Early baseball in Massachusetts/Club 6
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| Spread of baseball: Home -> Massachusetts -> Early baseball in Massachusetts/Club 6 |
| Location | Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| Year | 1864 |
| City | Cambridge |
| State | MA |
| Country | US |
| Nickname | Harvard Class of 1866 |
From Protoball Entry #1862.6 – Harvard Turns to the New York Game
"Base-Ball, the second in importance of [Harvard] University sports, is even younger than Rowing [which still prevailed]. It originated apparently, in the old game of rounders. Up to 1862 there were two varieties of base-ball – the New York and the Massachusetts game. In the autumn of 1862 George A. Flagg and Frank Wright organized the Base Ball Club of the Class of '66, adopting the New York rules; and in the following spring the city of Cambridge granted use of the Common for practice. A challenge was sent to several colleges: Yale replied that they had no club, but hoped soon to have one; but a game was arranged with Brown sophomores, and played at Providence [RI] June 27, 1863. The result was Harvard's first victory."
D. Hamilton Hurd, compiler, History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (J. W. Lewis, Philadelphia, 1890), page 137. Accessed 2/18/10 via Google Books search ("flagg and frank" hurd). Flagg and Wright reportedly had played avidly at Phillips Exeter Academy. See #1858c.57 above.
The Harvard Club is listed as an NABBP member in 1866. M. Wright, page 133.
