Positivity in Sports History #20 (special edition!) - Baseball is from France, Cricket invented in Belgium! (February 27, 1874 revealed the truth!)
Dear Steemians, even being in the middle of the massive carnival phase I still need to fulfil my daily task in Sports History Today.
So what happened that day in the past? On February 27, 1874 Baseball was first played in England, at Lord's Cricket Grounds.
Baseball English origins? (Source: Moc Museum)
Why is this an important date you might ask?
Well, Baseball has its origins in the US – the country that is so much linked to England like no other nation. But was Baseball really invented in the US or is that just a fakenews?
An extract from an 18th-century diary containing the oldest known reference to baseball was among the items on display in am exhibition in London some years ago exploring the English origins and cricketing connections of America's national sport.
While baseball was always claimed to have been invented in the U.S. in the mid-19th century, recent findings suggest a sport of the same name may have evolved decades earlier alongside cricket, crossing the Atlantic with English settlers to the American colonies. Wow, what a news!
Wikipedia explains the entire story - i summarised this in the following (but giving Wikipedia the credit!)
The evolution of baseball from older bat-and-ball games is difficult to trace with precision. A French manuscript from 1344 contains an illustration of clerics playing a game, possibly la soule, with similarities to baseball. Other old French games such as thèque, la balle au bâton, and la balle empoisonnée also appear to be related - oh la la this gets really interesting now!
Consensus once held that today's baseball is (or was) a North American development from the older game rounders, popular in Great Britain and Ireland.
There was a research conducted by David Block, called "Baseball Before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game" from 2005 which suggests that the game originated in England with some other recent historical evidence supports. So what did Block argue? He claims that rounders and early baseball were actually regional variants of each other, and that the game's most direct antecedents are the English games of stoolball and "tut-ball".
Since a longer period it has been believed that cricket also descends from such games, though evidence uncovered in early 2009 suggests that cricket may have been imported to England from Flanders - this is Belgium if I am not completely wrong!?
So in summary one could say - Cricket is a game from Belgium - Baseball stems from France!
I will leave the final vote by the readers - what do you think, what is your opinion? Does it even matter in our global world that requires international communities to cooperate? In a world where everyone should have same rights, male and female, no matter where they come from?
Steem on - Namaste - Keep Steemit a positive platform by all means! Great to be here! Thanks for all your support fellow minnows, dolphins and whales! We are here to create a new positive system!
Me with a Budweiser and Spanish colleague @ San Diego Padres Stadium (to keep up with carnival and beer)
Sources: CNN, Wikipedia, Sabr.org, Baseball Heritage Museum, Pixabay
To see what happened in Sports History already - check the links below:
February 23: Olympics Lake Placid
February 17: Invention of the Bike
February 15: Olympic gold twice
February 12: Team Canada Ice Hockey
February 11: Mike Tyson knocked out
February 10: Mark Spitz Birthday
February 9: Volleyball invented
1598 is the earliest recorded reference, though it is believed to have been played from 1550. Wikipedia is a terrible source for subjects like this. Much of the terminology is French in origin because the language of the British Court was French. 'Guichet' became wicket, for example.
The first ever international match was between the USA and Canada in Pennsylvania. I could ramble on ... I am a 'playing' member of MCC, the holder of the rules of cricket based at Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London.
I nearly forgot to vote ... but I returned!!
Thanks @ebryans so the French terminology does not confirm the truth where both games come from?
Cricket came from England, without a shadow of a doubt. Baseball came about through various versions of rounders, as you quite correctly suggested. The sack of flour is a relic.
The earliest extant and descriptive reference is from 1744 in 'A Little Pretty Pocket-Book' where it was called "base-ball" by John Newbery.
The exact history and age of the game of rounders is unknown and can be said to have been lost in the mists of time. Hitting a ball with a stick is barely definable as a sport and will have taken on many guises, depending upon the conditions and space available.
It is believed that rounders originated in the British Isles and it has been documented as being played in the Tudor age, between 1485 and 1603, but there have also been similar games recorded from Europe.
In Germany, the game of schlagball was played in the 15th century. This game had very similar structure as rounders and made use of bases, bat and ball. Russia has a similar game called Lapta that strongly resembles rounders and dates back to a similar era.
https://steemit.com/cricket/@mehrab/champions-trophy-2017-pak-vs-india
https://steemit.com/cricket/@mehrab/champions-trophy-2017-pak-vs-india