Early baseball in Missouri/Game 1
From SABR Encyclopedia
Spread of baseball: Home -> Missouri -> Early baseball in Missouri/Game 1 |
Location | Missouri |
---|---|
Year | 1849 |
Month | 4 |
Date | 23 |
City | Independence |
State | MO |
Country | US |
Was NY rules baseball | Unknown |
Played by | Unknown |
“Indigenous peoples west of the Mississippi may not have seen the game until 1849 when Alexander Cartwright, near Independence, Missouri, noted baseball play in his April 23rd diary entry: ‘During the past week we have passed the time in fixing wagon covers . . . etc., varied by hunting and fishing and playing baseball [sic]. It is comical to see the mountain men and Indians playing the new game. I have a ball with me that we used back home.’”
Altherr, Thomas L., “North American Indigenous People and Baseball: ‘The One Single Thing the White Man Has Done Right,’” in Altherr, ed., Above the Fruited Plain: Baseball in the Rocky Mountain West, SABR National Convention Publication, 2003, page 20. Note: XXX need to add Tom’s footnote 5, which references the diary. Is Tom saying that there were no prior safe-haven ball games [cricket, town ball, wicket] out west, or just that the NY game hadn’t arrived until 1849?
Protoball record 1849.3 from Protoball project