Reference to "base ball" Found in 1755 English Diary

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Posted By: CoreyRS.hanus

Interesting topic, Jon, and thanks for raising it. This 1755 diary entry is the earliest journal entry of which I am aware to reference base ball.

In regard to what the article adds to our historical knowledge of the origins of baseball, however, the answer would be very little. A Little Pretty Pocket Book, first published in England in 1744 specifically refers to a game called "Base-Ball" and provides an illustration. A book of sports first published in Germany in 1796 has a 7-page chapter detailing in great specificity the rules of "English base ball", and includes a diagram. The importance the article puts on the baseball reference being a journal entry seems misleading, because the Little Pretty Pocket Book and the German book of sports are not books of fiction but instead descriptions of known children's games. So it would not seem surprising that someone who kept a diary and who actually played one of these games would write about it.

As has been quite correctly pointed out, just calling something baseball tells little about what was played, except that the game probably included a bat, a ball and safe havens. Baseball as we know it today -- fair/foul territory, 90 feet between the bases (referred to at the time as 42 paces) played on a diamond field with the pitchers mound somewhere between second and home, and a set lineup -- were the rules by which the newly chartered Knickerbockers played in 1845. Almost certainly, though, this Knickerbocker version of baseball was being played prior to 1845 not only by the Knicks themselves but also by other clubs.