First Interscholastic Ball Game

Pre-pro Baseball

Andover, MA Firsts, Games, Clubs, Fields, Predecessor Games Greater New York City Firsts, Games, Clubs, Fields, Predecessor Games MA Firsts, Games, Clubs, Fields, Predecessor Games United States Firsts, Games, Clubs, Fields, Predecessor Games

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Date	Circa 1853 Date not recorded
Location	Andover, MA, United States
Modern Address
Description	The Phillips Academy, in Andover MA, is reported to have played a game against the Andover Theological Seminary in 1853. A Phillips student named Hardy reportedly wrote: "The Theologues were not too dignified in those days to play matches with the academy." Caveat:  This game was very unlikely to have followed modern rules.  Writing of it later, participants termed the game "round ball," and a writer in 1917 called it "rounders." Query: Are we persuaded that the two institutions were separately administered?
Sources	Recollections by William Hardy, Phillips Class of 1853, cited in Fred H. Harrison, Chapter 2, "The Hard-Ball Game," in Athletics for All (Phillips Academy, 1983).  Harrison does not give a source for the Hardy quote, apparently. Recollections of Andover student William Mowry, cited in C. M. Fuess, An Old New England School: A History of Phillips Academy, Andover (Houghton Mifflin, 1917), pp. 449-450.
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