1856.10

French Work Describes Poisoned Ball and La Balle au Baton

Salience	Noteworthy
Tags	Pre-modern RulesPre-modern Rules
Location	FranceFrance
City/State/Country:	France
Modern Address
Game	Poisoned BallPoisoned Ball
Immediacy of Report
Age of Players	JuvenileJuvenile
Holiday
Notables
Text	Beleze, Par G., Jeux des adolescents [Paris, L. Hachette et Cie], This author's portrayal of balle empoisonee is seen as similar to its earlier coverage up to 40 years before; its major variant involves two teams who exchange places regularly, outs are recorded by means of caught flies and runners plugged between bases, and four or five bases comprise the infield. Hitters, however, used their bare hands as bats. Block sees the second game, la balle au baton, as a scrub game played without teams. The ball was put in play by fungo hits with a bat, and was reported to be most often seen in Normandie, where it was known as teque or theque.
Sources	per David Block, Baseball Before We Knew It, page 217.
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Query	What are the "other sources" for playing theque? Is it significant that this book features games for adolescents, not younger children? Edit with form to add a query
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Has Supplemental Text

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