1749.2
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Aging Prince Spends "Several Hours" Playing Bass-Ball in Surrey
| Salience | Prominent |
|---|---|
| Tags | English Base Ball, Famous, Pre-modern RulesEnglish Base Ball, Famous, Pre-modern Rules |
| Location | |
| City/State/Country: | England |
| Modern Address | |
| Game | Bass BallBass Ball |
| Immediacy of Report | Contemporary |
| Age of Players | AdultAdult |
| Holiday | |
| Notables | Prince of Wales, Lord Middlesex |
| Text | "On Tuesday last, his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and Lord Middlesex, played at Bass-Ball (sic), at Walton in Surry (sic); notwithstanding the Weather was extreme bad, they continued playing several Hours." |
| Sources | Whitehall Evening Post, September 19. 1749. David Block's 2013 find was reported at the SABR.org website on 6/19/2103, and it includes interview videos and links to related documentation. Confirmed 6/19/2013 as yielding to a web search of <block royal baseball sabr>. |
| Warning | |
| Comment | Block points out that this very early reference to base-ball indicates that the game was played by adults -- the Prince was 38 years old in 1749, further weakening the view that English base-ball was played mainly by juveniles in its early history. The location of the game was Walton-on-Thames in Surrey. Comparing the 1749 game with modern baseball, Block estimates that the bass-ball was likely played on a smaller scale, with a much softer ball, with batted ball propelled the players' hands, not with a bat, and that runners could be put out by being "plugged" (hit with a thrown ball) between bases. Edit with form to add a comment |
| Query | Only two players were named for this account. Was that because the Prince and Lord Middlesex both led clubs not worthy of mentioning by name, or was there a two-player version of the game then (in the 1800s competitive games of cricket were similarly reported with only two named players)? Edit with form to add a query |
| Source Image | [[Image:|left|thumb]] |
| External Number | |
| Submitted by | David Block |
| Submission Note | Email of 5/31/2013 |
| Has Supplemental Text |
1749.2 Aging Prince Spends "Several Hours" Playing Bass-Ball in Surrey"
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