Cincinnati Townball
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from Baseball in Cincinnati: A History, by Harry Ellard. Cincinnati: Harry Ellard (1907)
Townball, from which baseball is an evolution, was first introduced into Cincinnati in 1860. This game is played on a field with bases marked at about one-half the distance of baseball. A short bat, which is used with one hand only, was employed in knocking a ball that was much smaller and much softer than a baseball. Four innings only were played, and the number playing on each side could vary from ten to fifteen. The scores ranged about the same as early baseball, yet in looking over the old score-book of games of townball played in Cincinnati during the war, we find one of 146 to 21.