Chronology:Cavalry Base Ball
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1867.26 "Cavalry Base Ball" Illustration Printed in Pittsburgh
"A CAVALRY GAME
The October number of one of the Comic Monthlies, contains an illustration of a Cavalry game of base ball, which it says is patented. On a large field is placed a picked nine, 'operating' on horse-back; the left field, centre field, and right field occupy appropriate positions. The pitcher has a cannon that looks like one of the Fort Pitt twenty-inch guns (this exceeds Pratt, the lightening pitcher), and is pitching a ball by means of it at one of the cavalrymen, whose bat is raised to stop it; home-runs, short-stops, and the other points of the game are well illustrated. The umpire occupies a block house, from which protrude two telescopes, and the picture generally has a military aspect. One of the chief advantages of the horse-back game is to be found in the ease with which the home-runs ae accomplished."
Pittsburgh Daily Commercial, September 5, 1867, page 4.
Note: Protoball is not familiar enough with 1860s humor to determine exactly how authentic this report is. Bare ball-shooting guns sound pretty iffy. But 1867 was the start of Base Ball Fever, and we guess someone might have tried mounted forms of the game. |
Are other baserunning games known that were to be played on horseback?
Do we know what "Comic Monthlies" were?