Block:English Baseball in London in 1875
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| Data | A children's book, Jolly Games for Happy Homes, includes two separate game descriptions, one of "base ball" (two words), and one of "base-ball" (hyphenated). The first, on page 110, begins: "This is a healthy exercise and a never-tiring game." After explaining how to choose which team is "in" and which "out," it continues: "The party who is "out" throws the ball, which the one who is "in" receives "in" her hand as if it were a bat, bats it away and starts for the first base, or station. The garden or field has previously been divided into bases or stations, duly marked at convenient distances. The business of the followers of the leader who is "out" is to...catch up the ball...and hit the runner with it as she passes from base to base. If she is so hit she is "out." The second description, of "base-ball," on pages 247-248, appears to be modeled on the rounders page from The Boy's Own Book of 1828, but also makes clear that the players are girls and that the ball is struck by hand. |
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| Sources | Jolly Games for Happy Homes, by Georgiana C. Clark, London, 1875 (est.), Dean & Son., pp. 110, 247-248 |
| Block Notes | The book's publication date is not indicated, but its title was mentioned in an article on "gift books" that appeared in the London Standard newspaper dated Jan. 7, 1876, suggesting that it was likely in print prior to the end of 1875. It is unknown why the author chose to include two separate descriptions of baseball. The two are clearly the work of different writers, but agree on most particulars. They are the only two known descriptions of English baseball other than the German one published in 1796 by Gutsmuths. |
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