Baseball in England in 1896

[Ubiquitous]

Baseball just before the turn of the century (http://books.google.com/books?id=CZoEAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=baseball&lr=&as_brr=1#PPP13,M1) London, England. Plus it has some chapters on American ball and a complete rules book as well.

Unusual form

[hubkittel]

You have to love Google Books (http://books.google.com/books) (and expired copyrights). I use it all the time in my research. It's a fantastic tool and I'm at the point with it now where I don't even know what's in my digital library anymore. I actually had the book you linked to in it and didn't even remember saving it. It's a good book.

[rrhersh]

An original copy is available through abebooks for a mere $650, in case anyone was wondering what to get me for Christmas...

[jjpm74]

That "pitcher" is holding a cricket ball and delivering a pitch the way one would in cricket. Is there definitive proof that picture is of a person playing baseball?

[beisbolfiebre]

Interesting observation. I was wondering if this was a cricket match because of the unusual stance of the pitcher.

Problem is, the British do not use the word "pitcher". Their word is "bowler". Also, there are no stumps, no popping crease, and no batsmen's demarcation lines.

There is an old sport called British or Welsh baseball. However, in that ancient sport which is still played though very rarely nowadays, the bowler (again, the word pitcher is not used) throws underhanded.

[rrhersh]

Interesting observation. I was wondering if this was a cricket match because of the unusual stance of the pitcher.

Problem is, the British do not use the word "pitcher". Their word is "bowler". Also, there are no stumps, no popping crease, and no batsmen's demarcation lines.

I am not expert on vintage photography, but I think it is a good bet that this picture was posed rather than being an action shot. With a posed photo there is some element of conventional poses, and of what people think a pitcher looks like (or should look like) which may or may not be what a pitcher really looks like. It seems plausible that an Englishman's conventional pose for a baseball pitcher would be influenced by cricket. It is also plausible that the actual delivery might also be influenced by cricket. It might be possible to look at American observers' reactions. If we found an account by an American ballplayer commenting that English baseball pitchers' delivery was like cricket bowlers', then we would have something. As it is, we don't know. For what it is worth, Amercan poses of ballplayers aren't all that realistic.


There is an old sport called British or Welsh baseball. However, in that ancient sport which is still played though very rarely nowadays, the bowler (again, the word pitcher is not used) throws underhanded.

"British baseball" is simply one of several codes of rounders. They changed the name in the early 1890s for marketing reasons. Modern organized rounders is clearly influenced by cricket: typically playing two innings, having eleven men on a side, borrowing even more vocabulary than does baseball. This is interesting, but we shouldn't read too much into it. Cricket is a much higher prestige sport, so it is unsurprising that another, related game might converge a bit on it.

[beisbolfiebre]

posed rather than being an action shot


Again, a very interesting observation.

Another thought that occurred to me was the fact that pitchers used the old egg beater wind up in those days. Perhaps the photographer caught him using it before the ball was thrown.

As for the modern game of British basbeall, I actually owned a Brit style bat with the flat surface in the early 60s. In those days we still played a bit of rounders and Brit ball in Brooklyn. Having moved away many years ago, I suppose these aren't played anymore.

Does anyone remember the old game of one old cat?

And what was that game called in Brooklyn?

:cap:

[beisbolfiebre]

Ah! Nobody from Brooklyn remembered that one old cat was called one against all.

Shows you how old and over the hill I am!