Spread of baseball project

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A history of the early playing of baseball and the locations and people involved. This project is associated with SABR's Origins Research Committee.

  • To learn more about the committee, visit the Origins committee site.
  • For an introduction to the current state of knowledge on the origins of the modern game, visit the resources page on the committee site.
  • For more information on the project and how to contribute research, view the Spread of Baseball project page.
  • For records of games, clubs, and predecessor games, just continue down this page.

The Project

Modern baseball is first seen in the Knickerbocker Rules, which were written in 1845 in New York City. By the late 1860s, “baseball fever” had carried the “New York game” far and wide in North America, and the worldwide spread began. We hope that a community effort to dig up facts on its arrival in many local areas will allow us to see how (and eventually, why) baseball reached some areas early and others only later on. In each locality, we hope to learn:

  • When the first game occurred that used modern rules
  • When the first local baseball club formed
  • What game or games preceded modern baseball

Even in the mid-1850s, US newspapers were reporting much more cricket and horse-racing than baseball. That all changed, and dramatically. We’re asking when, how, and why, baseball so suddenly ensconced itself as America’s national pastime.

Where early baseball was played

The number next to each region indicates how many records the project currently has in that region. The project currently contains a total of 1851 records of early baseball and predecessor games.

United States

Alabama (30), Alaska (15), Arizona (15), Arkansas (43), California (41), Colorado (15), Connecticut (27), Delaware (5), Florida (27), Georgia (55), Hawaii (9), Idaho (11), Illinois (119), Indiana (22), Iowa (20), Kansas (13), Kentucky (31), Louisiana (22), Maine (14), Maryland (34), Massachusetts (143), Michigan (58), Minnesota (67), Mississippi (18), Missouri (22), Montana (5), Nebraska (8), Nevada (10), New Hampshire (13), New Jersey (167), New Mexico (6), New York (city) (51), New York (state) (112), North Carolina (24), North Dakota (12), Ohio (43), Oklahoma (9), Oregon (11), Pennsylvania (51), Rhode Island (52), South Carolina (36), South Dakota (20), Tennessee (42), Texas (54), Utah (8), Vermont (19), Virginia (30), Washington (32), Washington, D.C. (5), West Virginia (14), Wisconsin (19), Wyoming (8), the United States (exact location unclear) (1)

North and South America

Bolivia (1), Brazil (1), Canada (38), Chile (1), Colombia (2), Cuba (2), Dominican Republic (1), Honduras (1), Mexico (1), Nicaragua (2), Panama (1), Peru (1), Puerto Rico (1), Venezuela (1), Virgin Islands (1)

Europe and Asia

Australia (5), Belgium (1), Bulgaria (1), China (2), Croatia (2), Czech Republic (1), Denmark (1), England (4), Estonia (1), Finland (1), France (1), Georgia, Nation of (0), Germany (2), Greece (2), Hungary (1), Ireland (1), Israel (1), Italy (1), Japan (3), Latvia (1), Lithuania (1), Luxembourg (1), Malta (1), Moldova (1), New Zealand (1), Norway (1), Poland (1), Portugal (1), Republic of Korea (2), Russia (1), San Marino (1), Serbia (1), Spain (1), Sweden (1), Switzerland (1), Taiwan (4), The Netherlands (2), Ukraine (1)

Africa, Oceania, and other areas

Other places (1), South Africa (1), Uganda (0)
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