"Base ball"

[Robin Hamilton]

> No ex. of the first printing (1744) seems to be extant.  The earliest
> "edition" available seems to be the "Tenth," of 1760.
>
> JL

Fair point, but even a 1760 date still places the term "base ball" before
American Independence.  (And I'd be inclined to credit an earlier "lost"
edition, given that children's books, like detective paperbacks, tend to be
read to death rather than sold on.)

There seem to be some early American editions of _A Little Pretty
Pocket-Book_, which might suggest that the term "base ball" had currency in
America before the word "rounders" appeared in either England or America.
At the very least, it doesn't look as if it's something as simple as the
term "rounders" being used for the English game, and "baseball" for the
American one.

The OED gives citations for "cricket" from the late 16thC, so this would
seem to be the earliest term to appear.   None of the early citations seem
sufficiently specific to be able to distinguish the nature of the actual
game being played from "base ball", if there was indeed a difference.  I had
thought that cricket and baseball evolved from a common ancestor, but it
looks more as if cricket came first, only later followed by the version
played with bases.

As to rules, I wondered whether this might be a reflex of nineteenth century
regimentation on both sides of the Pond, but a quick glance at the evidence
doesn't seem entirely to support this:

ROUNDERS

"The first nationally formalised rules were drawn up by the Gaelic Athletic
Association (GAA) in Ireland in 1884."
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rounders

CRICKET

"However, these laws were not universally followed, with different games
played under different guidance. On 30 May 1788, the Marylebone Cricket
Club, which had been formed by the leading noblemen and gentlemen playing
the game just one year before, produced its first Code of Laws."
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_Cricket#History

BOXING

"In 1867, the Marquess of Queensberry rules were drafted by John Chambers
for amateur championships held at Lillie Bridge in London for Lightweights,
Middleweights and Heavyweights. The rules were published under the patronage
of the Marquess of Queensberry, whose name has always been associated with
them."
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing#Marquess_of_Queensberry_rules_.281867.29

Robin

> On Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 1:59 PM, Robin Hamilton <
> robin.hamilton3 at virginmedia.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Robin Hamilton <robin.hamilton3 at VIRGINMEDIA.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: "Base ball"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Anent Rounders and Baseball ...
>>
>> The OED (ROUNDER 2a. pl.) has the earliest reference to this as the name
>> of
>> a game from 1828.
>>
>> We can divide Games-Where-A-Ball-Is-Hit-By-A-Stick into three categories.
>>
>>    Hit-on-the-ground [teams] -- lacrosse, hockey, polo, shinty
>>    Hit-in-the-air [individual, or pairs of participants] -- Tennis
>> (original and modern), squash, badminton
>>    Throw-at-a-hitter [teams] -- cricket and (modern sense) baseball
>>
>>            (Which leaves golf as an outlier, but then it originated in
>> Scotland.)
>>
>> My sense from the various quotations deployed is that both Cricket and
>> The
>> Other Game originated as informal activities.  In the UK, this division
>> became formalised as cricket-with-rules (played predominantly by adults)
>> and
>> rounders (played predominantly by children and their parents, usually at
>> the
>> seaside).
>>
>> The earliest use of the term "base-ball" seems to be the occurrence in
>> 1744:
>>
>>        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Little_Pretty_Pocket-Book
>>
>> "_A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, intended for the Amusement of Little
>> Master
>> Tommy and Pretty Miss Polly with Two Letters from Jack the Giant Killer_
>> is
>> the title of a 1744 children's book by British publisher John Newbery. It
>> is
>> generally considered the first children's book, and consists of simple
>> rhymes for each of the letters of the alphabet."
>>
>> The Wiki entry on this reproduces the appropriate page, with an image of
>> three players, one of whom is holding a ball and presumably about to
>> throw
>> it.  This is versified thus:
>>
>>        The _Ball_ once struck off,
>>            Away flies the _Boy_
>>        To the next destin'd Post,
>>            And then Home with Joy.
>>
>> Thus there is a game which involves running from base to base extant in
>> 1744, before the American colonies secede from their parent country, and
>> this game is originally called (appropriately enough) "base-ball".
>>
>> Presumably this ur-game then evolves into the informal family game of
>> rounders in the UK, and independently in the US into the formalised game
>> of
>> baseball.  This would fit with the UK variety of the game not being
>> called
>> rounders (as such) till well into the nineteenth century.
>>
>> Robin
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------
>> From: "David A. Daniel" <dad at POKERWIZ.COM>
>> Sent: Monday, July 19, 2010 5:41 PM
>>  To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: "Base ball"
>>
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail
>> > header -----------------------
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       "David A. Daniel" <dad at POKERWIZ.COM>
>> > Subject:      Re: "Base ball"
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > That OED entry about baseball being a version of rounders was clearly
>> > needling by the lexicographer/editor/publisher - whoever wrote it
>> > and/or
>> > let
>> > it go through.

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