Early baseball in Massachusetts/Predecessor Game 25
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 -> Massachusetts -> Early baseball in Massachusetts/Predecessor Game 25 |
 | This record has been submitted recently, and has not yet been reviewed. This does not imply that the information is incorrect, but that it is not yet included in official datasets. This notice will no longer appear once the record has been reviewed. |
| Location | Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| Year | 1822 |
| City | Worcester |
| State | MA |
| Country | US |
| Name of game | Round Ball |
"Timothy Taft, who is living in Worcester, October 1897, played Round Ball in 1822. The game was no new thing then. I think Mr. Stoddard is right about the game being played directly after the close of the Revolutionary War [see c1780 entry]. At any rate, if members of your Commission question the antiquity of the game (Round Ball) we have Mr. Taft still living who played it 83 years ago, and we have corroborative testimony that it was played long before that time."
Letter from Henry Sargent, Worcester MA, to Mills Commission, June 10, 1905. Henderson, on page 149, quotes the Commission's press release as referring to a Timothy Tait, which seems likely a reference to Taft. In this letter Sargent also reports that in Stoddard's opinion, "the game of Round Ball or Base ball is one and the same thing, and that it dates back before 1845."
Note: do we have that Mills Commission release that Henderson cites?
