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List of results

• Union grounds, Cincinnati  + (<p>A drawing of the Union grounds is in the Our Game blog, April 8, 2019</p>)
• Playground Ball  + (<p>A full explanation of Playground … <p>A full explanation of Playground Ball can be found in the <em>Pensacola News Journal</em>, May 5, 1908. The game was designed to be playable in limited spaces.  10 players a side. The batter can run to either first or third. 5 inning games. A tally for each time a batter gets on base safely. Each side of the diamond 35 feet long. Pitcher 30 feet away from the batter. Bats are mere sticks no more than 2 inches in diameter. [ba]</p>mere sticks no more than 2 inches in diameter. [ba]</p>)
• Washington Club of Brooklyn  + (<p>A junior club? See list of 1858 Brooklyn junior clubs at Chronologies 1858.47.</p>)
• Massapoag Club of Sharon v Olympic Club of Boston on 29 June 1857  + (<p>A lengthy article on this game is in the Boston Globe, March 27, 1888</p>)
• 1838.12  + (<p>A more detailed newspaper account … <p>A more detailed newspaper account says that Fisher Ames' 12-year-old son, who was playing "ball" with some other boys, threw a ball at Moor, who then attacked the boy. The father rushed over and split Moor's skull with a "club."</p></br><p>Fisher Ames (1800-85) beat the murder rap. The son was probably Charles Ira Ames. [ba]</p></br><p>Bill Humber furnished the following account, from a local doctor: "Hazleton Moore.... was drunk and joined in the game of ball in front of the store. Something Ames said or did provoked him and instead of throwing the ball to him he threw it at him, when Ames rushed towards him and struck him with the club in the head. He ... died the next day. The inquest... resulted in the acquittal of Ames on my evidence, that the blow need not have been fatal had M's skull not been extraordinarily thin."</p></br><p>Another account, from 1890: "It was in 1837 that Hazleton Moore was killed. I was there at the time. Ames was a very passionate man, and his first blow might be excused on that ground, but he struck him twice, the second blow when he was lying insensible on the ground. The Americans.... bribed Moore's wife to say away, and her absence at the trial helped to get Ames off. She acted badly."</p>say away, and her absence at the trial helped to get Ames off. She acted badly."</p>)
• 1862.11  + (<p>A note identifies this section as having been written in 1862, along with one that prohibits shaking carpets on public lands, including streets, lanes, alleys, etc.</p>)
• 1860.20  + (<p>A political cartoon of the day sh … <p>A political cartoon of the day showed Lincoln playing ball with other candidates. It can be viewed at  <a href="http://www.scvbb.org/images/image7/">http://www.scvbb.org/images/image7/</a>. </p></br><p>Thanks to Kyle DeCicco-Carey for the link.</p>t; <p>Thanks to Kyle DeCicco-Carey for the link.</p>)
• 1830s.16  + (<p>A previous Protoball entry, liste … <p>A previous Protoball entry, listed as #1840s.16: "He [Abraham Lincoln in the 1840s] joined with gusto in outdoor sports foot-races, jumping and hopping contests, town ball, wrestling . . . "  <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Source: </span> a limited online version of the 1997 book edited by Douglas L Wilson and Rodney O. Davis, <span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Herndon's Informant</span>s</span> (U of Illinois Press, 1997 or 1998). Posted to 19CBB on 12/11/2007 by Richard Hershberger. Richard notes that the index to the book promises several other references to Lincoln's ballplaying but [Jan. 2008] reports that the ones he has found are unspecific.. <strong>Note:</strong> can we chase this book down and collect those references?</p></br><p>Earlier versions of this find were submitted by Richard Hershberger (2007) and John Thorn (2004).  </p>tted by Richard Hershberger (2007) and John Thorn (2004).  </p>)
• Rounders - Britain  + (<p>A relatively complete description … <p>A relatively complete description of "roundstakes", or "rounders,"  as played in Eastern Massachusetts in about 1870, is found at [[roundstakes]].  The account is shown in that item's  "Supplemental Text."</p></br><p>--</p></br><p><span style="text-decoration-line: underline;">An aside: Plugging in Rounders?</span> </p></br><p>About baserunning, Gomme (page 145) writes in 1898:  "As soon as (the batter)has struck the ball, he runs from the base to the first boundary stick, then to the second, and so on. His opponents  in the meantime secure the ball and endeavor to hit him with it as he is running."    </p></br><p>Protoball has found scant evidence that rounders included retiring baserunners by hitting them with the thrown ball.  On May 7 2022, however, John Thorn posted this excerpt from <span style="text-decoration-line: underline;">Wickets in the West</span> by R. A. Fitzgerald, published in 1873 and covering the 1872 cricket tour of the US:</p></br><p>"To sum it up, (base ball) is an improvement on our old schoolboys' game of rounders, without, however, the most attractive part to the English schoolboy -- the 'corking'.  We can see still, and we are not sure that we cannot still feel, the quiver of the fat boy's nether parts, as the ball, well-directed, buried  itself in his flesh." </p></br><p>Putting baserunners out via a thrown ball, recalled as "corking" in this English account, has been called "plugging," "soaking," "burning," etc., in America.  In about 1810, Block notes, the French game [[Poisoned  Ball]] used the tactic, and the German [[Giftball]] (Poison ball) seems to have, as well.   </p></br><p>--</p>son ball) seems to have, as well.   </p> <p>--</p>)
• 1859.1  + (<p>A research note by Jim Overmyer o … <p>A research note by Jim Overmyer on why the game occurred in Pittsfield appears as <strong>Supplemental Tex</strong>t  below. </p></br><p>For a stern critique of the student time spent away from studying, see <em>The Congregationalist</em> [Boston], September 2, 1859, cited at https://ourgame.mlblogs.com/amherst-and-williams-play-the-first-intercollegiate-game-of-baseball-1859-b1c0255f6338, posted January 15, 2018. </p>255f6338, posted January 15, 2018. </p>)

• Excelsior Club of Baltimore v Potomac Club of Washington in 1859  + (<p>A search of online newspapers shows no record of any 1859 game.</p>)

• Athlete Jr Base Ball Club of Philadelphia2  + (<p>A separate Jr club from the one organized on June 3, 1866 located in the Twentieth Ward.</p>)
• 1848.10  + (<p>A team size of 12 and three-game match are consistent with some Mass game contests.</p>)
• 21st Century Townball  + (<p>A video of the game is at: </p … <p>A video of the game is at: </p></br><p><a href="http://ds.uhs.csufresno.edu/video/websiteMedia/townball16.mp4">http://ds.uhs.csufresno.edu/video/websiteMedia/townball16.mp4</a>  [loads slowly 9/8/2107]</p></br><p>--</p></br><p>Some particularly interesting variants from baseball include [note that key cricket characteristics are retained]:</p></br><p> </p></br><p>[] No foul balls [and no foul territory]</p></br><p>[] Plugging of runners is allowed</p></br><p>[] Basepath distance progresses  from from 42' to 110'feet sequentially</p></br><p>[] Batters defend a "zone" as cricket batters defend a wicket</p></br><p>[] Optional running except for third strike.</p></br><p>[] No set batting order -- can vary inning to inning</p></br><p> </p>et</p> <p>[] Optional running except for third strike.</p> <p>[] No set batting order -- can vary inning to inning</p> <p> </p>)
• Waggles  + (<p>A web search for "waggles england" in 2017 returns only the 1898 Gomme citation of the game.</p>)
• D. Eagan  + (<p>AKA D. Eagan</p>)
• Hit the Bat  + (<p>AKA Roll-the-Bat, Cherry, Rollabat. Cf. Sullivan, "Roll-the-Bat," <em>Southwest Folklore</em> 4 (1980) pp. 84-86; Cohen, <em>The Games We Played</em> (2001), p. 77</p>)
• Symmes2  + (<p>AKA Symms</p>)
• 1860.45  + (<p>About 20% of the games covered in … <p>About 20% of the games covered in available 1860 newspaper accounts of base ball in Syracuse depict "old-fashioned base ball" as played by a set of five area clubs. The common format for these games was a best-two-of-three match of games played to 25 "tallies" [not runs]. A purse of $25 was not uncommon. Teams exceeded nine players. However, no account laid out the details of the playing rules, or how they differed from those of the National Association. An 1859 article suggested that the game was the same as "Massachusetts "Base Ball," giving the only firm clue as to its rules. </p>ng the only firm clue as to its rules. </p>)
• Barn Ball (House Ball)  + (<p>Abraham Lincoln is said to have played barn ball with enthusiasm in Springfield c. 1858. Nicholas Young remembered playing barn ball in the Mohawk Valley in the 1850s.</p>)
• In St. Louis in 1860  + (<p>According to "Baseball Pioneers" the Morning Star BBC played town ball for several years prior to 1860. </p>)