stockings revolution was primarily about fielding. Their pitching and hitting were solid, but their fielding in 1869 was qualitatively better than anyone else's. This was about fielder positioning and where they went once the ball was in play, with an emphasis on backing up other players. And, to be blunt, it was about actually practicing. The New York/Philly baseball establishment had grown complacent. The clubs at the top saw no reason to change, since what they were doing obviously was working. That changed with the Red Stockings' June 1869 tour. That was a wake up call. By the end of the season the established teams were already better. It was June of 1870 when one finally beat the Red Stockings. Here in October, teams are beating them, well, not exactly regularly, but often enough. So it goes. Play in the field is in front of anyone who cares to look, so there aren't really any secrets in the long run."</div></br></div>es. Play in the field is in front of anyone who cares to look, so there aren't really any secrets in the long run."</div> </div>)
  • 1870.15  + (<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab … <div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"></br><div dir="auto">"The bit [#4] about high and low balls is an important refinement of an old idea. Called strikes had been around for a while by this time, but there was never total clarity about what was and was not a pitch that should be called a strike. Through the 1860s the batter could request a specific height for the pitch. If the delivery was both over the plate and within some vaguely defined distance to the specified height, there you go. In [early] 1870 they went complete the other direction, taking away the batter's right to request a height and declaring any pitch within some vaguely defined reach of the bat to be a good ball. This proved unsatisfactory and confusing. Here we see a move to a modernish definition of a strike zone, but with a throwback to the old right to request the height. This is codified as two distinct strike zones, the batter requesting which he wants. This may seem bizarre, but it stood until 1887.</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br></div></br><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"></br><div dir="auto">"The other interesting proposal is that last one [#9], about the fielder momentarily holding the ball. This is a proto-infield fly rule. That will not take its modern form until a quarter century later, but the idea was floating around. This will not be adopted this year, but it will be a few years later. The problem was not any philosophical objection to the infielder dropping the ball to set up a double play, but that this made umpire decide whether the fielder caught the ball (putting the batter out) and then dropped it, or muffed the ball (for no out on the batter), leading to endless bickering. This objection still stands today, and is the best argument for the infield fly rule."</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br><div dir="auto">-- Richard Hershberger, "150 Years Ago Today," Facebook posting, 11/26/2020 </div></br></div>"auto">-- Richard Hershberger, "150 Years Ago Today," Facebook posting, 11/26/2020 </div> </div>)
  • 1872.18  + (<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x … <div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xdj266r x126k92a"></br><div dir="auto">Richard Hershberger,"150 years ago in baseball: the financial condition of the Boston club," FB Posting, 12/5/2022;</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br><div dir="auto">"Last year they came in second, missing the pennant on a technicality. They won the pennant this year. They are the best team in baseball, and the best run organization. So their finances should be pretty good, right?</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br></div></br><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"></br><div dir="auto">Not so much. The important thing to understand about the business of baseball in the 1870s is that they lacked a viable business model. They simply could not consistently bring in more revenue than they had expenses. This is why the churn rate of professional clubs was so high. They will only start to get an handle on this in the 1880s. Not coincidentally, the 1880 season will also see the first incarnation of the reserve clause. But that is in the future.</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br></div></br><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"></br><div dir="auto">Boston has one advantage other clubs lack: the local popularity that comes with winning. We see here where management is essentially passing the hat among the fans. This will come together in a unique solution. The organization running the team is the Boston Base Ball Association. The fans will be the Boston Base Ball Club ("club" reflecting its social nature), which will take over the block of outstanding BBBA stock, paying for the privilege. This will carry the Bostons over until better times. This is why the now-Atlanta Braves are the oldest team in baseball."</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br><div dir="auto">Further comments from Richard, 12/5/2022:<span class="xt0psk2"><a class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x6umtig x1b1mbwd xaqea5y xav7gou x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz x1heor9g xt0b8zv" tabindex="0" href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.hershberger.16?comment_id=Y29tbWVudDo1NTc2OTQzMDE5MDI2Mzc5XzYyOTg1MzQ1MjE1NTgyMw%3D%3D&__cft__[0]=AZXRlzWgwFc3brKMw9zeQKN4MHDNK_JuhtjXZOLKhdBN0O52uMitQElpE5_RKTjQ3xwoG7cYslgAVTalGUv4OvR-H6oaEPehk2e_JgqFPXabUSImssMyzrxInbZCDoR_cNs&__tn__=R]-R"><span class="x3nfvp2"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x4zkp8e x676frb x1nxh6w3 x1sibtaa x1s688f xzsf02u" dir="auto"><br/></span></span></a></span></div></br><div dir="auto"><span class="xt0psk2"><span class="x3nfvp2"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x4zkp8e x676frb x1nxh6w3 x1sibtaa x1s688f xzsf02u" dir="auto"> </span></span></span></div></br><div dir="auto"></br><div class="x1lliihq xjkvuk6 x1iorvi4"></br><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xdj266r"></br><div dir="auto">"We think of top-level professional sports as being awash in cash. Whatever the truth of this might be today, it certainly was not true in the 19th century, or really into the era of large television rights contracts. This is not to let the owners off the hook. Many were terrible people. But this does not change the underlying reality that free market economics simply don't work for top-level professional athlete salaries."</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br></div></br></div></br></div></br></div>he owners off the hook. Many were terrible people. But this does not change the underlying reality that free market economics simply don't work for top-level professional athlete salaries."</div> <div dir="auto"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>)
  • 1873.1  + (<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x … <div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xdj266r x126k92a"></br><div dir="auto">Richard Hershberger, <em>150 years ago in baseball, </em>FB posting on 1/13/2023</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br><div dir="auto">"The condition of the Atlantics. This doesn't quite add up. The team is a co-operative nine. In other words, rather than a fixed salary, the players are paid a share of the gate receipts. This was the business model adopted by clubs that were undercapitalized. The better players generally preferred a bit more certainty about their finances. This suggests the claim about the large number of members is so much eyewash. Compare it with the Athletics, who still maintain a fraternal club structure while also paying fixed salaries.</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br></div></br><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"></br><div dir="auto">The sad truth is that the Atlantic Club is on its last leg. A co-op nine, with no upfront costs, can survive so long as there is a driving force keeping it going. In this case that driving force is Bob Ferguson. He was notably strong-willed. This was not always in a good way, but he will keep the Atlantics together through two not-good years. Then he will be hired away by the Hartford club, and the vestiges of the Atlantics will collapse shortly thereafter.</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br></div></br><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"></br><div dir="auto">What happened? This is an interesting question. As recently as 1870 they were a top club: the first to beat the Red Stockings. My guess is that the underlying club structure was already threadbare at that point. With full professionalism, roster building followed a new model. The Atlantic club wasn't able to keep up with new, more energetic stock companies eager to hire away the best players and the cash to do it."</div></br></div>antic club wasn't able to keep up with new, more energetic stock companies eager to hire away the best players and the cash to do it."</div> </div>)
  • 1873.11  + (<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x … <div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xdj266r x126k92a"></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br><div dir="auto">Richard Hershberger, 2/9/2023, ''150 years ago in baseball '': "<em>advances in outfield play</em>. This is another in the series of innovations Harry Wright made in Cincinnati, working their way into the general baseball consciousness.</div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br></div></br><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"></br><div dir="auto">Think of a Little League team. Not one of the teams you see on TV in Williamsport, but a little kid team coached by one of dads. The kids put in the outfield have figured out their spot and have a sense of the territory they are responsible for. So they go out to their spot, and if the ball comes into their territory, they do their best. If it goes into someone else's territory, they stand and watch the show.</div></br></div></br><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"></br><div dir="auto">Part of getting good is moving past this, learning where to go and make themselves useful even when the ball doesn't come to them. This stuff all had to be figured out. This was a large part of why the Red Stockings were so good. They were further along the road of figuring this stuff out, giving them a fielding advantage over those guys standing and watching the play. Here in 1873, the good teams have all got this figured out, in principle if not necessarily in detail, but it is still new enough that it is being explained here to the general baseball public."</div></br></div> necessarily in detail, but it is still new enough that it is being explained here to the general baseball public."</div> </div>)
  • 1873.14  + (<div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1 … <div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a"></br><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 14.4px;">From Richard Hershberger, ''150 years ago today, ''6/10/2023:</span></div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 14.4px;">"The Bostons are in Brooklyn, where they beat the Mutuals 8-7. Recall that a couple of weeks back I related the earliest known description of a delayed double steal, done by the Atlantics. Here we see the same thing, this time by the Mutuals. Was this play already widely known, but we haven't noticed it earlier? Or did the Mutuals see what the Atlantics had done and decided to try it themselves? Who knows? The problem is that these plays are worked out, then the vocabulary to talk about them comes later. Reporters, even if they recognize what they just saw, will have trouble writing out it until the vocabulary is created. It is entirely possible that teams had been doing this for years, but only recently have reporters realized that there is something going on here.</span></div></br><div dir="auto"> </div></br></div></br><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"></br><div dir="auto">"Speaking of vocabulary, notice that Dave Eggler "stole to" second base, not "stole" second base. Both constructions goes back to before the Civil War. The "steal to" form has been gradually fading for a decade now. This is a late example. This is a pity. To "steal to" second is to catch the pitcher and catcher off guard, while to "steal" second is an act of larceny. I think the first one is more accurate."</div></br></div>tcher and catcher off guard, while to "steal" second is an act of larceny. I think the first one is more accurate."</div> </div>)
  • Base (Prisoner's Base)  + (<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">S … <div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">See also [[1852.17]] -- A work by Charles Dickens titled "The Child's Story" (1852) in which Dickens writes: "They were active ... at cricket and all games of ball; the prisoners base, hare and hounds, follow up leader, and more sports than I can think of."</div></br><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">There's a reference to a game of "prison base" in The Chester (UK) Chronicle, June 23, 1815.</div></br><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"> </div></br><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">A description of Prisoner's base can be found in the Salisbury, NC <em>The Old North State</em>, Jan. 28, 1870.</div></br><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">See also Bancroft, "Games for the Playground" (1922) p. 156:</div></br><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"></br><p>"PRISONER'S BASE</p></br><p>Prisoner's Base is one of the most popular games for both boys and girls who are beginning to care for team organization, and is capital for adults. It gives opportunity for vigorous exercise for all of the players, for the use of much judgment, prowess, and daring, and for simple team or cooperative work.</p></br><p>The game is found under many different forms. Several, which offer marked or typical differences, each possessing distinct playing values, are given here. These differences are in (i) the arrangement of the ground, and (2) the rules governing the players and game.</p></br><p>The differences in the grounds may be classed as follows: —</p></br><p>I. The entire playground divided in two divisions, one belonging to each party, each division having a small pen for prisoners at the rear. (Diagram I.)</p></br><p>n. The main part of playground neutral territory, with home goals for the opposing parties at opposite ends, with prisons in, near, or attached to them. (Diagrams II, V.)</p></br><p>III. The main part of playground neutral territory, with home goab for both parties at the same end, attached or separate, and prisons at the opposite end, either (i) on the same side of the ground as the home goal, or (a) on the enemy's side of the ground. (Diagrams III-IV.)</p></br><p>The rules for play for the second and third types of ground are fundamentally the same, though differing in details, and they differ from those for Diagram I. The playing qualities of the games for the last three diagrams, however, are very distinct because of the different methods of the enemies* approach to each other (which make differences in the risk of **dares")» and because of the differing risks in rescuing prisoners and taking the enem3r's goal by entry.</p></br><p>It has seemed best to make a selection of the typical forms, and leave the feader of games free to choose his own. The first form is the simplest for beginners and younger players, and makes a good introduction to the game for such players."</p></br>[ba]</div>al forms, and leave the feader of games free to choose his own. The first form is the simplest for beginners and younger players, and makes a good introduction to the game for such players."</p> [ba]</div>)
  • 1845.30  + (<div dir="ltr">I'm not sure that the … <div dir="ltr">I'm not sure that the combination of homemade whiskey and Billy Ray playing the bagpipes would be such a good idea, particularly not with rifles lying about.  -- Richard Hershberger</div></br><div dir="ltr"> </div></br><div dir="ltr">Especially if the sheep had the rifles -- Protoball Functionary</div></br><div dir="ltr"> </div></br><div dir="ltr"><span>As of December 2020, Protoball has n</span><span>o base ball is</span><span> known</span><span> </span><span>i</span><span>n Madison before 1860.</span><span> </span></div> known</span><span> </span><span>i</span><span>n Madison before 1860.</span><span> </span></div>)
  • 1785.3  + (<div>-- "While mentions of stool bal … <div>-- "While mentions of stool ball in literature go back centuries, this is the earliest “serious” contest of the game I’m aware of. It’s especially interesting because the competitors were men. Of course, we have no idea what form of the game they were playing, but presumably it more closely resembled the structured form that women began playing in the 19th century as opposed to the milkmaid version of centuries past."  </div></br><div> </div></br><div></br><div>-- "Sittingbourn lies between London and Canterbury. The Swan is a pub that still operates, near Sittingbourn.  Homestall Lane appears to be the dividing line between the Sittingbourne area and a second area to the east centered on the town of Boughten-under-Blean. Use of the term 'county' is a bit puzzling as it is obvious that this competition did not include participants representing the entire county of Kent."</div></br><div> </div></br><div>"The White Horse Inn, the venue for the return match, is also still in operation today. Despite the fact that both the Swan and the White Horse are more than 235 years old, neither is listed among the top ten oldest public houses in Kent. Both sit astride the ancient London-Canterbury Road along which traveled the pilgrims documented by Chaucer in Canterbury Tales. Indeed, the White Horse Inn was mentioned in one of the tales (according to the inn's website.)"</div></br><div> </div></br><div>-- "A guinea from 1785 is worth roughly $100 today." [So the stakes amounted to $15,000 in today's dollars?]</div></br><div> </div></br><div>--  "I should have more important things than this to occupy me on a rainy [San Francisco] Sunday afternoon, but apparently not. Undoubtedly, we are scrutinizing this item more closely than it would ordinarily merit, but in Covid times I am happy for the distraction."</div></br><div> </div></br><div> </div></br></div></br><div></br><div> </div></br><div>from David Block, emails of 12/14-15/2020</div></br></div></br><div> </div></br><div>===</div></br><div> </div></br><div>As of December 2020, Protoball's Chronology  has over 65 references to stoolball prior to 1785, and 20 more from 1785 to 1860.   Vey few of them cite male players, and fewer still cite male-only play or large stakes for winning.</div>l prior to 1785, and 20 more from 1785 to 1860.   Vey few of them cite male players, and fewer still cite male-only play or large stakes for winning.</div>)
  • Shinty  + (<div><span>Shinty (aka Shinney … <div><span>Shinty (aka Shinney) was played in the US prewar. Cf. the Lancaster (PA) Daily Evening Express, Feb. 2, 1860; Boston Evening Transcript, Oct. 26, 1857; New York Herald, Sept. 10, 1839 (shinty played in the Scottish games, at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken); Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, Nov. 15, 1848 (boys playing shinty in the streets); NY Tribune, Nov. 25, 1859 (Caledonian Society in Hoboken); Newport Mercury, Aug. 19, 1865 (in Providence). </span></div></br><div><span>In 1<span>589 the playing of golf, carrick, and </span>shinty, was<span> forbidden in the Blackfriars Yards, Glasgow, 'Sunday or week-day.' (Browning's History of Golf)</span></span><br clear="none"/><span>As was hurling. A Hurling Club was established in Buffalo in 1860. See the Buffalo Courier, June 11, 1860. Also Brooklyn. See the ad for the new Brooklyn Hurling Club, in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Dec. 31, 1860, and same Aug. 18, 1858 for a hurling match. Also in Philadelphia by 1860. See Scharf, "Philadelphia" p. 801; Philadelphia Inquirer, July 13, 1860. Chronologies 1772.1 points out that Irish soldiers played Hurling in NYC in 1772, and that Hurling clubs were formed in San Francisco in 1853 (SF Daily Placer Times, May 16, 1853) and NYC in 1857 (NY Herald Dec. 26, 1857: Redmond, Irish sports in America).</span></div></br><div><span>It appears the two games were similar, Shinty being the Scots version and Hurling the Irish. </span></div></br><div><span>For more on Shinty see http://www.uscamanachd.org/documents/MacLennan_Shintysplace.pdf. For more on the Shinty-Ice Hockey connection, see Martel et al., "On the Origin of Hockey."[ba]</span></div></br><p><span> </span></p>nnan_Shintysplace.pdf. For more on the Shinty-Ice Hockey connection, see Martel et al., "On the Origin of Hockey."[ba]</span></div> <p><span> </span></p>)
  • 1850s.58  + (<h3 class="post-title entry-title">" … <h3 class="post-title entry-title">"The Summer of Old-Fashioned Base Ball</h3></br><div class="post-header"> </div></br><div id="post-body-6483199015792047003" class="post-body entry-content">While the truth about 19th century base ball is often hard to pin down, it is pretty much universally acknowledged that the New York game enjoyed major growth immediately after the Civil War.  That was certainly the case throughout New Jersey where in 1860 [modern] base ball was pretty much limited to only a third of the state's 21 counties, but by 1870 every county had at least one base ball club.  A similar pattern played out in the city of Paterson, but with a major difference that came at the height of the post war expansion.  Initially, given the city's population and location, base ball got off to a slow start in Paterson as the first documented match (between a social and a militia organization) wasn't played until late 1857 and the first base ball clubs weren't mentioned in the media until 1860, far behind the experience of comparable [NJ]municipalities."</div></br><div class="post-body entry-content"> </div></br><div class="post-body entry-content">John Zinn, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">A Manly</span> Game blog entry for October 2014, at URL cited above.</div></br><div class="post-body entry-content"> </div></br><div class="post-body entry-content">More observations for John's 1867 throwback game finds are found in <em>Supplementary Text, </em> below.</div>ohn's 1867 throwback game finds are found in <em>Supplementary Text, </em> below.</div>)
  • Baseball Discovered -- A one-hour Emmy-nominated Documentary on Baseball's Beginnings  + (<h3 class="section__subheadline">"De … <h3 class="section__subheadline">"Description</h3></br><div id="ember153" class="we-truncate we-truncate--multi-line we-truncate--interactive ember-view" data-test-description=""></br><div id="ember155" class="we-clamp ember-view" data-clamp=""></br><p dir="ltr" data-test-bidi="">This award-winning documentary is an exploration into the generational theories about the beginnings of baseball both stateside and across the ocean. The film will bring fans of all ages closer to 'home' through a detailed look at the game's roots while also providing an unexpected, historical, and ground-breaking discovery along the way."</p></br><p dir="ltr" data-test-bidi="">David Block, prizewinning author of <em>Baseball before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game </em>(U Nebraska Press, 2005), advised and participated in the filming of this one-hour MLB.com film.  For a Protoball interview with the director, see [[<a title="Sam Marchiano and the 1755 Bray Diary Find" data-serp-pos="3">Sam Marchiano and the 1755 Bray Diary Find</a>]].</p></br><p dir="ltr" data-test-bidi=""> </p></br><p dir="ltr" data-test-bidi=""> </p></br></div></br></div>t;p dir="ltr" data-test-bidi=""> </p> <p dir="ltr" data-test-bidi=""> </p> </div> </div>)
  • 1836.13  + (<p class="gtxtcolumn"><span class … <p class="gtxtcolumn"><span class="gstxthlt"><span> </span></span></p></br><p class="gtxtcolumn"><span class="gstxthlt"><span>Roswell Park was b</span></span>orn at Lebanon, Conn., in 1807, graduated at West Point, and at Union College in 1831. He died July 16, 1869.  Whether he was an errant wight is not yet known by Protoball.</p>in 1831. He died July 16, 1869.  Whether he was an errant wight is not yet known by Protoball.</p>)
  • 1856.38  + (<p class="mwt-paragraph">Spink does … <p class="mwt-paragraph">Spink does not site a source for this item.</p></br><p class="mwt-paragraph"> </p></br><p class="mwt-paragraph"><span><em>Note</em>: </span> As of 2023, Protoball has 9 entries for  town ball in Illinois prior to 1856, including claims that Abe Lincoln: see </p></br><p class="mwt-paragraph"> </p></br><p class="mwt-paragraph">The following 1866 comparison of base ball and town ball from an Illinois source throws some light on town ball rules for that era: </p></br><p>"Base Ball resembles our old-fashioned favorite game of <span class="sought_text">Town Ball</span> sufficiently to naturalize it very quickly. It is governed by somewhat elaborate rules, but the practice is quite simple. Nine persons on a side, including the Captains, play it. Four bases are placed ninety feet apart, in the figure of a diamond. The Batsman, Ball Pitcher, and one Catcher, take the same position as in <span class="sought_text">Town Ball</span>. Of the outside, besides the Pitcher and Catcher, one is posted at each base, one near the Pitcher, called the “Short Stop,”—whose duty is the same as the others in the field—to stop the ball. The Innings take the bat in rotation, as in <span class="sought_text">Town Ball</span>,—and are called by the Scorer. The ball is pitched, not thrown to them—a distance of fifty feet. The Batsman is permitted to strike at three “fair” balls, without danger of being put out by a catch, but hit or miss, must run at the third “fair” ball. He may “tip” or hit a foul ball as often as the Umpire may call foul, so he be not caught out flying, or on the first bound. When he runs, he must make the base before the ball reaches the point to which he runs, or he is out. And three men out, puts out the entire side. Those who are put out may continue to strike and run bases until the third man is out.</p></br><p> </p></br><p>"The Bases form a diamond, the angles of which are occupied by the Batsman and Catcher, and one of the outside at each angle. All putting out on the corners is by getting the ball there before the runner for the inside reaches the base, by catching the ball flying when a fair ball is struck, or by catching a foul ball after it is struck, either when flying or at first bound. A distinctive peculiarity of the game consists in the fact that when a ball is struck by the Batsman it must fly either on an exact angle, or inside of the angles formed by the base occupied by the Batsman, and the bases right and left of him. All balls deflecting from these angles are “foul.”</p></br><p> </p></br><p>"The above is merely a general view of the game. It is very easy to learn, and is capital sport, barring the cannon ball which the players are expected to catch in rather soft hands. Ladies will enjoy the game, and of course are expected as admiring spectators."</p></br><p class="mwt-paragraph"><br/><strong>Source</strong><br/><span class="source" title="Source"><em>Daily <span class="sought_text">Illinois</span> State Journal</em>, May 1866:</span></p></br><p class="mwt-paragraph"><span class="source" title="Source">see https://protoball.org/Clipping:A_comparison_of_base_ball_and_town_ball, from the Hershberger Clippings Data Base. </span></p>title="Source">see https://protoball.org/Clipping:A_comparison_of_base_ball_and_town_ball, from the Hershberger Clippings Data Base. </span></p>)
  • Donkey Baseball  + (<p class="p1">"Several entrepreneurs … <p class="p1">"Several entrepreneurs set up businesses that toured the country in the 1930s, with a truckload of trained donkeys, staging games for a fee. Service clubs, churches and civic groups would hire the companies and offer the public a chance to see local notables attempt to play baseball mounted on the quadrupeds. The profits from the show would go to their charitable and civic projects.</p></br><p class="p1">"Typically, the game would be a contest between the members of a service club or a church group against a sports team or another civic group. Invariably, the players were well known in the community, and often some of its leaders. The public found great amusement in watching the players’ inept attempts to guide the donkeys. They were often tossed head over heels to the ground, or otherwise outsmarted by their stubborn mounts."</p></br><p class="p1">Steven Thorning, <em>Donkey Baseball Was Popular it the mid-20th Century</em>, November 26, 2010; accessed 10/24/2020 via a search for <thorning donkey baseball>.</p></br><p> </p></br><p>The May 2019 Bossier (Louisiana?) site above adds that, based on a 1934 news article, fielders were allowed to dismount to retrieve hit balls, as long that they held on to the beast's reins. </p>lowed to dismount to retrieve hit balls, as long that they held on to the beast's reins. </p>)
  • 1871.4  + (<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">< … <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11.5pt;">While "hits per at-bat" has become the modern form of batting average, and was the only average calculated by the official statistician beginning in the inaugural season of the National League in 1876, the definition of a "time at bat" has varied over time. To Dobson, a time at bat included any time a batter made an "out, a run, or is left on his base." However, walks were excluded from the calculation of at-bats beginning in 1877, with a temporary reappearance in 1887 when they were counted the same as hits. Times hit by the pitcher were excluded beginning in 1887, sacrifice bunts in 1894, times reached on catcher's interference in 1907, and sacrifice flies in 1908 (though, they went in and out of the rules multiple times over the next few decades and weren't firmly excluded until 1954).</span></p></br><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;"> </span></p></br><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11.5pt;">Consequently, based on Dobson's calculation, walks would have counted as an at-bat but not as a hit, so a negative result for the batter. This was the case in the first year of the National League as well, but was "fixed" by the second year. A fielder's choice would  have been recorded as an at-bat and not a hit under Dobson's system, as it is today.</span></p></br><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11.5pt;"> </span></p></br><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p></br><p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For a short history of batting measures, see Colin Dew-Becker, “Foundations of Batting Analysis,”  </span><span style="font-size: medium;">p 1 – 9:</span></span></p></br><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p></br><p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0btLf16riTacFVEUV9CUi1UQ3c/">https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0btLf16riTacFVEUV9CUi1UQ3c/</a> </span></p></br><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11.5pt;"> </span></p>com/file/d/0B0btLf16riTacFVEUV9CUi1UQ3c/</a> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11.5pt;"> </span></p>)
  • Dysodias Club of Eugene  + (<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">< … <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Eugene OR (1870 population 861) is about 120 miles S of Portland.</span></p></br><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p></br><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">One report said that the matches were played in the town square.<br/></span></p>-size: 10pt;">One report said that the matches were played in the town square.<br/></span></p>)
  • 1805.8  + (<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">< … <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p></br><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">Protoball notes, circa 2010</span></span></p></br><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p></br><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p></br><p>The writer, Benjamin Silliman, thus implies that an American [or at least Connecticut] analog to trap ball was played, using fungo-style batting [trap ball was not usually a running game, so the American game may have been a simple form of fungo].</p></br><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p></br><p>His second comparison is consistent with our understanding or how English cricket and American wicket were played in about 1800. However, it seems odd that he would refer to "our cricket" and not "our wicket"   It is possible that a form of cricket - using, presumably, the smaller ball - was played in the US that retained the older long, low wickets known in 1700 English cricket.</p></br><p>Note that if the US wicket was only 3 or 4 inches high, a rolling ball would most likely dislodge the bail.</p></br><p> </p></br><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p></br><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">From David Block, 2/12/2014:<br/></span></span></p></br><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p></br><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">"This reference raises some questions, which may not be answerable. Was he implying that striking a ball, fungo-style, was the general method of ball-play in New England, or was he only making a more narrow comparison to how a self-serve type of ball game was played at home. If the latter, might this have been 'bat-ball'?"</span></span></p></br><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p></br><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">"It appears that the author was previously unaware of English cricket. What he refers to as "our cricket" is obviously wicket. This was an educated man, but it was also apparently his first trip overseas. My first reaction was to be very surprised at his apparent ignorance of English cricket, but it may well be that things that seem like obvious knowledge to us today may not have been so in the America of two hundred years ago."</span></span></p>ket. This was an educated man, but it was also apparently his first trip overseas. My first reaction was to be very surprised at his apparent ignorance of English cricket, but it may well be that things that seem like obvious knowledge to us today may not have been so in the America of two hundred years ago."</span></span></p>)
  • In Nashua in April 1847  + (<p>"<em>Fast.  </em>This … <p>"<em>Fast.  </em>This time-hallowed, if not time-honored occasion, was observed in the usual way.  The ministers preached to pews exhibiting a beggarly emptiness, upon the sins of the nation -- a frightful subject enough, heaven knows.  The b-hoys smoked cigars, kicked football, played round ball, long ball, and old cat, and went generally into the <em>outward</em> observances peculiar to the occasion. [Nashua (NH) Telegraph]."</p></br><p>from the <em>Boston Courier</em>, April 14, 1847.</p></br><p>Stephen Katz observes: "The "fast" referred to was probably Thanksgiving, celebrated on April 13, 1847."</p></br><p> </p></br><p> </p>nksgiving, celebrated on April 13, 1847."</p> <p> </p> <p> </p>)
  • Block:London Dictionary Defines "Baseball" in 1768  + (<p>"A Society of Gentlemen" was the … <p>"A Society of Gentlemen" was the same rubric used by the authors of the first  Encyclopedia Britannica, also published in 1768. This Dictionary was apparently intended to be a companion work by those men, or perhaps a copycat work by imitators (the Britannica was essentially Scottish and first printed in Edinburgh), though evidently an unsuccessful one.- Bill Hicklin</p>ntly an unsuccessful one.- Bill Hicklin</p>)
  • In West Chester Circa 1827  + (<p>"A boy named Plaff was killed at West Chester, Pa., by being hit under the ear by a ball-club."</p>)
  • Evansville Townball  + (<p>"And it is a fact known to very f … <p>"And it is a fact known to very few, that away back in the early history of Evansville, ball was the most popular game. But it was then called town ball. On every Saturday at 12 o'clock the great majority of the wholesale and retail houses closed their doors and the merchants would go to a large vacant common which now is filled up by Chandler Avenue, Blackford Avenue and Mulberry street, there to engage in a game of town ball. Among the best players of that time were John Wymond, who for many years was in the paper business here, William E. Hollingsworth, Thomas J. Hollingsworth, Edward E. Law, Dr. I. Haas, the late Wiley Little, Samuel E. Gilbert, Henry Dodge, Billy Caldwell, Billy Baker, John S. Hopkins and a number of others who were the leading men of Evansville in those days. The players used a large rubber ball, solid and almost the same size as the league ball now in use. To catch the ball on the bounce or after it had hit the ground the first time, was considered perfectly fair. This would be a joke at present. There was only one base or home plate where the batter stood. There was only one batter of course and no catcher and the game was simply like batting flies for practice at any league park, with this exception. Whenever the fielder (and they were all fielders except the man who stood at the bat,) caught the ball either before it struck the ground or before it struck the ground the second time, he marched in, took his place at the bat and tossing up his own ball (for there were no pitchers), knocked it as far as he could. The great point of skill was in knocking the ball so that it would not bounce. In other words, in knocking grounders or in knocking it as far as he could, so that the fielders could not catch it on the bounce from where they were stationed. I remember that my father, the late Samuel E. Gilbert, took a great interest in the game and would as soon have missed the Sunday morning choir as he could his Saturday afternoon ball game and he imagined that he was a great catcher, but one day he got directly under a high fly which slipped through his hands and struck him exactly on the bridge of the nose and for two weeks he had about the worst pair of black eyes ever seen in the city of Evansville. This club played for several years and even after base ball had gotten a start some of these old timers imagined that the new game would be equally as simple as the old one. So on a certain afternoon a lot of the old merchants, all of whom had been town ball players, challenged the clerks for a game. This was pie for the clerks, but the old timers did not know it. We all went to the park and I suppose through having a relative in the game, I was selected as pitcher and used nothing but a plain drop ball, but there was not one of those old timers who hit any closer than about one foot from it, and they actually had the nerve to order me from the plate on the grounds that I was not playing fair. When their turn came to pitch, what we did to those straight balls was good and plenty. I do not remember the score, but I do remember that that was the last time the old timers ever challenged any of the younger generation. They seemed to realize that things had changed since their day. It was in the '50s that Charlie Wentz a dashing young college graduate from the east, came here and was appointed agent of the Adams Express Company, which was then in Chandler block where the barber shop now is. He was the first one to introduce the regular game of base ball in this city and was assisted by the late Emerson B. Morgan, also an eastern man, and George Bartlett, the young member of the firm of John H. Bartlett & Co., who were in the dry goods business here.</p></br><p>This was in the year 1866. I do not remember just where they first played but it was on the open grounds and a huge back stop of boards was put up just behind the catcher. The game at that time was new, even in the east and the rules far different from what they are at the present. The pitcher had a great deal better show as did the batter and such scores as two to one or even 10 to 5 were unheard of. They generally ran between the 20's and the 50’s."</p></br><p>Gilbert, History of Evansville pp 106-108</p>0’s."</p> <p>Gilbert, History of Evansville pp 106-108</p>)
  • 1860.62  + (<p>"Athletic" proved to be the most durable club name in baseball.</p>)
  • Maple Leaf Club of Hamilton v Barton and Flamborough on 18 October 1865  + (<p>"Barton ad Flamborough" = The clubs of Barton and West Flamborough?</p>)
  • Southern Club of Bluefields  + (<p>"Before baseball became popular a … <p>"Before baseball became popular among Nicaraguans, the British, who occupied the Atlantic Coast, introduced cricket. However, a businessman from the U.S. named Albert Addlesburg who lived in Bluefields in the 1880s became fed up with local sports authorities and convinced two cricket teams to switch to baseball instead. The two baseball teams had their first game in 1887, and the first official games took place in Managua in 1891." http://cultureboxes.unm.edu/countries/Nicaragua/resources/Culture-Box-of-Nicaragua.pdf</p>/resources/Culture-Box-of-Nicaragua.pdf</p>)
  • Clipping:East New York and Prospect Park ballgrounds  + (<p>"East New York" is an alternate name for the town of New Lots, on Long Island, which was annexed by Brooklyn in 1886. [ba]</p>)
  • Giftball  + (<p>"Gift is a German word for "poison."  Thus it is conceivable that the German game derived from the French game of Balle Empoisonee.  One can speculate that players were put out when a ball touched them.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p>)
  • 1800c.11  + (<p>"It seems to me that sky-ball was a trapball-type game."  -- Tom Altherr, 2.19.2021</p> <p>A gable is an end-wall of a structure.  Tom suggests that the first game reported may have been barn ball.</p> <p> </p>)
  • -1000s.1  + (<p>"More recent art from elsewhere i … <p>"More recent art from elsewhere in China shows polo-like games being played on horseback with sticks"</p></br><p> evidence for ball games in Eurasia from ca. 3000-year-old Yanghai tombs in the Turfan depression of Northwest China Patrick Wertmanna,⁎,</p></br><p>"'We cannot determine based on current evidence that these balls can be linked with polo,' says Jeffrey Blomster, an archeologist at George Washington University . . . 'the fact that all three are nearly the same size suggests a similar use for all three.'"</p></br><p>For comments on the game played with these balls see <em>Supplemental Text, </em>below.</p></br><p> </p></br><p>[] For information on balls found from even earlier times, in Egyptian tombs from 2600 BCE, see [[-2600c.1]]</p></br><h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" lang="en"> </h1></br><p> </p></br><p> </p>0c.1]]</p> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" lang="en"> </h1> <p> </p> <p> </p>)
  • In Jacksonboro on 17 February 1782  + (<p>"Old Jacksonborough" is about 19 miles west of Charleston in Colleton County.</p>)
  • Rock City Base Ball Club of Nashville  + (<p>"Rock City" was a nickname for Na … <p>"Rock City" was a nickname for Nashville in the 19th century. See the book "Nashville, Tennessee: The Rock City of the Great and Growing South," published around 1900. http://books.google.com/books?id=nCptNQEACAAJ</p></br><p><br/>There was also a separate Rock City club located in Culleoka, TN at a later period.</p>rate Rock City club located in Culleoka, TN at a later period.</p>)
  • Eckford Club of Brooklyn  + (<p>"The Eckfords disbanded as a base ball club in November of 1872 but remained a club until 1965."  -- Eric Miklich (email of 11/13/2020).</p>)
  • Eckford Club of Brooklyn v Eckford Club of Brooklyn on 28 May 1861  + (<p>"The Field" side was allowed 11 p … <p>"The Field" side was allowed 11 players and were given six outs each inning.  Future impact player, Al Reach played second for "The Field" and his brother, Bob, played centerfield.  "The Field" side hit four home runs (one each by the Reach brothers) to the "First Nine's" one.</p></br><p>Note that Henry Chadwick is listed as a member or the Atlantic of Brooklyn Club.</p> as a member or the Atlantic of Brooklyn Club.</p>)
  • Julien Base Ball Club of Dubuque  + (<p>"The Julien Base Ball Club disbanded and a new club formed called the "Excelsior."" - Dubuque Daily Herald, Apr. 21, 1867</p>)
  • Clipping:THE INDIAN SPORTS  + (<p>"The Tuscaroras allege that unfair means were used by the Senecas in putting on fresh men at the end of every game, which with the Tuscarorasis not an ancient custom."</p>)
  • 1858.50  + (<p>"The quoits part seems to have dropped out of usage pretty quickly, and they changed their name to the Winona BBC the following year.  The Winonas disbanded in 1864, bequeathing their trophies to the Keystones."</p>)
  • Eighty-Stampers Club of Rapid City  + (<p>"To combat against gambling and r … <p>"To combat against gambling and regulate the fair play of the game, Black Hills baseball clubs began to formally organize, providing bylaws for the club and written rules to govern the conduct of the players and the game. This was solidified on August 11, 1885, when the “Black Hills Base Ball League” was officially organized. League members included the Metropolitans of Deadwood, Eighty-Stamps of Rapid City, Athletes of Fort Meade, Belt Club of Central City and Terraville, Red Stockings of Spearfish, and the Sturgis Nine of Sturgis. The Black Hills Base Ball League was the first attempt at creating a regulated consortium of Black Hills teams, a precedent that would continue into the twentieth century." From "Baseball in the Mining Camps," city of Deadwood website.</p>amps," city of Deadwood website.</p>)
  • W.D.’s side v P.B.’s side on 24 November 1859  + (<p>"W. D." may be Dr. William H. Doughty (1836-1905), whose brother Joshua played in the 1860 game, and whose son William (1856-1923) played on the Lightfoot with Woodrow Wilson postwar. [ba]</p>)
  • 1858.70  + (<p>"though no larger than a good-sized baseball" indicates that baseball sizes were not standardized.</p>)
  • Rough and Ready Ball Club v Aristonican Ball Club on 29 October 1859undefined  + (<p> </p> <div> <p> … <p> </p></br><div></br><p>"CRICKET MATCH – There will be a cricket match between the “Aristonican Ball Club,” of Roxbury, and the “Rough and Ready Ball club,” Brookline, Saturday, Oct. 29, commencing at 2-1/2 o’clock, on a triangular park, situated on Park street, Brookline. This will be the first match played by the “Aristonicans” since their organization."</p></br><p>Source: <em>Boston Post</em>, October 18, 1859:4.</p></br><p>Joanne Hulbert's 2/23 comment: </p></br><p>"[T]here still exists a triangular shaped park on Park Street, in front of St. Mark’s Church. It conforms to the description stated above.)  . . .  I did notice that the “triangular park” mentioned still exists today. You can see it when you use Google Maps and put in Park Street, Brookline. Hmmm, wonder if there could be a vintage game played there today to commemorate the event?"</p></br></div>event?"</p> </div>)
  • 1747.1  + (<p> </p> <p> "Rolling ci … <p> </p></br><p> "Rolling circle" had been drafted as "hoop," and thus does not connote ballplaying . Cricket writers have seen "flying ball" as a cricket reference, but one Gray scholar cites "Bentley's Print" as a basis for concluding that Gray was referring to trap ball in this line. Steel and Lyttelton note that this poem was first published in 1747.</p></br><p>The phrase "urge the flying ball" is re-used in later writings, presumably to evoke cricket playing.</p>ed in later writings, presumably to evoke cricket playing.</p>)
  • 1860.91  + (<p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p>)
  • Sun and Planet  + (<p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p>)
  • 1858.61  + (<p> </p> <p> </p> <p><em><span> </span></em><span><span> Jeff Kittel" -- "A spare box score shows the Ottawa Club winning a three-inning contest, 230 to 207.  It appears to have been a game of wicket."</span></span></p>)
  • 1855.47  + (<p> </p> <p> </p> … <p> </p></br><p> </p></br><p>From leading NJ base ball researcher John Zinn, 1/10/2023</p></br><div class="default-style">"For the moment, I'd recommend holding off on designating this or any other 1855 game as the first game New Jersey clubs played by New York rules.  I believe the only things we know about the July game is there were nine on a side and the score was 31-10.  If they were playing by New York rules the game should have ended when the Newark club reached 21, although it's possible they reached 31 in the top of an inning and so the game didn't end until the Oriental (later the Olympic Club) had their last at bat.</div></br><div class="default-style"> </div></br><div class="default-style">It seems pretty certain that in 1855 both the Newark and Jersey City clubs started out playing either a different "baseball" game or a hybrid of something they knew and the New York game.  In the case of Jersey City, the early involvement of the New York clubs playing at Elysian Fields most likely got them on to the New York rules.  How that happened in Newark is less certain, but by the end of the 1855 season, the teams from both cities were playing by the New York rules.</div></br><div class="default-style"> </div></br><div class="default-style">If these first New Jersey clubs started out playing by something other than New York rules, it suggests as far as New Jersey was concerned, Tom Gilbert's suggestion of New York/Brooklyn players moving someplace and taking the game with them doesn't apply.  Otherwise, they would have started out playing by the New York rules.</div></br><div class="default-style"> </div></br><div class="default-style">In the relatively near future, I'll put sometime into applying some criteria to the limited information we have about the 1855 games and see if I can come up with a systematic approach to identifying the first game by New York rules.  First, however, I want to spend a week or so intensely looking at whether I can find a feasible explanation or explanations as to how the New York game got from Manhattan to Newark."</div></br><p> </p></br><p> </p></br><p> </p> how the New York game got from Manhattan to Newark."</div> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p>)
  • Union Club of Medway  + (<p> </p> <p><span sty … <p> </p></br><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>June 1858 -- "The Cause Was Rum"</em></span></p></br><p><span style="font-family: Cambria;">The game of ball played at Braggville last Saturday afternoon, between the Holliston and Medway boys, was the occasion for a great gathering of all the loafers from the neighboring towns, with a fair sprinkling of very respectable looking men. The fact of the matter was, as we understand, a row and fight. The cause was rum. A large quantity, it is said, was brought on to the ground and disposed of, and even sold at the hotel. We commend that establishment to the attention of the authorities in Holliston."  <em>Boston Herald, </em>June 26, 1858,.  Provided by Joanne Hulbert, 7/28/2015.</span></p>;em>Boston Herald, </em>June 26, 1858,.  Provided by Joanne Hulbert, 7/28/2015.</span></p>)
  • 1824c.3  + (<p> </p> <p><span> … <p> </p></br><p><span>"Our Village" was published over time in four volumes beginning in 1824. The second volume, published in 1826, includes the short story “The Tenants of Beechgrove” which contains this baseball quote on page 28. A year later, 1827, the story appeared in the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ladies’ Pocket Magazine</span>, Vol. I, page 157.   -- David Block, 9/25/2020</span></p>e 157.   -- David Block, 9/25/2020</span></p>)
  • 1837.1  + (<p> </p> <p><span> … <p> </p></br><p><span> </span></p></br><p><span><span><span>"</span>Wheaton's 1837 Gotham rules may have resembled the Knickerbocker rules forged 8 years later.  He said, in 1887,  that "the code I then formulated is substantially that in use today" -- after a span of 5 decades.  (In the meantime, however, the Knicks went back to using the bound rule.)"</span></span></p></br><p><strong>Note:</strong> Brown knows that the unsigned article was written by Wheaton from internal evidence, such as the opening of the article, in the voice of an unnamed reporter: “An old pioneer, formerly a well-known lawyer and politician, now living in Oakland, related the following interesting history of how it originated to an EXAMINER reporter: ‘In the thirties I lived at the corner of Rutgers street and East Broadway in New York. I was admitted to the bar in ’36, and was very fond of physical exercise….’”</p></br><p>Wheaton wrote that the Gotham Club abandoned the bound rule . . . but if so, the Knickerbockers later re-instituted it, and it remained in effect until the 1860s.</p></br><p>Wheaton also recalled that the Knickerbockers at some point changed the base-running rule, which had dictated that whenever a batter "struck out" [made an out, we assume, as strikeouts came later], base-runners left the field.  Under a new interpretation, runners only came in after the third out was recorded. </p> field.  Under a new interpretation, runners only came in after the third out was recorded. </p>)
Retrieved from "https://beta.protoball.org/Special:SearchByProperty/:Comment/-3Cp-3E%22Athletic%22-20proved-20to-20be-20the-20most-20durable-20club-20name-20in-20baseball.-3C-2Fp-3E"