1809.1

Americans in London Play "A Game Called Ball," Seen as a "Novelty" By Locals

Salience	Prominent
Tags	Pre-modern RulesPre-modern Rules
Location	LondonLondon
City/State/Country:	London, England
Modern Address
Game	BallBall
Immediacy of Report	Contemporary
Age of Players	AdultAdult
Holiday
Notables
Text	"On Wednesday a match for 80 guineas, at a game called Ball. was played by Eight American Gentlemen, in a field on the side of the Commercial-road. The novelty of the game attracted the attention of the passing multitude, who departed highly gratified."
Sources	Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser (London), June 23, 1809, page 2. See David Block, Pastime Lost: The Humble, Original, and Now Completely Forgotten Game of English Baseball (University of Nebraska Press, 2019), page 237.
Warning
Comment	Block adds: "Other games besides baseball, of course, could have borne the label Ball on that occasion, but none seem obvious. Cricket, football, trap-ball, stool-ball, golf, and various games in the hockey family ,including bandy, hurling, and shinty, all had a presence in the British Isles in that era, but there is no reason the passing multitude in London that day would have considered any of them a "novelty." Edit with form to add a comment
Query	Does the sum of 80 guineas as the game's stakes imply anything about the players? Edit with form to add a query
Source Image	[[Image:\|left\|thumb]]
External Number
Submitted by	David Block
Submission Note	Email of 8/24/2020
Has Supplemental Text

Comments