Origins

History tells us that baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday in 1839. It is now generally accepted that this is more of a myth, than a fact. So then, when and where was baseball invented? Is it really the great American pastime, or do we owe the origin of the sport to Mother England?

Well, in April 2004, Pittsfield, Massachusetts received national publicity for a 1791 bylaw, which is believed to be the earliest written reference to baseball in North America. The transcription goes:

At a legal Meeting of the Inhabitants of the Town of Pittsfield qualified to vote in Town Meetings, holden on Monday the fifth day of Sept. 1791 Voted 

The following ByeLaw, for the Preservation of the Windows in the New Meeting House in said Town ______ viz, 

Be it ordained by the said Inhabitants that no Person, an Inhabitant of said Town, shall be permitted to play at any Game called Wicket, Cricket, Baseball, Batball, Football, Cat, Fives or any other Game or Games with Balls within the Distance of Eighty Yards from said Meeting House __ and every such Person who shall play at any of the said Games or other Games with Balls within the Distance aforesaid, shall for any Instance thereof, forfeit the Sum of five schillings to be recovered by Action of Debt brought before any Justice of the Peace to the Use of the Person who shall sue and prosecute therefor _____ 

And be it further ordained that in every Instance where any Minor shall be guilty of a Breach of this Law, his Parent, Master, Mistress or Guardian shall forfeit the like Sum to be recovered in Manner and to the Use aforesaid ____

So does mean American wins? Not quite! The Oxford English Dictionary now has an example of baseball being used in written form dating from 1748: “Now, in the winter, in a large room, they divert themselves at base-ball, a play all who are, or have been, schoolboys, are well acquainted with.” This entry was written by an English person, giving more validity to the notion that “America’s game” evolved in England and was imported to the New World in the 18th century.