Today's Origins of the Game Article (ESPN.com)

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Posted By: t-206collector

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1799618

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Posted By: jay behrens

And is you were a member of SABR's 19th century group, you's already know about this

http://sabr.org

Jay

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Posted By: John(z28jd)

I like what SABR does but i hate their pay for info policy,if you want to know something you have to be a member attitude is the reason i wont join. Baseball-reference is a free site but i sponsor pages on their site because i appreciate what they do.If SABR was the other way around i would probably pay for it.It reminds me of a yacht club with their snooty attitudes.

The we know something you dont know mentality does more bad than good for them,but thats just mine and a bunch of people ive talked to opinions

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Posted By: Rob L

The term "base ball" has been around for a long time and was refered to as such in the early 1800s. Although A.G. Spalding wanted baseball to be a purely American "invention", it is pretty clear that the game developed from Rounders, an English bat and ball game. The American game known as a Town Ball, judged by many to be a direct precursor to baseball as we know it, is a derivation of Rounders. Anyways, all of these games have been referred to as "base ball". The mention of "base ball" in the 1791 document is not surprising nor a discovery that baseball as we know it was played in Massachusetts then. It clearly is a reference to a bat and ball game that was popular, i.e. Rounders/Town Ball. Baseball, in a form that we can relate to, is still in Alexander Cartwright's court.

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Posted By: jay behrens

SABR does not have a "pay for info" policy. This just shows how little you know about this great organization. Without SABR, much what we know about baseball today would still be unknown. As for what your money really does buy, you get the monthly newsletter along with all the great publications, usually 4 per year. You would spend more than that to buy the books at a book store. And just ask anyone that has Deadball Stars of the National League and doubt anyone will tell you they want their money back or are quitting SABR becuase they had to pay for that info.

And, yes, baseball-referrence.com is an incredible site and I sponsor several pages myself, but where do think a lot of the info that they have there came from? They certainly didn't come up with OPS, Runs Creasted, Win Share, Grey Ink, Black Ink and other sabrmetric stats on their own.

Jay

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Posted By: Rob L

Got mine. The Deadball Stars of the National League is an incredible book.