Early baseball in Illinois/Predecessor Game 2
From SABR Encyclopedia
Spread of baseball: Home -> Illinois -> Early baseball in Illinois/Predecessor Game 2 |
Location | Illinois |
---|---|
Year | 1841 |
City | Nauvoo |
State | IL |
Country | |
Name of game | |
Found by | Bruce Allardice |
There is considerable evidence that Joseph Smith, the founder of the LDS Church, played a bat-ball game, and that later reminiscences hinted that this was baseball. The Ken Burns baseball series hints at this. The sources are accumulted at http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2012/11/joseph-smith-and-baseball-the-evidence/ . The evidence suggests that a bat-ball game was played at Nauvoo in 1841.
Smith had grown up in upstate New York, and may have been exposed to some early form of baseball there.
Sources
http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2012/11/joseph-smith-and-baseball-the-evidence/