Early baseball in Canada/Predecessor Game 6
From SABR Encyclopedia
| Spread of baseball: Home -> Canada -> Early baseball in Canada/Predecessor Game 6 |
| Location | Canada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1840 |
| Note on date | Late 1830s and early 1840s |
| City | London |
| Country | Canada |
| Name of game | Rounders |
| Found by | Bill Humber |
"London’s first baseball players didn’t play baseball – the game was the old English game of rounders, considered the forerunner of the modern game. The time was the late 1830’s and early ‘40’s, according to William Peters, an 86-year-old Londoner, who was interviewed in The Free Press in 1911. His home had been on Ridout Street and “rounders” was played on the old court-house square. There was lots of fun, he recalled, adding, “the boys used to be pretty shots with the ball.”
London Ontario (incorporated 1840, pop. then unknown) is about 20 miles SW of Beachville ONT and about 25 miles WW of Woodstock Ontario.
Sources
Les Bronson, "When Bseball Was 'Rounders,' London [Ontario] Free Press, seemingly from August 5, 1961. The 1911 source is not specified.
