Early baseball in Wisconsin/Predecessor Game 1

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Spread of baseball: Home -> Wisconsin -> Early baseball in Wisconsin/Predecessor Game 1
Location Wisconsin
Year 1836
City Milwaukee
State WI
Country US
Name of game Old Cat??
Found by Dennis Pajot

In April 1892 the Milwaukee Old Settlers' Club received a ball from a Mr. E.W. Edgerton which the young men of Milwaukee used to play ball in 1836. The ball was made of yarn wound on a rubber center. The cover was cut in quarters. Mr. Edgerton stated he made the ball himself, and the cover was sewed on by Mrs. Edward Wiesner, wife of the first shoemaker in Milwaukee. Edgerton gave the names of some of his 1836 fellow players, some familiar in Milwaukee's early history.

Speaking of this ball over 50 years later, Oliver Remey in a 1946 Milwaukee Journal article titled "Centurama Turns Eyes on Early Sports" said the boys in 1836 were playing a "primitive form of baseball, probably one, two, three or four old cat." This 1946 Milwaukee Journal story also reported there was a legend from pioneer days that Solomon Juneau [one of the the city's founders and Milwaukee's first mayor] once umpired a primitive ball game.

Sources

  • Milwaukee Journal April 19, 1892
  • Milwaukee Sentinel April 19, 1892
  • Milwaukee Journal March 3, 1946
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