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1770c.3 + (Caution:Caution: dating this reference requires some assumptions. Waterhouse was born in 1754, and thus, if this recollection is authentic, he speaks of a penchant for ballplaying [and smoking] he held in his teens. He was born at Newport, RI and remained there until 1780.e was born at Newport, RI and remained there until 1780.)
1778.4 + (Caveat:</strong& … Caveat: It is unknown whether this was a ball game, rather than prisoner's base, a form of tag played by two teams, and resembling the game "Capture the Flag."Note: "Long Bullets" evidently involved a competition to throw a ball down a road, seeing who could send the ball furthest along with a given number of throws. Another reference to long bullets is found at <a>http://protoball.org/1830s.20</a>. t;http://protoball.org/1830s.20</a>. )
1847.7 + (Note -- Actually, an earlier account of California ballplaying was recorded a month before this, in San Diego. See [[1847.15]]. )
1857.3 + (Note" add info on the significance of this club?)
Resolute Club of Boston v Aurora Club of Chelsea on 13 May 1871 + (Note: </strong&g … Note: The Clipper printed this correction two weeks later:"The Aurora Club of Chelsea, Mass, is composed of White and not colored men as was inadvertently stated in the late issue."Note: The article does not specify where these clubs played this match.Can we confirm that the Resolute Club comprised African American players?played this match. Can we confirm that the Resolute Club comprised African American players?)
1440c.1 + (Note: This drawing is listed as "contemporary" on the premise that it was meant to depict ballplaying in the 1400s.)
Pythian Club of Philadelphia v Mutual Club of Washington on 12 August 1871 + (Note: This match between two African American clubs was later described as the US colored championship match, and, is reported as being played the same day as the account was printed. This may be a typo.)
1751.1 + (Note: This match is also reported in item #1751.3)
1751.3 + (Note: This match is also reported in item#1751.1)
1821.8 + (Note: This entry was formerly listed for 1844 from prior sources. The location of the village play in not given.)

1837.8 + (Note: A dollar fine for "pitching dollars?")

1850.6 + (Note: Is the author hinting that boys commonly bet on their ball-games? Isn't this a rare mention of barn-ball?)
1805.4 + (Note: … Note: So, folks . . . was this a baserunning ball game, some version of prisoner's base (a team tag game resembling our childhood game Capture the Flag) with scoring, or what?John Thorn [email of 2/27/2008] has supplied a facsimile of the Post report, and also found meeting announcements for the Diagoras in the Daily Advertiser for 4/11 and 4/12/1805.David Block (see full text in Supplemental Text, below) offers his 2017 thoughts on this entry: Email from David Block, 2/19/2017:"Gents,Just a quick note to follow up on John's blog post from last week about the 1805 "bace" game. My opinion on whether that game was baseball or prisoner's base has gone back and forth over the years. As of now I tend to lean 60-40 to baseball. Other than the example from Chapman that John cited, I've never come across a use of the term bace to signify either game. Even if I had it wouldn't mean much as the word "base" has been used freely over the years for both of them. The mention of a score in the 1805 article is significant. Rarely are scores indicated in any of the reports of prisoner's base (prison base, prison bars, etc.) that I've come across. Usually they just indicate one side or the other as winner. There are a couple of exceptions. I know of one English example from 1737 where a newspaper reported on a match of prison-bars between eleven men from the city of Chester against a like number from the town of Flint in Wales. "The Cheshire gentlemen got 11, and the Flintshire gentlemen 2," it noted. I've also seen another English report from 1801, also of prison-bars, where one side was said to have "produced a majority of five prisoners." Still, George's example is American, where I suspect that, even at that early date, baseball was probably the more popular game of the two.Regarding "baste," I have seen at least two dozen examples of the term "baste-ball" used in England in the 18th and 19th centuries. It's clear from context that this was an alternate spelling of base-ball, along with bass-ball. I don't doubt the same was true for the few instances of baste-ball's use in America."My opinion on whether that game was baseball or prisoner's base has gone back and forth over the years. As of now I tend to lean 60-40 to baseball. Other than the example from Chapman that John cited, I've never come across a use of the term bace to signify either game. Even if I had it wouldn't mean much as the word "base" has been used freely over the years for both of them. The mention of a score in the 1805 article is significant. Rarely are scores indicated in any of the reports of prisoner's base (prison base, prison bars, etc.) that I've come across. Usually they just indicate one side or the other as winner."Best to all, David"John Thorn email of Feb., 25, 2024: "Hi, George. I found this thesis invaluable for my understanding of early ball play in New York, and thus for EDEN. Do you have it? Here's a Dropbox link [omitted] in case you don't. Once upon a time we had wondered about the location of the Gymnastic Ground, near Tyler's. I found this pretty compelling (before this pleasure ground was Tyler's, it was Brannon's):Some idea of the garden during Brannon's tenure can be gotten from scattered sources. In 1842, for a suit in the Court of Chancery involving the ownership of the Church Farm, a group of elderly men and women gave depositions describing this part of the city as they recalled it in the eighteenth century. Several testified that the garden was enclosed by a fence; one testified that Brannon maintained a ball alley; and another owned that between 1789 and 1793, during his days as a student at Columbia College (then located on Church Street between Barclay and Murray), he and "the collegians were in the habit of frequenting . . . Brannon's Garden." [“Chancery Reports (Sandford), 4:716, 724, & 730.]I also have bound volumes of these chancery reports, which to my knowledge have not been digitized; I suppose I could check!Also, I append an item possibly missed by all of us, from the New-York Herald (New York, New York) May 4, 1805Note that the Columbia College clubs' game of bace is here rendered as basse. The mention of "hands in" fully persuades me that this is a game of bat and ball."the game report first appeared in the New-York Evening Post of May 1, and next in The Herald of May 4.David Block agrees he mention of "hands in" fully persuades me that this is a game of bat and ball." the game report first appeared in the New-York Evening Post of May 1, and next in The Herald of May 4. David Block agrees )
1818.4 + (Note: … Note: The original source of the 1818 reference may have been lost. Bob reports that Dean Sullivan thesis cited Harold Peterson's The Man Who Invented Baseball (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973), page 24. However, Peterson gives no source. A dead end?), page 24. However, Peterson gives no source. A dead end?)
1700c.2 + (Note: This book is in the form of a chronology. Barber gives no source for the wicket report.)
1850s.50 + (Note: … Note: This describes a scrub form of tutball/rounders. It suggests that all hitting was forward, thus in effect using a foul line, as would make sense with a single fielder.The claim that tutball and stoolball used the same rules is surprising; stoolball is fairly uniformly described as having but two bases or stools, and using a bat.y described as having but two bases or stools, and using a bat.)
1844.6 + (Note: Understanding the author's intent here is complicated by the fact that he was Canadian, Sam Slick was an American character, and the novel is set in Britain.)
1494c.1 + (Note: We need better sources for the Columbus story.)
1824.6 + (Note: see item #[[1829c.1]] below for Holmes' Harvard ballplaying.)
1788.2 + (Note: "Nines seems an unusual name for a ball game; do we find it elsewhere? Could he have been denoting nine-pins or nine-holes? John Thorn, in 2/3/2008, says he inclines to nine-pins as the game alluded to.)
1864.58 + (Note: … Note: A few days earlier, Richard had noticed the use of "battery" in a July 26 game report: see Supplementary Text, below.The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, page 86, citing the Chadwick Scrapbooks, had the first use of "battery" as 1868 (third edition). first use of "battery" as 1868 (third edition). )

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