1856.10

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French Work Describes Poisoned Ball and La Balle au Baton

Salience Noteworthy
Tags Pre-modern Rules
Location France
City/State/Country: France
Game Poisoned Ball
Age of Players Juvenile
Text

Beleze, Par G., Jeux des adolescents [Paris, L. Hachette et Cie], This author's portrayal of balle empoisonee is seen as similar to its earlier coverage up to 40 years before; its major variant involves two teams who exchange places regularly, outs are recorded by means of caught flies and runners plugged between bases, and four or five bases comprise the infield. Hitters, however, used their bare hands as bats. Block sees the second game, la balle au baton, as a scrub game played without teams. The ball was put in play by fungo hits with a bat, and was reported to be most often seen in Normandie, where it was known as teque or theque. 

 
Sources

per David Block, Baseball Before We Knew It, page 217. 

Comment

The game of Grand Theque [big stick] is explored in "Les Jeux de plein air. La Grand Theque," la Revue des Sportes, Dec. 12, 1888, and in "un tres ancien jeu normand. La Teque," le viquet (1994). These French language sources claim that Teque is related to Rounders and Baseball, and also claim that Teque/Rounders is the predecessor game to baseball. See the Origins Committee Newsletter, May 2021, for more. [ba]

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Query

Is it significant that this book features games for adolescents, not younger children?

Answer: the articles cited in the comment make clear that Grand Theque, at least, was played by adults as well as children. [ba]

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