1786.1

"Baste Ball" Played at Princeton

Salience	Noteworthy
Tags	College, Pre-Knicks NYCCollege, Pre-Knicks NYC
Location
City/State/Country:	Princeton, NJ, United States
Modern Address
Game	Base BallBase Ball
Immediacy of Report	Contemporary
Age of Players	YouthYouth
Holiday
Notables
Text	From a Princetlon student's diary: "A fine day, play baste ball in the campus but am beaten for I miss both catching and striking the ball."
Sources	Smith, John Rhea, March 22 1786, in "Journal at Nassau Hall," Princeton Library MSS, AM 12800. Per Thomas L. Altherr, "A Place Leavel Enough to Play Ball," reprinted in David Block, Baseball Before We Knew It, page 240 (ref # 45). Also found in Gerald S. Couzens, A Baseball Album [Lippincott and Crowell, NY, 1980], page 15. Per Guschov, page 153.
Warning
Comment	This use of the tern "baste ball" precedes the first known use of "base ball" in the US: see protoball entry 1791.1. Note: Princeton was known as the College of New Jersey until 1896. Edit with form to add a comment
Query	An article has appeared about Smith's journal. See Woodward, Ruth, "Journal at Nassau Hall," PULC 46 (1985), pp. 269-291, and PULC 47 (1986), pp 48-70. Note: Does this article materially supplement our appreciation of Smith's brief comment? Edit with form to add a query
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