1829.5

Town Ball Takes Off in Philadelphia?

Salience	Noteworthy
Tags
Location	PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia
City/State/Country:	[[{{{Country}}}]]
Modern Address
Game	Town BallTown Ball
Immediacy of Report
Age of Players
Holiday
Notables
Text	A group of young rope makers is reported to have played a game of ball in 1829 at 18^th and Race Streets. William Ryczek, Baseball's First Inning (McFarland, 2009), page 114. Ryczek cites a 2006 email from Richard Hershberger as the source of the location of the game. He identifies this game as perhaps the earliest known form of town ball, but Hershberger is unconvinced (see Warning, below).
Sources
Warning	Citing the makeup of these players as differing from that of early town ball players' reports, and seeing the 1829 account as more of a morality tale than a reliable report, Richard Hershberger (email of 10/31/12) discounts this item as an account of the origins of Philadelphia town ball. In 1831 two organized groups, which later merged, played town ball: for a succinct history of the origins of Philadelphia town ball, see Richard Hershberger, "A Reconstruction of Philadelphia Town Ball," Base Ball, volume 1 number 2 (Fall 2007), pp 28-29.
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Query	Can we find the source of this 1829 account? Edit with form to add a query
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Has Supplemental Text

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