Block:English Baseball in Kent on November 25 1892
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| Data | A clergyman suggested that “baseball” was among the games played by Edward VI, the “boy king” who ruled England in the mid-16th century. A Kent newspaper published a series of lectures given by the Reverend George J. Blore on the subject of the English Reformation. In one of them, the reverend alluded to a diary kept by the young Edward VI: “...he recorded his experiences in a curiously methodical journal, where he entered with equally matter of fact brevity great matters of State, and the games of baseball got up for his amusement.” |
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| Sources | Kent & Sussex Courier (Tunbridge Wells), Nov. 25, 1892, p. 6 |
| Block Notes | If this mind-boggling assertion of 16th century baseball seems too good to be true, be assured that it is. Edward VI, the young, highly intelligent son of Henry VII did, indeed, keep a detailed journal during his short life (he died from pneumonia at the age of 15). The journal entries that Rev. Blore interpreted as baseball were entered by Edward on two days in the year 1550. The first, on March 31st, read: “A chaleng made by me that I, with 16 of my chaumbre, shuld runne at base, shote, and rune at ring with any 17 of my servauntes, gentlemen in the court.” The outcome of the challenge was revealed the next day, April 1st: “The first day of the chaleng at base, or running, the King wane.” Plainly, these entries make reference to the game of prisoner's base, not baseball. Reverend Blore would not be the first nor the last to get the two confused. |
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