1857.23

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Princeton Freshmen Establish Nassau Base Ball Club

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Text	"In the fall of '57, a few members of the [Princeton University - Princeton NJ] Freshmen [sic] class organized the Nassau Baseball [sic] Club to play baseball although only a few members had seen the game and fewer still had played. [A description follows of attempts to clear a playing area, a challenge being made to the Sophomores, and the selection of 15 players for each side.] After each party had played five innings, the Sophomores had beaten their antagonists by twenty-one rounds, and were declared victorious." The account goes on to report that the next spring, "baseball clubs of all descriptions were organized on the back campus and 'happiness on such occasions seemed to rule the hour.'" The account also reflects on the coming of base ball: "in seven years [1857] a new game superseded handball in student favor - it was 'town ball' or the old Connecticut game." Query: [1] "The old CT game?" Wasn't that wicket? Source: "Baseball at Princeton," Athletics at Princeton: A History (Presbrey Company, New York, 1901), page 66. Available on Google Books. Original sources are not provided. Caution: The arrival of the New York style of play was still a year into the future.
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1857.23 Princeton Freshmen Establish Nassau Base Ball Club"

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