1826.3

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Base Ball Associated with Boston Gymnasium Proposal?

Salience	Noteworthy
Tags	Contemp. "Base Ball" usageContemp. "Base Ball" usage
Location
City/State/Country:	Boston? Philadelphia?, United States
Modern Address
Game	Base Ball, Foot BallBase Ball, Foot Ball
Immediacy of Report	Contemporary
Age of Players	YouthYouth
Holiday
Notables
Text	[See image, below]  Messrs. William Sullivan and John G. Coffin have petitioned the Councils of Boston for the use of a piece of public ground, for two years, for the establishment of a Gymnastic School–a measure of doubtful propriety, we apprehend.  If a boy wants to play; let him play but do not spoil the fun by dictating the modus operandi–a game of base ball, or foot ball, is worth a dozen gymnassiums [sic], where the eye of surveillance is to check the flow of animal spirits.
Sources	United States Gazette (Philadelphia) March 28, 1826
Warning
Comment	Note that this find comes five years before town ball is seen in Philadelphia.  From Bruce Allardice, email of 6/9/2021: "In the year 1823, Dr. John G. Coffin, established a journal in Boston entitled, "The Boston Medical Intelligencer, devoted to the cause of physical education, and to the means of preventing and curing diseases." The motto in the title page was as follows :- "The best part of the medical art, is the avoiding of pain." This journal some five or six years afterward, became the "Boston Medical and Surgical Journal," "   Dr. John G. Coffin (1769-1828), married. Eliza Rice.   This is undoubtedly one of the petitioners for the gymnasium.   Edit with form to add a comment
Query	Does this item suggest that 'base ball' was a term used in Philadelphia in 1826?  In Boston in 1826?   Was the Gymnasium actually established in Boston?  Was ballplaying among its activities?  Was gymnastics seen in the Commons in the early years?   Isn't this ref a very early appearance of the term foot ball in the US?  Can we learn what rules may have applied?  Edit with form to add a query
Source Image	[[Image:|left|thumb]]
External Number
Submitted by	David Block
Submission Note	Email of September 21, 2020
Has Supplemental Text

1826.3 Base Ball Associated with Boston Gymnasium Proposal?"

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