New Book on History of Baseball

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Posted By: barrysloate

A new book has just been published on the history and origins of the game of baseball that I feel will ultimately be the definitive study on the topic. Written by my good friend David Block and titled "Baseball Before We Knew It", the origins of the game have been traced to various bat and ball games dating to the middle ages, and the original research done by David will certainly turn some heads. He has made some incredible discoveries during his more than three years of research, highlighted by a German book dated 1796 that has comprehensive rules on how to play baseball (no Mr. Spalding, baseball was not invented in America). The book traces and documents nearly every reference to the game throughout printed history, and the bibliography will prove to be the most exhaustive study ever done. For those researching the roots of the game this book will be your number one source of information. Its official release date is March 1, 2005, but you can order advance copies for $29.95 plus $3.85 shipping by sending a check (or use paypal) to David Block at 30 Alvarado Street, San Francisco 94110. I helped David in the early stages of its developement, and just received my copy yesterday. I can't wait to get started. Take it from me, this book is special and every vintage collector should order one.

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Posted By: barrysloate

I omitted David's paypal address. It is old_ball_game@hotmail.com

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Posted By: john/z28jd

Barry,what is the period of time its covered up until.It sounds like an interesting book.I have an older book that covers baseball from the 1840s to 1870s with a few later references and its a very interesting read

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Posted By: barrysloate

There are references to bat and ball games dating to the 1500's and 1600's, as well as numerous references up to 1861. Every book that ever mentioned the game up to 1861 is included. Also, every woodcut and engraving known of children playing baseball is pictured. As I said, this book has information not found elsewhere

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Posted By: Rob L

I just ordered mine from the publisher, the University of Nebraska Press. You can get it from them now also. It will be in bookstores on March 1.

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Posted By: jay behrens

Not srue if SABR will be offering the book too, but if you are a SABR member, you might want to wait and see what kind of discount we get thru them.

Jay

Wow upside down is Mom. Mom upside down is what dad wants to see.

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Posted By: Behrod Hosseinzadeh

Right on, I can't wait to get my copy. The German book sounds compelling.

For anyone that is interested, another excellent book on the origin of ball games is "Ball, Bat, and Bishop: The Origin of Ball Games" by Robert W. Henderson. He focuses not only on baseball, but tennis and golf as well. Henderson provides information on the evolution of the game of baseball from stool ball -> rounders -> towne ball -> base ball. It reads very easy and is quite enjoyable.

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Posted By: Cy

You can buy the book, actually, you can pre-order the book from amazon.com for $19.77

Cy

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Posted By: barrysloate

The Henderson book is considered a bible of early baseball literature, and David cites it as among his most important source materials. Henderson in fact compiled one of the largest collections of early baseball books, and it currently resides in NYC. A couple of years ago David and I went to see it together (it's tough getting an appointment) and it was really impressive. I don't think anyone had viewed it in years; the curator kept blowing dust off each copy we asked to see, and that's no exaggeration.

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Posted By: Max Weder

Henderson also wrote a 1939 article on the origins of baseball for the New York Public Library Bulletin





Max

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Posted By: Julie

They once found the only copy of a book in the United States for me (of course, there may be good reasons why there was only one copy in the United States!)

"Baseball Before We Knew It" looks fascinating.

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Posted By: Jason

Sounds like a great book! I'll order now!

Barry, I can't wait for the book to arrive - would it be possible for you to divulge the name of the German book?

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Posted By: Hal Lewis

I ordered mine!!!!

Screw Abner Doubleday!!!

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Posted By: barrysloate

I can divulge it, it's not a secret, but it is a very long title: Spiele zur Uebung und Erholung des Korpers und Geistes fur die Jugend, ihre Erzieher und alle Freunde Unschuldiger Jugendfreuden. (whew) It translates: Games for the exercise and recreation of body and spirit for the youth and his educator and all his friends of innocent joys of youth. It is by Johann Christoph Friedrich Gutsmuths, 1796. There's a mouthful for you.

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Posted By: runscott

Just cracked a bottle of wine, prepared to immerse myself...a few random reads and it's obvious this is a real gem.

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Posted By: Behrod Hosseinzadeh

I highly recommend this book to anyone that is interested in baseball history. This is a serious classic. I got the book two days ago and I've already finished it. The book is very well researched and well written. The only problem I have is Block speculates a bit too much, but as he states history is speculation. The book was a joy to read and I hope that others on this board read the book as well.

Thanks for the recommendation Barry.

Behrad

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Posted By: Julie

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Posted By: barrysloate

I think anyone who is trying to research and recreate lost history has to speculate somewhere along the way. I believe David researched this as best he could (I was his sounding board during a good part of the project) and even he understands that there will be other theories by other baseball historians down the road. What is most fascinating is something as ingrained in the American psyche as baseball is still so difficult to pin down historically. We can recreate the Civil War on a day by day basis but nobody can say with absolute certainty how baseball evolved. But I think David has done the best job yet and who knows, maybe in ten years someone will come along with a whole new set of ideas.

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Posted By: Scott Forrest

David did a great job of taking the reader through his own research journey and thought processes. I especially liked part about "stoball", an extremely early ancestor of cricket and baseball, being a game attached to fertility rights, played by both girls and boys. He even included a poem that compared the old tripod to the sticks used in the game - probably a lot of truth in that. Baseball truly IS religion!