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The origins of Baseball.

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Lee Harris

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Oct 24, 2003, 4:57:34 AM10/24/03
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Still aching about, well, you know what - but hey, look what I found.


Baseball - Made in Britain

Geraint Johnes and Bob Thornton write about the British origins of the
American game of baseball.

Baseball is the national game of America, right? Well, sort of. The odd -
and still relatively little appreciated - fact is that baseball was invented
in England.

Jane Austen wrote about baseball in the late 18th century. The heroine of
her book Northanger Abbey spent much of her youth playing the game. By that
time, the ancient game of rounders had already started to be known as
'baseball' in England. There is published evidence that "baseball" was a
term in common use in Britain as early as 1748.

According to Bob Evans, Welsh journalist and historian, the game of baseball
was taken to America by John Chadwick, a native of south- west England, in
1772. Ever since, the American and British versions of the sport have
continued to develop along separate lines. Various attempts have, however,
been made to introduce the American version to Britain. This is how Derby
County's soccer ground came to be known as the Baseball Ground after its
construction in 1889. Around that time several soccer clubs, including Aston
Villa and Leyton Orient as well as Derby, were also involved in American
baseball.

But the indigenous British version of the sport has maintained a strong
following only in two areas - Merseyside and south-east Wales. Local leagues
are organised in both areas and an annual international match has been
played since 1908. Crowds of up to 16,000 have attended these games in the
past, and the international matches have been held at such illustrious
venues as the Cardiff Arms Park and Everton's football stadium. More
recently, crowds have diminished somewhat, but it is still common for 2,000
spectators to attend the international games between England and Wales.

The rules of British baseball differ in detail from the American version.
Most notably, a run is scored for each base reached by a batter. The
equivalent of home run is, therefore, a "four". Each time consists of 11
players. An inning is complete when all 11 players are out. The game ends
when both sides have batted for two innings. Despite these similarities with
cricket, the game is much closer to American baseball in style.

British baseball has, over the years, generated its own heroes and stories
of great feats. In the early part of this century, "Buzzer" Heaven, playing
for Grangetown, masterminded an amazing "quadruple play". As catcher, he
touched out the batter who had swung and missed the ball. The ball then flew
from home to second, back home, and then finally to third base, to dismiss a
total of four batsmen with one ball. Surely a myth!

In the early 1930s, Freddie Fish, of Grange Albion, scored a total of 11
homers in 11 consecutive at-bats. Seven of these were scored in a single
game - against the unfortunate Pill Harriers.

More recently, Terry "Slogger" Slocombe became a legend with his big hitting
style. During a baseball career which lasted 37 years up to 1986, Slogger
won eight international caps for Wales. In the 1959 International, he scored
a record 43 runs.

Other international baseball players have achieved greater fame for their
feats in other sporting arenas. David Bishop and Mark Ring have, during the
last decade, played both baseball and rugby union at international level for
Wales. Graham Vearncombe was a goalkeeper for Cardiff City and for the Welsh
international soccer team, and also played baseball for Wales during the
1950s.

On a few occasions, the British and American versions of baseball have
linked hands on the same park. During the early 1920s, Grange Albion played
the crew of an American ship at the American game one evening, and the
British game the following night. Unfortunately, no record survives of the
scores, but what price the modern-day Penylan against the Mets?

It is true that the original British game of baseball does not pack the
crowds into the stadia as do the superstars across the pond. But it would be
a pity if the domestic game, truer as it is to the roots of the sport, were
to be neglected completely by the new baseball media. British baseball is an
entertaining game with a long history. It is an indispensable part of the
cultures of two of our great cities. Go watch some!


HJ

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Oct 24, 2003, 7:18:22 PM10/24/03
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Lee Harris wrote:

> The rules of British baseball differ in detail from the American version.
> Most notably, a run is scored for each base reached by a batter. The
> equivalent of home run is, therefore, a "four". Each time consists of 11
> players. An inning is complete when all 11 players are out. The game ends
> when both sides have batted for two innings. Despite these similarities with
> cricket, the game is much closer to American baseball in style.
>

Interesting, but this paragraph basically proves the jig is up: yes,
games involving hitting a ball with a stick and running some arrangement
of bases may have existed in Britain or other places prior to the 1820s
or '30s; but the game as it came very rapidly to be organized and played
in the American urban Northeast (particularly, it pains me to say, New
York), differed *significantly* from previous versions as well as
virtually all subsequent "lineages" or versions.

At least this might get some to look beyond the preposterous myth of the
"invention" by Abner Doubleday, which was basically invented by one
Abner Graves, apparently just an old codger who'd served under Doubleday
in the military. See this page (bottom) for a short account of the
origin of the Doubleday myth:

http://maps.yahoo.com/dd_result?ed=xTowJeV.wimQQVd6MsEKU7USFw--&csz=louisville%2Cky&country=us&tcsz=ballardsville%2Cky&tcountry=us

I've long been very interested in the history of baseball, especially
since organized games (more than likely involving professionals) were
played here in Louisville, KY as early as the 1860s. I've read (on
microfilm at the local public library) newpaper accounts of a game
between the Cincinnati Redstockings (the first openly, all-professional
team) and a local "nine" (as teams were popularly refered to back then)
in the summer of 1870. The Cincinnati team was in the midst of a
national tour, of sorts--since there was no professional league
structure at the time, they traveled and played locals, usually to large
paying crowds. And that summer, that team went (I believe I remember
correctly--though not from having been there) 69 and 1. Anyway, in the
game against the local Louisville boys, Cincinnati won--by the score of
94 to 7. And the crude newspaper account, which doesn't even mention
the score (but does include a box score with several obvious typos)
specifically states that the crowd stayed to the end--which came close
to sundown.

This is a very interesting take on the Cincinnati Redstockings:

http://www.redsoxdiehard.com/story/stockings.html

Enjoy.

--
'Nuff said, McGreevey...

Lee Harris

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Oct 25, 2003, 4:58:01 AM10/25/03
to

>
> Interesting, but this paragraph basically proves the jig is up: yes,
> games involving hitting a ball with a stick and running some arrangement
> of bases may have existed in Britain or other places prior to the 1820s
> or '30s; but the game as it came very rapidly to be organized and played
> in the American urban Northeast (particularly, it pains me to say, New
> York), differed *significantly* from previous versions as well as
> virtually all subsequent "lineages" or versions.
>

yeah, but where did those guys in the urban Northeast come from? I'm
assuming it was not a traditional Native American game ;-))) ?


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