Early baseball in Australia/Game 2
From SABR Encyclopedia
Spread of baseball: Home -> Australia -> Early baseball in Australia/Game 2 |
Location | Australia |
---|---|
Year | 1857 |
Month | 2 |
City | Melbourne |
Country | Australia |
Was NY rules baseball | Doubtful |
Played by | Unknown |
Team 1 | Collingwood |
Team 2 | Richmond |
Team 1 Score | 350 |
Team 2 Score | 230 |
From Protoball Entry #1857.17 – Base Ball in Melbourne?
"The first recorded baseball event in Australia was a series of three games between Collingwood and Richmond. The scores were astronomical, with Collingwood winning the second match 350-230! The early Australian baseball players were probably playing a variation of cricket, rounders, and the New York Game and possibly counting each base attained as a run."
Joe Clark, A History of Australian Baseball (U Nebraska Press, 2003), page 5. Clark then cites "a well-traveled myth in the American baseball community . . . that the first baseball played in Australia was by Americans on the gold fields of Ballarat in 1857 . . . . No documentation has ever been produced for a Ballarat gold fields game [also page 5]."
Similarly: Phil Lowry reports a 3-inning game in Melbourne, Victoria on February 21 or 28, 1857. The score was 350 to 230, and rules called for a run to be counted each time a baserunner reached a new base." Posting to 19CBB by Phil Lowry 11/1/2006.
Protoball record 1857.7 from Protoball project