Antedating of "baseball" (except Jane Austen)

[Fred Shapiro]

On Tue, 28 Feb 2006, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> The Farmers' Cabinet [Amherst, New Hampshire], 2 Aug. 1861, page 3.
> "Correspondence from the Second New Hampshire Regiment".
> [Early American Newspapers]
>
> Capt. Weston stood like a hero, and as shot and shell flew over our
> heads, he kept his jokes going as though we were playing base ball.
>
> antedates OED3 sense a. 1870-, except c1815 Austen.

There are many pre-1815 citations that have been found for "base ball,"
going back to a 1744 children's book (earliest existing edition is 1760).

Fred Shapiro


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