Early baseball in Belgium/Game 1
From SABR Encyclopedia
| SABR Origins Committee project on the |
Spread of baseball |
|---|
 |
| Key pages |
| Project home page Project map History of early baseball Research needs in the spread of baseball |
| Lists |
| Earliest games by state Earliest clubs by state All games ยท All clubs Predecessor games Other firsts in baseball |
| Help |
| Researching early baseball Submitting research online |
| Spread of baseball: Home -> Belgium -> Early baseball in Belgium/Game 1 |
| Location | Belgium |
|---|---|
| Year | 1897 |
| Country | Belgium |
| Was NY rules baseball | Yes |
| Played by | Locals |
"The first notice of Belgian baseball in the American press dates back to 1897. A small blurb in the Washington Post on 5 April of that year makes mention of a T. Devrovre of Brussels, who was the President of the Baseball Association of France and Belgium." The general sense is that the game had spread northward from France after France presumably promoted play in 1889 after the Spalding tour visited Paris.
Josh Chetwynd, Baseball in Europe (McFarland, 2008), page 75.
Chetwynd also notes: " . . . Belgium and their Dutch neighbors appeared to be baseball equals before World War II. Between 1934 and 1936, the two countries squared off six times, and the Belgians prevailed in four of those contests."
Query: Can we learn more about the nature and extent of play in the 1890s, and the nature of the Belgium-Netherlands series?
