Early baseball in Canada/Predecessor Game 12
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| Spread of baseball: Home -> Canada -> Early baseball in Canada/Predecessor Game 12 |
| Location | Canada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1841 |
| Month | 1 |
| Date | 7 |
| City | Halifax (Nova Scotia) |
| Country | Canada |
| Name of game | "Game of Ball and Bat" |
| Found by | Bill Humber |
From William Humber's "Early Baseball in Canada" Manuscript, 9/14/12:
A newspaper reference to "games of ball and bat" from Joseph Howe's the Nova Scotian from 1 July 1841, (p. 203), described the actions of 800 members of the St. Mary's Total Abstinence Society of Halifax who had sailed to nearby Dartmouth and participated in folk activities such as Quadrille and Contra dances on the green. Its validity rests on its timing. It is not cricket, which was well known and would have been described as such. It is a legitimate account of the earliest, recorded at the time, baseball-type games. The influence for the play is likely British.
Halifax, Nova Scotia (1841 pop. about 14,400)is way out east of most everything.
Sources
Joseph Howe, The Nova Scotian, July 1, 1841, p. 203.
