Baseball before we knew it potx

[...]... fortuitous accident These findings demonstrate that while the quest for baseball s wellspring may have lay dormant for decades, the prospects endure for its fruitful resumption My hope is that Baseball before We Knew It will renew interest in this unfinished business When planning the book I came to realize that the subject of baseball s evolution could not be satisfied by a traditional linear approach Before. .. played with a ball, bat, and bases Learning of these earlier games helps us to understand that, while baseball as we know it is truly American and truly reflective of our national spirit and identity, it was not born in a vacuum It came from somewhere, and by understanding the voyage of baseball to our shores, and its subsequent development into the fierce sport and big business that it is today, we can... a stamp in my stamp collection In those days, baseball ruled my world As its creator, Abner Doubleday occupied a hallowed spot in my personal hall of heroes So when, sometime in the sixties, it finally clicked that old Abner had nothing to do with the birth of baseball, it was more than a big letdown It was a blow that on its own small scale fit right in with the larger, more somber disillusionments of... she shares full credit for getting me to this point, and for everything this book accomplishes acknowledgments : : : xxv ❖ baseball before we knew it 1 uncertainty as to the paternity ❖ The age-old debate over baseball s ancestry has always been long on bluster and short on facts Since the earliest days of the game’s prominence in America, writers have been eager to expound upon its origins That they... from bagatelle It is like Mr Darwin’s 4 : : : uncertaint y as to t he paternit y theory of the origin of man — it lacks the necessary connecting links to carry out the idea The game of baseball seems to have sprung up, just as any game has It has improved each year until it has reached its present state A claim might just as well be made that rounders had its origin in cricket as that baseball sprung... shedding new light on their derivations and showing how their respective explanations for the birth of baseball are at variance with known historical evidence Separating fact from fancy in the realm of early baseball scholarship was the prerequisite to the second stage of Baseball before We Knew It, in which I endeavored to explore the terrain upon which our National Pastime was constructed Casting... each historian who approaches a topic with a fresh perspective will invariably build upon and correct the findings of those who have gone before Through Baseball before We Knew It I have tried to expand the universe of knowledge about the beginnings of baseball, while also providing a launch point for further explorations I hold no illusions that my efforts, combined with those of other present and future... annotated bibliography of the titles he’d acquired or knew about that referenced baseball and related games As the bibliography itself reached book length, he realized it needed an introduction to place the books in context While looking for material to include in his introduction that could help his readers understand how baseball evolved, Block discovered that little that had been written on the topic was... they generally had no clue of what they were talking about never seemed to slow them down As early as 1856 the editors of Porter’s Spirit of the Times, one of the earliest sporting journals to cover baseball, mused on the game’s derivation: Notwithstanding the antiquity of Cricket, which was introduced to the U.S by Englishmen resident among us, we must confess that we feel a degree of old Knickerbockie... and became baseball, raising many questions while it answers others Let the games begin! Tim Wiles Director of Research National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum xviii : : : foreword preface ❖ Abner Doubleday invented the game of baseball in 1839 at Cooperstown, New York This was an unassailable truth of my 1950s boyhood It was taught to me by my father It was inscribed in my schoolbooks It was even . alt="" ❖ baseball before we knew it 00-N3182-FM 11/9/04 8:32 AM Page i Base 00-N3182-FM 11/9/04 8:32 AM Page ii before we knew ballit A Search for the Roots of the Game david block With a foreword. touring exhibition entitled Baseball as America”; its exhibit label reads in part: “Double- day didn’t invent baseball, baseball invented Doubleday.” Yet despite such blunt clarity, these changes. 124 10. It s Starting to Look Familiar 134 11. Baseball before We Knew It 152 00-N3182-FM 11/9/04 8:32 AM Page viii Early Baseball Bibliography: Roots of the Game in Pre–Civil War Literature