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"Another challenge from the Brook has been accepted by the Hill, and the game will be played Saturday next." +
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1874 Lee Club location +
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<div>[] "I had always supposed that the balk rule was introduced by the crafters of the New York game, but this passage suggests it began to be practiced at some earlier time." David Block, 19CBB posting, 1/28/2014.</div>
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<p>[] "I wrote in my book [R. Hershberger. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Strike Four</span>, Rowman and Littlefield, 2019, page 37] that the balk rule seemed to be novel to the 1845 Knickerbocker rules. Evidently not. While this is two years later, it also is from [nearly] a hundred miles away in Kingston, NY, and presented as a homespun saying from the writer's youth." -- Richard Hershberger, 12/9/2020.</p>
<p>[]<em> Added Local color</em>: "Rondout has been, since 1870, an unincorporated hamlet within the city of Kingston (where I lived for decade; it was called "Rondout" because of its adjoining Roundout Creek, which fed into the Hudson River). The <em>Rondout Freeman</em> in its first incarnation may have indeed lasted till 1847 (founded 1845):<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86071034/">https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86071034/</a>.</p>
<p>"Hudson is a large city about 25 miles north of Kingston, on the other side of the Hudson River, in Columbia County. Today a bridge connects my hometown of Catskill (west bank) with Hudson (east bank). Taghkanic is the proper spelling of the tribe for whom today is named the Taconic Parkway." - John Thorn, email of 12/10/2020.</p>
<p>[]The terms <em>"balk</em>" and <em>"baulk"</em> are both used in period sources. As of December 2020, a search of "balk" fetches 91 hits in Richard Hershberger's generous <span style="text-decoration: underline;">19C Clippings</span> file; a "balk OR baulk" search yields 102 hits. There are no hits for "balk" or "Baulk" in David <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Block's file</span> on English baseball-like games.</p>
<p>[] As of 12/12/2020, Protoball has no other record of the balk prior to 1845. </p>
<p>For a succinct summary of our desultory learning about balks/baulks from 2010 to 2020, see the <strong>Supplementary Text</strong>, below.</p>
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<div><span>[] "Here is another early example of baseball terminology being used to illustrate a non-sports topic."</span></div>
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<div><span>The text appeared in the June 5, 1847 issue of the <em>Roundout Freeman</em> (Roundout was a Hudson River community that has since been swallowed by the town of Kingston).</span></div>
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<div>"I had always supposed that the balk rule was introduced by the crafters of the New York game, but this passage suggests it began to be practiced at some earlier time."</div>
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<div>-- David Block, 11/12/2010</div>
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<div><span><span>[] "I wrote in my book [R. Hershberger. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Strike Four,</span> Rowman and Littlefield, 2019, page 37] that the balk rule seemed to be novel to the 1845 Knickerbocker rules. Evidently not. While this is two years later, it also is from [nearly] a hundred miles away in Kingston, NY, and presented as a homespun saying from the writer's youth." -- Richard Hershberger, 19CBB posting, 12/9/2020</span></span></div>
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<div><span><span>[] John Thorn, email of 1/31/2023: "This will testify to the antiquity of the balk rule and give a hint that it meant a feint." -- John Thorn, 1/31/2023 </span></span></div>
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<div>[] As of February 2023, Protoball has no other data on pre-1845 balk rules. Richard Hershberger hasn't found any yet.</div>
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<div>[] Added Local color: "Rondout has been since 1870, an unincorporated hamlet within the city of Kingston (where I lived for decade; it was called "Rondout" because of its adjoining Roundout Creek, which fed into the Hudson River). The <em>Rondout Freeman</em> in its first incarnation may have indeed lasted till 1847 (founded 1845):<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86071034/">https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86071034/</a>.</div>
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<p>"Hudson is a large city about 25 miles north of Kingston, on the other side of the Hudson River, in Columbia County. Today a bridge connects my hometown of Catskill (west bank) with Hudson (east bank). Taghkanic is the proper spelling of the tribe for whom today is named the Taconic Parkway." </p>
<p>-- John Thorn, email of 12/10/2020.</p>
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