Early baseball in Canada/Predecessor Game 9
From SABR Encyclopedia
| Spread of baseball: Home -> Canada -> Early baseball in Canada/Predecessor Game 9 |
| Location | Canada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1835 |
| Note on date | "1830's" speciified in source |
| City | Red River Settlement, Manitoba |
| Country | Canada |
| Name of game | "Bat" |
| Found by | Bill Humber |
From William Humber's manuscript "Early Baseball in Canada," 9/14/12.
In western Canada, Schofield's 1913 History of Manitoba and as related in Wilson Green’s, Red River Revelations (Hignell Printing, 1974) says games of "bat" were played in the 1830s by Scottish immigrants in the Red River Settlement. In a 1981 letter from Wilson Green of Winnipeg to Bill Humber, he describes the game of "bat" played in his own youth and as that likely played in the Red River. "All but one player (no set number under say eight) dug a shallow depression in which he kept his 'bat' until getting a swipe at the dead or rolling ball in any direction. While one was doing this, another could slip his stick into the vacated base.” Multiple knock-on accounts render the description less reliable though it suggests a British import directly into Canada.
Sources
Wilson Green, Red River Revelations (Hignell Printing, 1974.)
