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Jefferson Street Grounds

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Jefferson Street Grounds was a baseball field located in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . It was also known as Jefferson Park and Athletics Park . It was home to three different professional baseball teams, competing in three different leagues . Notably, it was the venue for the first game in National League history, played on April 22, 1876.

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72-504: Baseball had first been played on the site in 1864. Several local clubs held their games there, including the historic Olympic Ball Club of Philadelphia , which had begun playing various varieties of town ball starting in the early 1830s and had adopted the "New York game" by 1860. When they began playing at the Jefferson site, the diamond was situated at the southeast corner, at 25th (first base) and Master (third base). The Olympics built

144-475: A casual term to describe old fashioned or rural games similar to baseball. The rules of town ball varied, but distinguishing characteristics most often cited were: Generally the infield was a square or rectangular shape, with four bases or pegs. Similarly to baseball, the fourth base was called home base, as it was the final goal of a runner. However, differently from baseball—and more like English rounders —the striker would stand between first and fourth base, at

216-402: A certain rate , which essentially imposes a time limit of sorts on these types of games. In some bat-and-ball sports, there are team penalties designed to ensure the game goes at a faster pace. For example, in various formats of cricket, there are over rate penalties which kick in if a team has bowled too few deliveries within an allotted amount of time, while in some baseball leagues, there

288-567: A clubhouse along Master. Jefferson was behind right field. Local newspapers typically gave the ballfield location as "25th and Jefferson". The grounds would be home to three different professional teams: The grounds were located on a large block bounded by Jefferson Street (north); 25th Street (east); Master Street (south); and 27th Street (west). Across the street to the south was the Spring Garden Reservoir, which has since been filled in. Although often listed as one ballpark,

360-469: A cricket match than dozens of baseball games combined, and while a T10 cricket match generally ends in 90 minutes, a Test cricket batter may bat for hours over several consecutive days. Overall, most bat-and-ball games can be categorized as being baseball-like or cricket-like, with many of them following the same basic outline: This list may not apply to all bat-and-ball games, but covers certain features common to many of them: In cricket and baseball,

432-408: A designated area, known as the strike zone or wicket ), and must hit the ball so that it is not caught by a fielder before it touches the ground. The most desirable outcome for the batter is generally to hit the ball out of the field, as this results in automatically scoring runs; however, in certain bat-and-ball games, this can result in a penalty against the batter. If the ball is struck into

504-402: A kind of fifth base called the striker's stand. The thrower stood in the middle of the square and delivered the ball to be hit by the striker. If the struck ball were caught in mid-air or on the first bounce, the striker was called out. If no one caught it, the striker became a runner and advanced as many bases as possible, with the option to stop at any base as a safe haven. In most varieties of

576-415: A large concourse of people. Many articles were written waxing nostalgically for the old game. This nostalgia was satirized by Robert J. Burdette in his story "Rollo Learning to Play": And town ball, he said, good old town ball! There was no limit to the number on a side. The ring was anywhere from three hundred feet to a mile in circumference, according to whether we played on a vacant Pingree lot or out on

648-420: A little, town ball a little, and story-telling a little." Irving Leitner quotes a story by Frank Blair, grandson of Francis P. Blair , one of Lincoln's political confidants: There were eight or ten of us, our ages ranging from eight to twelve years. Although I was but seven or eight years of age, Mr. Lincoln's visits were of such importance to us boys as to leave a clear impression on my memory. He drove out to

720-487: A one-handed swing, a smaller round model, called a delill, was chosen. There is evidence that over the course of three decades the Olympics played varieties of baseball, wicket , and old cat, as well as town ball. In Philadelphia Town Ball, "every at bat resulted in a home run or an out". The bases were very close together, and were not safe havens, serving merely to mark the circuit the batter-runner must take. "Soaking"

792-536: A player in the 1840s. According to biographer Albert Beveridge , "He joined with gusto in outdoor sports—foot-races, jumping and hopping contests, town ball, wrestling." In another Protoball reference, Henry C. Whitney, in Lincoln the Citizen writes of the future President in 1860: "During the settling on the convention Lincoln had been trying, in one way and another, to keep down the excitement ... playing billiards

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864-410: A side, with four bases and the batter standing between fourth and first bases. They played two innings of all-out, all-out or eleven innings of one-out, all-out . Typical games were high-scoring with the victorious side often topping 75 runs. The players are said to have made their own bats and balls. They were adept with two types of bats. For a two-handed swing, a flat cricket -type bat was used. For

936-411: A string ball and "then chasing madly about the bases while an opponent tried to retrieve said pill and sock you with it." In this version of town ball, a home run entitled the hitter to another turn at bat. Safe haven games Bat-and-ball games , or safe haven games , are field games played by two opposing teams. Action starts when the defending team throws a ball at a dedicated player of

1008-435: A sufficiently long batting turn; in these circumstances, a rain rule is applied such that any runs scored by the first-batting team are usually devalued. Here are some terms or concepts common to many bat-and-ball games: In the field, there may be: Bat-and-ball games can be played with modified rules in unorthodox places, such as in the street or the backyard. Oftentimes, players are forbidden or penalized for hitting

1080-417: Is a pitch clock that penalizes batters and pitchers for taking too much time between pitches. Bat-and-ball games are played until: Ties can be dealt with in several ways: When one of the teams is not leading and only they have completed all of their allotted batting turns, this allows the other team to win automatically by surpassing the number of runs scored by the first team. In cricket, this situation

1152-466: Is more difficult to find contemporary descriptions. One of the earliest was a New York Clipper article dated September 19, 1857, reporting a "Game of Town Ball" at Germantown (now a neighborhood of Philadelphia ). Reporting another game, the Clipper for August 11, 1860, commented, "The Olympic Club dates its existence back to 1832, so that properly speaking it is the parent Town Ball organization in

1224-511: Is played every 3 years. At the domestic level, baseball tends to be played in leagues with 2 major divisions, with the playoffs being contested in a best-of-seven format. T20 leagues in cricket tend to have 6 to 8 teams and follow the Page playoff system (two semi-finals, with an additional match played to determine which team enters the second semi-final, followed by a final). Notable bat-and-ball games include: Gilli Danda (which

1296-405: Is referred to as a " run chase ", with the "target" of the batting team being the number of runs scored by the other team plus one. In baseball, the home team can be considered to be chasing, with the aim of scoring the " walk-off " (winning) runs, when they are not leading anytime after the eighth inning , as a regulation game sees the trailing team bat at least nine times and the teams alternating

1368-400: Is related to several other traditional games in other parts of the world) is a South Asian game with similarities to baseball and cricket. The aim of the game is for the batter to knock a stick on the ground up into the air using a stick held in the hand, and then to hit the airborne stick as far as possible. The batter is out if the stick is caught by a player on the other team before it touches

1440-618: The American League in 1901, and exists today as the Oakland Athletics . The ball field still exists in a revised form. The ballpark site is currently occupied by various structures including Daniel Boone Public School, also known as Camelot Academy, at 1435 N 26th St, and the Athletic Recreation Center and its ball fields. The field at the northwest corner of the lot approximates the location of

1512-545: The British Empire , cricket slowly emerged as the game of choice for the colonizers to spread their culture and values among the colonized. Some of the colonized people adapted to playing cricket in order to win the favor of the British, while in other cases, colonized peoples played cricket as a way of beating the British at their own sports, and thus proving themselves as equals. This helped to cement cricket as part of

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1584-528: The Spalding Guide , asserted that baseball's origins were American. Spalding wrote an article titled "The Origin and Early History of Baseball" for the January 15, 1905 Washington Post . He described the game of Four Old Cat , in which four throwers and four batsmen stand in four corners. "Some ingenious American lad" got the idea of placing one thrower in the center of the square, wrote Spalding. "This

1656-527: The colonial era by English immigrants who played games similar to rounders ; at the time, cricket was significantly more popular in the United States, since it was one of the main sports throughout the British Empire. However, the main format of cricket was first-class cricket , in which games lasted multiple days; baseball by comparison was a game that lasted less than two hours. Because of

1728-618: The origins of baseball has been debated since the early 1900s, and the two sides of the debate stem from a friendly quarrel between an editor and his publisher. In the 1903 edition of Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide , editor Henry Chadwick , who was born in England, wrote "Just as the New York game was improved townball, so was townball an improved form of the two-centuries-old English game of rounders." Albert Goodwill Spalding , star player, sports equipment entrepreneur, and publisher of

1800-475: The "old" game that the boys of Cooperstown, New York played before baseball. In the townball game that Graves described, the batsman struck the tossed ball with a flat bat, and ran toward a goal fifty feet away, and back again. Graves said there were generally twenty to fifty boys in the field, which generated many collisions among those trying to catch the ball. Most accounts of a game called town ball were recorded many years later as reminiscences or memoirs. It

1872-430: The 1870s diamond was located in the opposite corner of the block from the 1880s diamond. The facility opened to professional league baseball during 1871, as early as May 15. The club's first official National Association home game was played on June 3. [1] The seating capacity was meager, only 5,000 seats. The inaugural National League game was played there, on Saturday, April 22, 1876, between Athletic and Boston ;

1944-521: The 1883–1890 diamond. Olympic Ball Club of Philadelphia Town ball , townball , or Philadelphia town ball , is a bat-and-ball , safe haven game played in North America in the 18th and 19th centuries, which was similar to rounders and was a precursor to modern baseball . In some areas, including Philadelphia and along the Ohio River and Mississippi River —the local game

2016-484: The 18th-century games played in England . The teams alternate between "batting" (offensive role), sometimes called "in at bat" or simply in , and "fielding" (defensive role), also called "out in the field" or out . Only the batting team may score, but teams have equal opportunities in both roles. The game is counted rather than timed. The action starts when a player on the fielding team (the "bowler" or "pitcher") puts

2088-421: The A's defeated the country players, 34–2. The Athletics were soon to be a national baseball powerhouse. The Olympic Club, after a bitterly publicized rivalry with the A's, dropped out of major match play in 1864, and many of the members went back to playing town ball. Town-ball is one of the old games from which the scientific but not half so amusing "national game" of base-ball has since been evolved. In that day

2160-536: The Bostons won, 6–5. By a quirk of fate, it was the only National League game played that day, all others being rained out. This game is often pointed to as the beginning of Major League Baseball . After an early Athletics franchise was expelled from the National League following the 1876 season, the field fell into disuse. The City of Philadelphia cut 26th Street through the lot, allowing the eastern half of

2232-432: The attacking team, who tries to hit it with a bat and then run between various safe areas in the field to score runs (points). The defending team can use the ball in various ways against the attacking team's players to force them off the field ("get them out") when they are not in safe zones, and thus prevent them from further scoring. The best known modern bat-and-ball games are cricket and baseball , with common roots in

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2304-499: The average MLB game had gone from being two hours long to about three hours long, so the two sports now had formats that were of a comparable duration. Later on, the T10 format of cricket, in which games last less than two hours, emerged at a domestic level, with leagues being started for it in several major cricket-playing countries. There is a great deal of variation among bat-and-ball games; for example, more runs are generally scored in

2376-528: The ball in play with a delivery whose restriction depends on the game. A player on the batting team attempts to strike the delivered ball, commonly with a "bat", which is a club whose dimensions and other aspects are governed by the rules of the game. If the ball is not fairly delivered to the batter (i.e. not thrown within his reach), then penalties generally occur that help the batting team score. The batter generally has an obligation to hit certain balls that are delivered within his reach (i.e. balls aimed at

2448-611: The ball out of the field into an area where it would be hard to reach, and play may be modified so as to ensure all players have an opportunity to participate, such as in Kwik cricket . At the international level, the World Baseball Classic is the premier baseball tournament. For cricket, the ODI World Cup , ICC T20 World Cup , and ICC World Test Championship are the premier tournaments. The Pesäpallo World Cup

2520-675: The ball; these variations may also give the batter possession of the ball at the start of each play, eliminating the defensive team's role in starting the action. A prominent example of this is Baseball5 , one of the main sporting disciplines governed by the World Baseball Softball Confederation along with baseball and softball . The history of baseball's formation and rise in popularity took place in England (potentially influenced by or descended from games played in continental Europe ) and then America. Predecessors of baseball were brought to America during

2592-647: The ballpark in what the Philadelphia Inquirer called "the roughest and most exciting game of football (under English Association rules) that has ever been played in this city..." The last major league game played in the park was October 11, 1890. The "Athletics" teams that played at the Jefferson Street Grounds do not have any direct lineage to the Philadelphia Athletics franchise that was an inaugural member of

2664-603: The bases). The "Massachusetts game" or "New England game" was a formalized version with many clubs active in the Boston area. A set of rules was drawn up by the Massachusetts Association of Base Ball Players at Dedham, Massachusetts in 1858. This game was played by ten to fourteen players with four bases 60 feet apart and no foul territory. The ball was considerably smaller and lighter than a modern baseball, and runners were put out by "soaking"—hitting them with

2736-513: The bases. The movement between those "safe havens" is governed by the rules of the particular sport. The game ends when the losing team has completed the maximum number of innings (batting/scoring turns), which may range from 1 (as in limited-overs cricket ) to 9 (as in baseball) or more. Ties are generally broken (if at all) by allowing each team to have an additional turn to score. Some variations of bat-and-ball games do not feature bats, with batters instead using parts of their bodies to hit

2808-432: The batter (such as Schlagball ), but may (like baseball) restrict batters from hitting the ball behind themselves or too far to the side; see foul territory . Bat-and-ball sports can be modified to be played in an indoor court. For example, indoor cricket takes place in a 30 by 12 metres (98 ft × 39 ft) facility, while Baseball5 is played on a 21 metres (69 ft)-square field. In baseball-like games,

2880-435: The batting, with the home team always batting last. In addition to the number of runs a team won by over their opponents, other factors which are relevant to determining which team wins, such as the number of outs or legal deliveries that were remaining in the batting team's turn (if they won/there was a limit on either resource), can be included with the statement of the result. The result may also mention how many more times

2952-584: The city of Philadelphia." Informal groups were playing town ball at Market Street in Philadelphia and across the Delaware River in Camden, New Jersey , in 1831 and 1832. Irving Leitner quotes a 19th-century source: "All the players were over 25 years of age, and to see them playing a game like this caused much merriment among the friends of the players. It required 'sand' in those days to go out on

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3024-697: The country; thus, several professional cricket players switched to playing baseball, and cricket faded away in America. Baseball then began to spread throughout the Pacific Rim and the Americas, supported by the contemporary westward expansion of the United States. Over time, several variations of baseball appeared, with some being informal ( kickball ), others becoming professional sports in their own right ( softball ), and some even taking root overseas ( pesäpallo ). In other countries that were part of

3096-452: The defensive team deliver the ball to the batter, is not crucial. These games use the foot or hand to hit the ball, and make it significantly easier to hit the ball overall, either by placing significant restrictions on the way the defensive team delivers the ball to the batter, or by giving the batter possession of the ball at the start of each play. Otherwise their rules may be similar or even identical to baseball or cricket. The first two use

3168-528: The festivities at The Old Settlers Jubilee included "an old-fashioned base ball game." Ironically, the only mention of baseball in The Chronicles of Cooperstown describes an old-fashioned game: 1877. A famous game of old-fashioned base ball was played here, in August—Judge Sturges heading the "Reds" and Judge Edick the "Blues"—16 on a side. The victory was with the "Blues." It called together

3240-515: The field and play, as the prejudice against the game was very great." The two groups merged in 1833 to form the Olympic Ball Club. In the introduction to his book Baseball , John Montgomery Ward wrote of the Philadelphia game: it is recorded that the first day for practice enough members were not present to make up town-ball, and so a game of " two-old-cat " was played. This town-ball was so nearly like rounders that one must have been

3312-436: The field, then the batter may become a runner trying to reach a safe haven or "base"/" ground ". While in contact with a base, the runner is "safe" from the fielding team and in a position to score runs. Leaving a safe haven places the runner in danger of being put out (eliminated). The teams switch roles when the fielding team 'puts out'/'gets out' enough of the batting team's players, which varies by game. In modern baseball,

3384-630: The fielders (also known as "position players") operate in a standard set of baseball positions because it is generally possible to cover most of the field by spacing the fielders out in certain ways. By contrast, the significantly larger cricket field has many possible cricket fielding positions , with the 11 fielders occupying the slips cordon behind the batter, or other areas of the field. T20 cricket and baseball both last about 3 hours, while other forms of cricket can last either multiple days or less than three hours . Informal bat-and-ball games may take place in shorter periods of time, and in general,

3456-556: The fielders put three players out . In cricket, they "dismiss" all players but one, though in some forms of cricket, there is a limit on the number of deliveries (scoring opportunities) that each team can have, such that the fielding team can become the batting team without getting anyone out. In many forms of early American baseball ( townball , roundball), a single out ended the inning. Some games permit multiple runners and some have multiple bases to run in sequence. Batting may occur, and running begin (and potentially end), at one of

3528-597: The first game of Philadelphia's 1887 City Series when 9,183 tickets were sold and an "immense crowd" turned out to see the Phillies defeat the Athletics by a score of 10 to 2. Prior to the 1889 season, a new band stand was erected on the left field side next to the grandstand large enough for a 25-piece military band. On March 1, 1890, the Kensington Rovers and Philadelphia South End soccer clubs met at

3600-409: The game at a later date. In cricket, however, which is generally played to only one or two batting turns per team, a match may not be callable for the simple reason that only one of the teams has had the chance to score so far. However, cricket matches that are interrupted by rain can still be considered completable so long as there is enough time left in the match to allow the second-batting team to face

3672-405: The game, fielders could hit the runner with the ball and if he were not on a base he would be called out. But in some, the cross-out was used: the fielder threw the ball so as to cross the runner's path, between him and the next base. A runner who reached fourth base safely was said to have achieved a round or tally. The concept of innings was used: the team with the bat was "in", until put "out" by

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3744-407: The ground. Points are earned either based on the distance the stick travels, or by the batter running to a designated area while the fielders collect the batted stick and throw it back to the hitting area to try to get the batter out. The game ends after each team has batted once, with each team batting until all of its players are out. Striking the ball with a "bat" or any type of stick, or having

3816-577: The large block to be developed. The western half remained vacant. A new American Association team, also called the Athletics, decided to move from their Oakdale Park after their inaugural 1882 season. Beginning in 1883, the Athletics leased the western half of the Jefferson Street lot, and erected a new diamond and grandstands at the northwest corner. Local newspapers then referred to the ballfield location as "26th and Jefferson", where there

3888-404: The losing team batted than the winning team. In some circumstances (e.g. bad weather), a complete game may not be possible in its originally envisioned timeframe because of weather or other reasons. In baseball-like games, which generally have many innings, it is possible to call the result of a game after both teams have batted only a few of their scheduled turns, or otherwise to finish/replay

3960-515: The national culture of several countries that later won their independence from the British. In 1971, the ODI (One Day International) format of cricket was first played internationally; the ODI format shortened cricket from a five-day long game ( Test cricket ) to a one-day long game. In 2003, a new format of cricket called T20 cricket emerged which was designed to last only about three hours. By this time,

4032-418: The national game was not thought of. Eastern boys played field-base, and Western boys town-ball in a free and happy way, with soft balls, primitive bats, and no nonsense. There were no scores, but a catch or a cross-out in town-ball put the whole side out, leaving others to take the bat or "paddle" as it was appropriately called. New Englanders usually called their game "base" or "round ball" (from running 'round

4104-623: The neighborhood before the season closed. The side that got its innings first kept them until school was out or the last boy died. Varieties of town ball remained a popular schoolyard activity, especially in rural areas, well into the 20th century. In recent times the Massachusetts Rules have occasionally been used by "vintage" baseball clubs, such as the Leatherstocking Base Ball Club of Cooperstown, New York. Project Protoball lists Abraham Lincoln as

4176-399: The open prairie. ... The bat was a board, about the general shape of a Roman galley oar and not quite so wide as a barn door. The ball was of solid India rubber; a little fellow could hit it a hundred yards, and a big boy, with a hickory club, could send it clear over the bluffs or across the lake. We broke all the windows in the school-house the first day, and finished up every pane of glass in

4248-418: The opposing side. If one-out, all-out was the rule, the defensive team only needed to retire one man to end the inning. However, the game might also be played as all-out, all-out , meaning that every player had to be retired (as in cricket ) before sides were changed. Matches might be played for an agreed-upon number of innings, or until one side had achieved a requisite number of tallies. Townball's role in

4320-760: The place quite frequently. We boys, for hours at a time played 'town ball' on the vast lawn, and Mr. Lincoln would join ardently in the sport. I remember vividly how he ran with the children; how long were his strides, and how far his coat-tails stuck out behind, and how we tried to hit him with the ball, as he ran the bases. He entered into the spirit of the play as completely as any of us, and we invariably hailed his coming with delight. In his book My Life in Baseball , Ty Cobb wrote about ballplaying in Georgia around 1898: "At eleven and twelve, I liked to play cow-pasture baseball—what we called town ball." He wrote of whacking

4392-410: The playing field is large (at the highest levels of each sport, the minimum distance between the two furthest ends of the field is about 400 to 500 feet (120 to 150 m) ), and is divided into an infield and outfield (based on proximity to the batting area). Cricket has the delivery and hitting of the ball done in the same area where the batters can run (the cricket pitch ), while baseball does

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4464-535: The possibility of a team's batters getting out rapidly in succession makes it theoretically possible for certain periods of play in most bat-and-ball games to end quicker than usual, with the opposite also being possible in some cases. Both baseball and cricket can theoretically go forever, since baseball games end only after a certain number of outs and innings in cricket can be prolonged by illegal deliveries ; however, in limited overs cricket , fielding teams are penalized if they do not bowl enough legal deliveries at

4536-471: The prototype of the other, but town-ball and base-ball were two very different games. When this same town-ball club decided in 1860 to adopt base-ball instead, many of its principal members resigned, so great was the enmity to the latter game. A copy of the Olympic Ball Club's constitution exists, [1] but it contains only rules for governing the club, and no rules for playing ball. Contemporary accounts describe Philadelphia town ball as played with eleven men on

4608-445: The running in a separate area. The distance between the two batsmen's grounds in cricket (the areas that batsmen run between to score runs) is 58 feet (18 m) (though batsmen may run slightly less distance, since they are allowed to use their bats to touch their grounds), while the distance between bases in baseball is 90 feet (27 m) and in softball is 60 feet (18 m). Most bat-and-ball games have playing area in front of

4680-498: The thrown ball. Innings were one-out, all-out and the first club to reach 100 runs was the winner. Although it had its adherents until the 1860s, the Massachusetts game was superseded by the three-out, all-out "New York game" of baseball, with its Knickerbocker Rules which formed the basis of the modern game of baseball. Another term applied retroactively to precursor baseball games was "old-fashioned base ball". This game

4752-426: The vast difference in the duration of the two sports and for other reasons, such as the rising American desire to have some type of national game distinct from England's games, baseball began to grow in America, especially among some of the non-English demographics. Some attempts were made to nativize cricket in a way that would reduce its length and other perceived disadvantages relative to baseball; one example of this

4824-565: Was wicket , an American variation of cricket which could be played in an afternoon. But by the time of the 1860s Civil War , baseball had begun to overtake cricket in popularity; one reason for this was that troops during the Civil War preferred to play baseball, as it did not require a specialized playing surface like the cricket pitch . After the Civil War, baseball became a much more organized sport than cricket in America, with more money and competition available to baseball players across

4896-424: Was an entrance gate. Also by this time, the venue was being called Athletic Grounds or Athletic Park. The Athletics opened the new ballpark to the public on Saturday, April 7, 1883 for a preseason exhibition game against Yale University which Athletic won 12 to 0. It was reported that the new ballpark could accommodate 5,000 to 6,000 fans. One of the largest crowds at the ballpark was recorded on April 4, 1887 for

4968-416: Was called Town Ball. In other regions the local game was named "base", "round ball", "base ball", or just "ball"; after the development of the " New York game " in the 1840s it was sometimes distinguished as the "New England game" or "Massachusetts baseball". The players might be schoolboys in a pasture with improvised balls and bats, or young men in organized clubs. As baseball became dominant, town ball became

5040-630: Was for many years known as the old game of Town Ball, from which the present game of baseball no doubt had its origin, and not from the English children's picnic game of 'Rounders'." Later, in 1905, Spalding organized a panel of experts known as the Mills Commission to investigate the issue. Abner Graves, whose testimony was the basis of the Mills Commission claim that Abner Doubleday invented baseball in 1839, named townball as

5112-530: Was generally identified as a type of baseball with large numbers on each side, where the fielders threw the ball at the runner. The Knickerbocker Antiquarian Base Ball Club of Newark, New Jersey continued to play old-fashioned baseball at least until 1865. After the Civil War , old-timers still put on exhibitions of traditional baseball at picnics and charity events. For instance, in Mauston, Wisconsin in 1888,

5184-440: Was permitted but rare. In 1860 the Olympics converted to the modern "New York game", but the old style was still being played in rural areas. That year, members of Athletic of Philadelphia , originally formed as a town ball club, traveled to Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania , for two contests, one of New York-style baseball and the other of town ball. The Mauch Chunk team defeated the A's, 45–43, at town ball. But playing New York rules,

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