Last Updated March 11, 2010
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Cricket in the
A Working Chronology
Note: This list was derived from
version 11 of the full Protoball Chronology, which was uploaded in April
2010. (Search term: cricket.) Additional relevant entries may have been
added to any later versions of the full Chronology; not all entries on this
subchronology are necessarily identical to those on the most recently updated
full Chronology. Readers are encouraged
to suggest or perform updates. Please
send notes about omissions, mistakes, typos, etc, to lmccray@mit.edu.
Caveat: The reader should keep in mind that some early American accounts of “playing ball” could have referred to cricket-playing. This working chronology is restricted to accounts that explicitly cite “cricket” or demonstrably similar terms.
1656.1 – Dutch Prohibit “Playing
Ball,” Cricket on Sundays in New
In October 1656
Director-General Peter Stuyvesant announced a stricter Sabbath Law in New
Netherlands, including fine of a one pound Flemish for “playing ball,” cricket,
tennis, ninepins, dancing, drinking, etc.
Source: 13: Doc Hist., Volume Iv, pp.13-15, and Father Jogues’ papers in
NY Hist. Soc. Coll., 1857, pp. 161-229, as cited in Manual of the Reformed
Church in America
Note: It
would be useful to ascertain what Dutch phrase was translated as “playing
ball,” and whether the phrase denotes a certain type of ballplay. The
population of
1709.1 – A Form of [Two-man and
Four-man] Cricket Played in
In an April 25, 1709 diary entry, William Byrd, owner
of the
On May 6 of the same year he noted: “I rose about 6
o'clock and Colonel Ludwell, Nat Harrison, Mr. Edwards and myself played at
cricket, and I won a bit [presumably an eighth of a Spanish dollar]. Then
we played at whist and I won. About
Wright, Louis B., and Marion Tinling, eds., The
Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover 1709-1712 [Dietz Press,
1737.3 – Cricket Played
A Journal of the Proceedings in Georgia, II, page 217, as cited in Lester, ed., A
Century of Philadelphia Cricket [U Penn, 1951], page 4. Lester cites this
account as the first mention of American cricket.
1751.1 – First Recorded US Cricket Match Played, “For a Considerable Wager,” in NYC
“Last Monday afternoon, a match at cricket was play’d
on our Common for a considerable Wager, by eleven Londoners, against eleven New
Yorkers: The game was play’d according to the London Method; and those
who got most notches in two Hands, to be the Winners: The New Yorkers went in
first, and got 81; Then the Londoners went in, and got but 43; Then the New
Yorkers went in again, and got 86; and the Londoners finished the Game with
getting only 37 more.” New York Gazette Revived,
This was the first recorded cricket match played in
1754.1 -- Marylanders Play “Great Cricket Match for a Good Sum”
“We hear that there is to be a great cricket match for
a good sum played on Saturday next, near Mr. Aaron Rawling’s Spring, between
eleven young men of this city [Annapolis] and the same number from Prince
George’s County [now a Washington suburban community]”
Bradford’s Journal, August 1, 1754, as cited in Lester’s A Century of Philadelphia
Cricket UPenn Press,
1754.2 – Ben Franklin Brings Copy of Cricket Rules Back to
Several
sources, including the Smithsonian, magazine, report that “The rules of the
game on this side of the Atlantic were formalized in 1754, when Benjamin
Franklin brought back from England a copy of the [ten year old – LMc] 1744
Laws, cricket’s official rule book.”
Simon Worrall, “Cricket, Anyone?” Smithsonian Magazine, October
2006. The excerpt can be found in the
seventh paragraph of the article [as accessed 10/19/2008] at:
http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/issues/2006/october/cricket.php:
Lester adds
this: “Benjamin Franklin was
sufficiently interested in the game [cricket] to bring back with him from
1762.2 –
“. . . no Person shall use the Exercise of playing or
kicking of Foot-ball, or the Exercise of Bat-and-Ball, or Cricket, within the
Body of the Town, under a Penalty of One Shilling and Six Pence.”
By-Laws and Orders of the town of
1766.1 – Cricket Balls Advertised in US by James Rivington
In 1766 “James Rivington imported battledores and shuttlecocks,
cricket-balls, pillets, best racquets for tennis and fives, backgammon tables
with men, boxes, and dice.”
Singleton, Esther, Social New York Under the
Georges [
1766.2 -- Cricket [or Wicket?] Challenge in CT
“A Challenge is hereby given by the Subscribers, to
Ashbel Steel, and John Barnard, with 18 young Gentlemen . . . to play a Game of
BOWL for a Dinner and Trimmings . . . on Friday next.” Connecticut
Courant , May 5, 1766, as cited in John A. Lester, A Century of
Philadelphia Cricket [University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia,
1951], page 6. Note: is “game of bowl” a common term for
cricket? Could this not have been a wicket challenge, given the size of
the teams?
1767.2 -- North-South Game of
Cricket in
“Whereas a Challenge was given by Fifteen Men South of
the Great Bridge in Hartford . . . the Public are hereby inform’d that that
Challenged beat the Challengers by a great majority. And said North side
hereby acquaint the South Side, that they are not afraid to meet them with any
Number they shall chuse . . . .” Source: “
1770s.1 – British Soldiers Seek Amusements, Rebels Yawn
“the presence of large numbers of British troops
quartered in the larger towns of the [eastern] seaboard brought the populace
into contact with a new attitude toward play.
Officers and men, when off duty, like soldiers in all ages, were
inveterate seekers of amusement. The
dances and balls, masques and pageants, ending in Howe’s great extravaganza in
“There is little indication, however, that the British
occupation either broke down American prejudices against wasting time in
frivolous amusements or promoted American participation and interest in games
and sports.”
Krout, John A., The Pageant of America: Annals of
American Sport
1776c.3 – Revolutionary War Officer Plays Cricket, Picks Blueberries
“The days would follow without incident, one day after
another. An officer with a company of
1778.5 -- Cricket Game Played at
Cannon’s Tavern,
“The game of Cricket, to be played on Monday next, the
14th inst., at Cannon’s Tavern, at Corlear’s Hook. Those Gentlemen that choose
to become Members of the Club, are desired to attend. The wickets to be pitched
at
Per John Thorn,
1779.1 – Cricket Played On Grounds near NY’s Brooklyn Ferry.
Per John Thorn,
1780.1 -- NYC Press Cites Cricket Matches to be Played in Summer
A cricket match is advertised to be played on this
day, and continued every Monday throughout the summer, “on the Ground where the
late Reviews were, near the Jews Burying Ground.”
Per John Thorn,
1780.2 -- Challenges for Cricket Matches between Englishmen and Americans
On August 19, 11 New Yorkers issued this challenge:
“we, in this public manner challenge the best eleven Englishmen in the City of
Royal Gazette,
1782.1—Cricket Match Scheduled for the Green, Near Shipyards,
Cricket is to be played on July 15th “on the green,
near the Ship-Yards.” Royal Gazette,
1790.5 John Adams Refers to
Cricket in Argument about
“Cricket was certainly known in
1791.1 – “Bafeball” Among Games
Banned in
In Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to promote the safety of
the exterior of the newly built meeting house, particularly the windows, a
by-law is enacted to bar “any game of wicket, cricket, baseball, batball,
football, cats, fives, or any other game played with ball,” within eighty yards
of the structure. However, the letter of the law did not exclude the city’s
lovers of muscular sport from the tempting lawn of “Meeting-House Common.” This
is the first indigenous instance of the game of baseball being referred
to by that name on the North American continent. It is spelled herein as bafeball.
“
Per John Thorn: The History of
1793.1 -- Engraving Shows Game
with Wickets at
A copper engraving showing
Submitted by Scott Meacham 8/17/06.
1794.1 --
“By 1794 the
Holliman cites Wister, W. R., Some Reminiscences of
Cricket in
1795.1 –
By-Laws of the Town of
1795.2 -- Survey Reports Cricket
in
Winterbotham, William, An Historical, Geographical,
Commercial and Philosophical View of the American
1797.2 –
Bye-Laws of Newburyport: Passed by the Town at Regular
Meetings, and Approved by the Court of General Justice of the Peace for the
County of Essex, Agreeably to a Law of this Commonwealth [Newburyport, 1797], p. 1. Per Altherr ref #
68.
1799.2 -- NY Cricket Club Schedules Match Among Members
“A number of members of the Cricket Club having met on
the old ground on Saturday last, by appointment it was unanimously agreed to
meet on Thursday next, at the same place, at
Commercial Advertiser,
1800.5 – History of North America: Cricket and Football are “Universally Practiced.”
“The athletic and healthy diversion of cricket,
football, etc. . . are universally practiced in this country.” Edward
Oliphant, History of North America
1801.4 -- Cricket Challenge in GA
A
1803.2 – Cricket Club Forms, Lasts a Year in NYC
An informal group called the “New York Cricket Club”
is headquartered in
Per John Thorn,
1804.5 –
A subscription search yields a 20 column-inch printing
of cricket rules on May 8, 1804. The
paper is identified as The Bee, but no location is provided.
1805.8 – Yale Grad Compares
“July 9 [1805, we think] . . . . The mode of playing
ball differs a little from that practiced in New-England. Instead of tossing up the ball out of one’s
own hand, and then striking it, as it descends, they lay is into the heel of a
kind of wood shoe; and upon the instep a spring is fixed, which extends within
the hollow to the hinder part of the shoe; the all is placed where the heel of
the foot would commonly be, and a blow applied on the other end of the spring,
raises the ball into the air, and, as it descends, it receives a blow from the
bat.
“They were playing also at another game resembling our
cricket, but differing from it in this particular, that he perpendicular pieces
which support the horizontal one, are about eighteen inches high, and are three
in number, whereas with us they are only two in number, and about three or four
inches high.”
Benjamin Silliman, Journal of Travels in
Silliman thus implies that an American [or at least
1807.2 – Games Recalled at
In about 1889, Col. George Kent wrote this verse in response
to an inquiry about student games from 1807 at
“But pastimes and games of a much better sort,
Lent aid to our outdoor and innocent sport,
Such as marbles and foot ball, cat, cricket and base,
With occasional variance by a foot race.”
1808.2 – First Cricket Club in
The first formally organized cricket club is
established in
Per John Thorn, 6/15/04: The source is a
Chadwick Scrapbook, Volume 20. John has found a meeting announcement for the
club in the Boston Gazette for November 17,c1808
1811.2 -- NYCC Calls Meeting -- First Cricket Meeting Since 1804?
The notice was signed by G. M’Enery, Secretary.
New York Evening Post,
1811.3 – NY Paper Carries Notice for “English Trap Ball” at a Military Ground
“At Dyde’s Military Grounds. Up the Broadway,
to-morrow afternoon, September 14, the game of English Trap Ball will be
played, full as amusing as Crickets and the exercise not so violent:”
New York Evening Post,
Three days later: “The amusements at Dyde’s
to-morrow, Tuesday the 17th September, will be Rifle Shooting for he
prize, and English Trap Ball. The gentlemen who have promised to attend
to form a club to play at Trap Ball are respectfully requested to attend.”
New York Evening Post,
And four days later, notice was made that “Trap Ball,
Quoits, Cricket, &c.” would be played at the ground. However, more
space is now given to rifle and pistol shooting contests.
New York Evening Post,
1815.4 – Six-Hour “Wicket” Match
Played in
“On the 29th May, a grant [sic] Match of
Wicket was played at
“The winners challenge any eleven gentlemen in the
state of
Mechanics’
Gazette and Merchants’ Daily Advertiser,
June 9,1815, reprinting from the
1816.10 –
Richard Hershberger [emails of 1/28/09 and 2/4/10]
reports seeing advertisements in the American Beacon for a Norfolk
Cricket Club from 1816 to 1820:
“CRICKET CLUB.
A meeting of the Subscribers to this Club, will be held at the Exchange Coffee House, this evening at 6
o’clock, for the purpose of draughting Rules and Regluations for the
government.”
American Beacon
(
Note: In The
Tented Field, Tom Melville writes that a 1989 book has the Norfolk Club
being founded in 1803 in imitation of English customs (page 164, note 10). Patricia Click, in Spirit of the Times
(UVa Press, 1989), page 119, cites the October 1, 1803 issue of the “
1817.1 – Visitor to Philly Tells of Cricket Play There
“Being a commercial people, they have but few
amusements: their summer pastimes are . . . fishing, batching, cricket, quoits,
&c; . . . .”
John Palmer, Journal of Travels in the
1818.1 – Yale Student Reports Cricket on Campus
A student at
Lester, ed., A Century of Philadelphia Cricket
[U Penn Press,
1818.4 -- Cricket Reported in
“It is not unreasonable to speculate that as the
immigrants came down the Ohio River . . . they brought with them the leisure
activities hat had already developed in the cities along the Atlantic coast.
There are reports of a form of cricket being played in the city as early at
1818.”
Bailey, Bob, “Beginnings; From Amateur Teams to
Disgrace in the National League,” [1999], page 1. Note: The
original source of the 1818 reference may have been lost. Bob reports
that he got the item from Dean Sullivan’s master’s thesis on baseball in
1818c.5 – English Immigrants from
“There have been [p.295/p.296] several cricket-matches
this summer [of 1819], both at Wanborough and Birk Prarie; the Americans seem
much pleased at the sight of the game, as it is new to them.” John Woods, Two Years Residence on th
Settlement of the English Prarie, in the
On page 148 of the book: “On the second of October, there was a game
of cricket played at Wanborough by the young men of the settlement; this they
called keeping Catherine Hill fair, many of the players being from the
neighborhood of Godalming and
1820.3 – English Cricketers Play Two-Day Match Again New Yorkers
“The most outstanding cricket matches of the period
were those in
Holliman cites the New York Evening Post
1820c.13 – Wry View of Cricket Match on Yale Campus
“On the green and easy slope where those proud columns
stand,
In Dorian mood, with academe and temple on each hand,
The foot-ball and the cricket-match upon my vision
rise
With all the clouds of classic dust kicked in each
other’ eyes.”
This verse is incorporated without attribution in
Brooks Mather Kelley, Yale: a History
1820.16 –
On June 19, 1820, the Union and Mechanic Cricket Clubs
played two matches in
Posted to 19CBB by Richard Hershberger,
7/31/2007. Richard noted: “this is the
earliest example I know of named cricket clubs, and is not mentioned in Tom
Melville’s history [The Tented Field.]
In am 1/30/2008 email, Richard added that this game was also reported in
the
1820s.21 – College Prez Was a Klutz at Ball and Cricket
“I could not jump the length of my leg nor run as fast
as a kitten . . . . At ball and cricket I ‘followed in the chase not like a
hound that hunts, but one that fills up the cry.’”
Harriet Raymond Lloyd, ed., Life and Letters of
John Howard Raymond, Late President of
1821.2 -- Cricket Not New in SC
“The members of the old cricket club are requested to
attend a meeting of [sic?] the Carolina Coffee House tomorrow evening.”
1821.4 – A Three-Times-and-Out Rule in ME Cricket?
“’Three times and out’ is a maxim of juvenile players
at cricket.”
Maine Gazette,
November 20, 1821; submitted by Lee Thomas
1821.5 – NY Mansion Converted to Venue Suitable for Cricket, Base, Trap-Ball
In May and June 1821, an ad ran in some NY papers
announcing that the
Richard Hershberger posted to 19CBB on Kensington
House on 10/7/2007, having seen the ad in the June 9, 1821
1822.3 -- Cricket Clubs, “Other
Ball Clubs” Welcomed at
In an advertisement about an outdoor recreation
establishment run by John Carter Jr. on the western bank of the Schuylkill
River near Philadelphia PA is included the sentence “Gentlemen are informed
that the grounds are so disposed as to afford sufficient room and accommodation
for quoit and cricket and other ball clubs.” It doesn’t say what these
“other ball clubs” are playing. Saturday Evening Post, June 22,
1822, Vol. 1, Issue 47, page 003. Submitted by Bill Wagner
1825c.6 -- Cricket Played at Southern Outings
In the South, “cricket was played even at the end of
house raisings and trainings. The game was played along with quoits and
other games of skill and strength. Parties were formed to go on fishing
trips and picnics, and during the outing, cricket was one of the games
played.” -- Jennie Holliman, American Sports 1785 - 1835
Holliman here cites The American Farmer, vol. 8, no
143
1825c.7 -- American Chapbook Reprises Couplets on Cricket, Trap-ball
Sports and Pastimes for Children [Baltimore, F. Lucas, Jr.], per David Block, Baseball
Before We Knew It, page 191. The verse for cricket and trap-ball is
taken from the English Juvenile Pastimes [1824, above].
1829.3 – Small
14 year old Charles Henry Dana, later the author of Two
Years Before the Mast and a leading abolitionist, found the playing grounds
at his new
Robert Metdorf, ed., An Autobiographical Sketch
1830s.22 –Ballplaying Recurs in Abolitionist’s Life
You may think of Thomas Wentworth Higginson [b. 1823]
as a noted abolitionist, or as the mentor of Emily Dickenson, but he was also a
ballplayer and sporting advocate [see also #1858.17]. Higginson’s autobiography includes several
glimpses of MA ballplaying:
-- at ten he knew many Harvard students – “their
nicknames, their games, their individual haunts, -- we watched them at football
and cricket [page 40]”
-- at his
-- he and his friends “played baseball and football,
and a modified cricket, and on Saturdays made our way to the tenpin alleys
[page 36]”.
--once enrolled at
-- in his early thirties he was president of a cricket
club [and a skating club and a gymnastics club] in
Source: Thomas
Wentworth Higginson, Cheerful Yesterdays
1830s.24 – Union Cricket Club
Gains Strength in
“No city took to the sport [cricket] with more avidity
than
William Ryczek, Baseball’s First Inning, McFarland, 2009), page 105. No source is cited. Ryczek goes on to say that Englishmen who moved to work in the city’s wool industry were one root cause of cricket’s success there.
1831.2 -- “Base” and Cricket Listed in Book of US Pastimes
Horatio Smith, Festivals, Games and Amusements,
Ancient and Modern [
1832.1 – Union Cricket Club of
Per John Thorn,
1832.5 --
The Child’s Own Book [
1833.8 – Untitled Drawing of Ball Game [Wicket?] Appears in US Songbook
Watts’ Divine and Moral Songs – For the Use of
Children [
A drawing shows five children – a tosser, batter, two
fielders, and boy waiting to bat. The bats are spoon-shaped. The wicket
looks more like a cricket wicket than the long low bar in wicket. Is it
wicket? Base-ball? Here’s Block’s commentary. “ . . .an
interesting woodcut portraying boys playing a slightly ambiguous bat-and-ball
game that is possibly baseball . . . . A goal in the ground near the
batter might be a wicket, but it more closely resembles an early baseball goal
such as the one pictured in A Little Pretty Pocket-Book”
1834.1 – Carver’s The Book of
Sports [
Rules for “’Base’ or ‘Goal Ball’” are published in
Carver’s Chapter 3 is called “Games with Balls.” In an introductory paragraph, he explains
that “The games with the bat and ball are numerous, but somewhat similar. I will mention some of them, which I believe
to be the most popular with boys.” [Page
37.] Other games describes are Fives,
Nine-Holes, or Hat-Ball [a game with running/plugging but no batting],
Catch-Ball [also a running/plugging game], Rackets, and Cricket.
Carver, Robin, The Book of Sports [
For Text:
David Block carries a full page of text, and the accompanying field diagram, in
Appendix 7, page 281, of Baseball Before We Knew It.
1834.5 -- Cricket Play Begins at
“The first cricket club of entirely native-born
American youth was founded at
John A. Lester, ed., , A Century of Philadelphia
Cricket [UPenn Press,
1835c.11 -- New Northeastern Chapbook Shows Cricket, Bat-and-Ball
Happy Home [
1837.7 –
Section 36 of the
“any person who shall on the Sabbath day play at
bandy, cricket, cat, town-ball, corner-ball, over-ball, fives, or any
other game of ball, in any public place,
shall . . . “ [be fined one dollar].
http://www.illinoisancestors.org/fulton/1871_canton/pages95_126.html#firstincorporation,
as accessed 1/1/2008. Information
provided by David Nevard 6/11/2007. See
also #1837.8, below.
On January 31, 2010, Jeff Kittel contributed that he
has found the text in another source: History of Fulton County, Illinois
(Chapman & Co., Peoria, 1879), pp 527-528.
Accessed 2/6/10 via Google Books search ("history of
“It seems that they had a lively community of
ballplayers in
1837.8 – Well, As Goes
Section 34 of an
“Any person who shall on the Sabbath day play at
cricket, bandy, cat, town ball, corner ball, or any other game of ball within
the limits of the corporation, or shall engage in pitching quoits or dollars in
any public place therein, shall on conviction pay the sum of one dollar for
each offense.”
1838.2 – St. George Cricket Club Forms in NYC
The St. George Cricket Club of New York City is
formed, composed of English-born American residents. Its professional player
was Sam Wright, father of baseball notables Harry and George Wright.
Per John Thorn, 6/15/04: Source is
Chadwick Scrapbooks, Volume 20.
1838.5 – At GA, “Baseball and Cricket Had Not Evolved”
"Games and gymnasiums as a regular part of
college work, and hence regular organizations of students for athletics, were
unknown at that time. Athletics and games there were indeed a plenty, but
as purely spontaneous expressions of abounding vitality. I was light, active,
and fleet of foot, and became very expert in gymnastics and as a player of
town-ball, for baseball and cricket had not yet evolved." [LeConte writes
of his college years at the
LeConte, Joseph. The Autobiography of Joseph Le
Conte
1838.10 --
“It was in the fall of 1838 that we remember the first
cricket match played in
“Sporting Reminiscences,”
1839.5 – Cricket Clubs Form in Upstate NY
“Besides
Spirit of the
Times, September 5, 1839, page
246. As cited in Gelber, Steven M.,
“’Their Hands Are All Out Playing:’ Business and Amateur Baseball, 1845-1917,” Journal
of Sport History, Vol. 11, number 1
1840c.3 – Influx of English
Immigrants Brings “Rough Form” of Cricket to NE and
Per Rader, p. 90; [no citation given.] Caveat: recent research does not support this
assertion. Caution: the evidence for this needs to be obtained.
1840.10 –
“On the afternoon of August 28, 1840 eighteen members
of the
http://www.dreamcricket.com/dreamcricket/news.hspl?nid=7254&ntid=4
1840.19 -- Baseball Arrives in
“The story of baseball in
Brian Flood,
1840.20 -- Base and Cricket are Experimental Astronomy?
“Bat and Ball -- Toys, no doubt, have their
philosophy, and who knows how deep is the origin of a boy’s delight in a
spinning top? In playing with bat-balls, perhaps he is charmed with some
recognition of the movement of the heavenly bodies, and a game of base or
cricket is a course of experimental astronomy, and my young master tingles with
a faint sense of being a tyrannical Jupiter driving sphere madly from their
orbit.”
[Journal entry,
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson
1820-1876 [Houghton Mifflin,
1840c.39 – Cricket [or Maybe Wicket] Played by Harvard Class of 1841
“Games of ball were played almost always separately by
the classes, and in my case cricket prevailed.
There were not even matches between classes, so far as I remember, and
certainly not between colleges. . . .
The game was the same then played by boys on Boston Common, and was very
unlike what is now [1879] called cricket.
Balls, bats, and wickets were all larger than in the proper English
game; the bats especially being much longer, twice as heavy, and three-cornered
instead of flat. . . . What game was it?
Whence it came? It seemed to bear
the same relation to true cricket that the old Massachusetts game of base-ball
bore to the present ‘New York’ game, being less artistic, but more laborious.”
Member of the Class of 1841, “Harvard Athletic
Exercises Thirty Years Ago,” Harvard Advocate [
1840s.40 -- American Cricketers
Play in
“American cricketers had gone to
William Ryczek, Baseball’s First Inning
(MacFarland, 2009), page 104. Ryczek’s
source may have been the Chadwick Scrapbooks.
1841.8 --
“The Philadelphia Ledger for
John Lester, A Century of Philadelphia Cricket
[UPenn Press,
1842.2 –
The New York Cricket Club is formed. The club consists
at first of American-born sporting men affiliated with William T. Porter’s
sporting weekly Spirit of the Times. The American-born emphasis
stands in contrast to the British-oriented St. George Club.
Per John Thorn, 6/15/04: Source is
“Reminiscence of a Man About Town” from The Clipper, by Paul Preston,
Esq.; No. 34: The New York Cricket Club: On an evening in 1842 or’43, a meeting
of the embryo organization was held at the office of The Spirit of the Times—a
dozen individuals—William T. Porter elected pres., John Richards v.p., Thomas
Picton Sec’y- formed as rival to St. George Club- only NY was designed to bring
in Americans, not just to accommodate Britons, as St. George was. The original
12 members were affiliated with the Spirit. The first elected
member: Edward Clark, a lawyer, then artist William Ramsey, then Cuyp the
bowler.
1842.3 – Harvard Man George Hoar Writes of Playing “Simple Game Called Base”
George F. Hoar, a student at
Hoar, George F. Autobiography of Seventy Years
[Pubr?, 1903], page 120. Per Seymour, Harold – Notes in the Seymour
Collection at Cornell University, Kroch Library Department of Rare and Manuscript
Collections, collection 4809.
1842c.7 -- Cricket and Town Ball
Recalled in
“The first cricket I ever saw was on a field near
Logan Station . . . about 1842. The hosiery weavers at Wakefield Mills [cf
#1841.8 above] near by had formed a club under the leadership of Lindley
Fisher, a Haverford cricketer. . . . [My brother and I] had played
Town Ball, the forerunner of baseball today, at
John Lester, A Century of Philadelphia Cricket
[UPenn Press,
1842.9 – Haverford Students Form Cricket Team of Americans
“
Lester, John A., A Century of Philadelphia Cricket
1843.1 – New York Club Starts Playing Intramural games at Elysian Fields in NJ
The New York Club, a semi-organized group of men,
commences playing intramural games at Elysian Fields at
1843c.5 -- Chapbook: Trap Ball and Cricket and Windows Don’t Mix
Sports for All Seasons [
The problem: “Trap ball and Cricket are juvenile
Field Sports, and not fit to be played near the houses . . . where it generally
ends in the ball going through a window.” The solution: “[A]fter
having their pocket money stopped for some time to replace the glass they had
broken, they pitched their traps and wickets in a more suitable place.”
1843.8 – Man Flashes Large Wad at New York-Philly Cricket Match, Is Then Nabbed for Robbery
“Important Arrest: A few days since, at the last match
game of cricket played near New York, between the New York and Philadelphia
competitors for a large sum of money, a person, whose name is William Rushton,
from Philadelphia, was present, making large offers to bet upon the result of
the game, and exhibiting large sums of money to the spectators for that
purpose.” This excess evidently led to
his later arrest for the robbery of a bank porter on the
“Important Arrest,” The Sun [
1844.2 – First US–Canada Cricket Match Held
The
Wisden’s history of cricket, 1966. Also: Seymour,
Harold – Notes in the Seymour Collection at Cornell University, Kroch Library
Department of Rare and Manuscript Collections, collection 4809.
1845.16 – Brooklyn 22,
“The Base Ball match between eight Brooklyn players,
and eight players of
New York Morning News, Oct. 13, 1845, p.2.
Text provided 11/3/2008 by Richard Hershberger via email. Earlier cited in Tom Melville, The Tented
Field: A History of Cricket in America
On 11/11/2008, Lee Oxford discovered identical text in
a second NY newspaper, which included this detail: “After this game had been decided, a match at
single wicket cricket came off between two members of the Union Star Club -
Foster and Boyd. Foster scored 11 the
first and 1 the second innings. Boyd came off victor by scoring 16 the
first innings." The True Sun
1845.17 – Intercity Cricket Match Begins in NY
“CRICKET MATCH.
1845.21 –
On August 1, 1845,
Extensive coverage of the first innings of the second
match appears at “The Grand Cricket Match –
1845.23 -- In Cricket, Pha Foursome Defeats NY Quad, 27-19, Pockets $500
A cricket match was reported in early September that
lined up four players from the St. George Club on
“Sporting Intelligence,”
1846.10 --
“One summer day in 1846, Jones Wister, rummaging
through the attic at “Belfield,” found cricket balls, bats, and stumps left behind
by a visiting English soldier. Jones and his brothers drove the stumps
into the ground just about where La Salles’s tennis courts now stand. One
of the early cricket balls hit in the
Note: we need to retrieve full ref from website
1846.12 –
Reporting on Thanksgiving traditions:
“The religiously inclined went to church; several
companies went out of town upon target excursions; cricket and base ball clubs
had public dinners; people ate the best they could get . . . and everybody, of course, was very thankful
for everything, except the intense cold weather.”
The
1846.13 – Spring Sports at Harvard: “Bat & Ball” and Cricket
“In the spring there is no playing of football, but
“bat & ball” & cricket.”
From “Sibley’s Private Journal,” entry for August 31,
1846, as supplied to David Block by letter of 4/18/2005 from Prof. Harry R.
Lewis at Harvard, Cambridge MA. Lewis
notes that the Journal is “a running account of Harvard daily life in the mid
nineteenth century.”
1847.6 -- “Grand Match of Cricket” Planned in NYC
“On Thursday next, 1st July, as we are
informed, there will by a grand match of Cricket played on the
Anglo-American, A Journal of Literature, News,
Politics, the Drama, Fine Arts
January 26, 1847 [
1848.8 -- Cricket Flourishes at Haverford College PA
“The College was closed in 1845. When it reopened in
1848, cricket sprang up again under the leadership of an English tutor in Dr.
Lyons’ school nearby. Two cricket clubs, the Delian and the Lycaean, were
formed, and then a third the Dorian.”
John Lester, A Century of Philadelphia Cricket
[UPenn Press,
1848.11 – First US Cricket Match With No Foreign Players?
“the Clipper
claimed the first all-American cricket match was played between
Gelber, Steven M., “’Their Hands Are All Out Playing:’
Business and Amateur Baseball, 1845-1917,” Journal of Sport History,
Vol. 11, number 1
1848.17 – Cricket Along the
On 12/11/09, Richard Hershberger posted a clip,
datelined
Richard added:
“I found this while looking a cricket in the area, which was
surprisingly vibrant. There was active
inter-city play between the Erie Canal cities [such cities include
1849c.5 -- New Chapbook Names Several Games Played with Balls
Juvenile Pastimes; or Girls’ and Boys’ Book of Sports [
1849.11 – Character in Fictional Autobiography Played Cricket, Base-Ball
“On fourths of July, training days and other
occasions, young men from the country around, at a distance of fifteen or
twenty miles, would come for the purpose of competing for the championship of
these contests, in which, in which, as the leader of the school, I soon became
conspicuous. Was there a game at cricket
or base-ball to be played, my name headed the list of the athletae.” W.S. Mayo, Kaloolah, or Journeying to the
Djebel Kumri. An Autobiography
1850s.3 – Cricket Club in
John Lester, ed., A Century of Cricket in
Philadelphia [
1850s.27 – Cricket Outshines Base Ball in Press Coverage
“During the 1850s and early 1860s, coverage of cricket
in the sporting press generally exceeded that of baseball.”
William Ryczek, Baseball’s First Inning
(McFarland, 2009), page 108. Bill would
certainly know!
Writing more specifically about the Spirit of the
Times, Bill says: “There was little baseball reported in The Spirit
until 1855, and what did appear was limited to terse accounts of games (with
box scores) submitted by members of the competing clubs. The primary emphasis was on four-legged sport
and cricket, which often received multiple columns of coverage . . . . As
interest in baseball grew, The Spirit’s coverage of the sport
expanded. On May 12, 1855, the journal
printed the rules of baseball for the first time and soon began to report more
frequently on games that took place in
1850.29 – US Has Twenty Cricket Clubs
“Despite its shortcomings, cricket enjoyed significant
popularity in the
William Ryczek, Baseball’s First Inning
(McFarland, 2009), page 105. See George
Kirsch, “American Cricket: Players and Clubs Before the Civil War,” Journal
of Sport History, Volume 11 (Spring 1984).
1851.5 – Robert E. Lee Promotes
Cricket at
A twenty-one year old cricket enthusiast visited West
Point from
“Colonel Lee said he would be greatly obliged to me if
I would teach the officers how to play cricket, so we went to the library. .
. .Lieutenant Alexander asked for the
cricket things. He said, ‘Can you tell
me, Sir, where the instruments and apparatus are for playing cricket?’ The
librarian know nothing about them and so our project came to an end.” “The
Boyhood of Rev. Samuel Robert Calthrop.”
Compiled by His Daughter, Edith Calthrop Bump. No date given. Accessed 10/31/2008 at http://www-distance.syr.edu/SamCalthropBoyhoodStory.html. Note: Lee
is reported to have become Superintendent of West Point in September 1852; and
had been stationed in
1852.4 -- Bass-ball “Quite Too Complicated” for Children’s Book on Games
Little Charley’s Games and Sports [
1852.7 --
“For the last two or three evenings the Plaza has been
filled with full grown persons engaged very industriously in the game known as
‘town ball.’ The amusement is very innocent and healthful . . . . The
scenes are extremely interesting and amusing.”
“Public Play Ground,”
Angus also notes on
1853c.13 – At Harvard, Most Students Played Baseball and Football, Some Cricket or 4 Old Cat
Reflecting back nearly sixty years, the secretary of
the class of 1855 wrote: “In those days,
substantially all the students played football and baseball [MA round ball,
probably], while some played cricket and four-old-cat.”
“News from the Classes,” Harvard Graduates Magazine
Volume 18 (1909-1910). Accessed 2/11/10
via Google Books search ("e.h.abbot, sec.").
1854.13 – English Visitor Sees Wicket at Harvard
“It was in
the spring of 1854 . . . that I stepped
into the
“They politely invited me to take the bat. Any
cricketer could have stayed there all day and not been bowled out. After I had
played awhile I said, “You must play the modern game cricket.” I had a ball and
they made six stumps. Then we went to Delta, the field where the Harvard
Memorial Hall now stands. We played and they took to cricket like a duck to
water. . . .I think that was the first game of cricket at Harvard.” “The Boyhood of Rev. Samuel Robert
Calthrop.” Compiled by His Daughter,
Edith Calthrop Bump. No date given.
Accessed 10/31/2008 at http://www-distance.syr.edu/SamCalthropBoyhoodStory.html. Actually, Mr. Calthrop may have come along
about 95 years too late to make that claim:
see #1760s.1 above.
1855.7 – Cricket Becoming “The National Game” in US: “Considerable Progress” Seen
“Cricket is becoming the fashionable game – the
national game, it might be said.”
“New York Correspondence,” Washington Evening Star,
Things looked rosy for cricket in
“Cricket,”
1855.12 -- Students Bring Cricket
to
“When the students returned to
Brian Flood,
1855.15 – 2000 Demurely Watch
Cricket at
“a most pleasing picture. It had a sort of old Grecian aspect – yet it
was an English one essentially.
Nine-tenths of the immense number of visitors, we guess from the
universal dropping of their h’s were
English. But it is a game that a Yankee
may be proud to play well. It speaks
much for the moral effect of the game, though we were on the ground some three
hours, and not less than 2,000 were there, we heard not a rough or profane
word, nor saw an action that a lady might not see with propriety.”
1855.16 – Scholar Deems 1855 the
End of the Cricket Era in
“Cricket was
1855.25 – Text Perceives Rounders and Cricket, in Everyday French Conversations
An 1855 French conversation text consistently
translates “balle au camp” as “rounders.”
It also translates ”
W. Chapman, Every-Day French Talk (J. B.
Bateman, London, 1855), pages 16, 20, 21.
Accessed 2/11/10 via Google Books search ("chapman teacher"
"french talk" 1855). Query: Would a French person agree that
“balle au camp” is rounders by another name?
Should we thus chase after that game too? Perhaps a French speaker among us could seek la verite from le Google on this?
1856.1 -- The Wrights Both Are at
St. George CC;
Baseball Hall of Fame member Harry Wright is on the
first eleven of the St. George Cricket Club and his younger brother, George
Wright, age 9, also to become a baseball Hall of Famer, is the Dragons’
mascot.
The Manhattan Cricket Club is formed and includes
Per John Thorn, 6/15/04: The source
is Chadwick Scrapbooks, Vol. 20.
1856.16 -- Cricket -- “The Great
Match at
“The Great Match at
Porter’s Spirit of the Times, September 20, 1856. The American team was
spiced with English-born talent, including Sam Wright, father to Harry and
George Wright. Matthew Brady took photos. A crowd of 8,000 to
10,000 was estimated.
1857.3 –
The Long Island Cricket Club is formed. The membership
includes baseball player John Holder of the Brooklyn Excelsiors. Note” add info on the significance of
this club?
1857.6 – Cricket Groups Meet to Try to Form US [National] Cricket Club
1857. 15 -- Editor Promotes Cricket as the “National Game”
“Hitherto, one great obstacle to the progress of the
game [cricket] in this country has been the assertion made by certain ignorant
and prejudiced parties, the Cricket is only played by Englishmen. . . . But it
is not so.
“Cricket,”
1857.24 – Cricket Stories in the
May 23 Clipper
From the New York Clipper, Saturday, May 23,
1857 [four cents!]:
The
Two six-player teams played in
Two elevens played in
Twenty upcoming matches are listed.
Two elevens played in
A cricket club is reportedly being organized in
Two intramural matches in NYC are reported [with
boxes}
Facsimile contributed by Gregory Christiano, November
15, 2009.
1858.6 – Clipper Calls for Truly National BB Convention
When the 1858 convention suggested forming the
National Association of Base Ball Players, according to the Clipper,
that was really a “misnomer” because there were “no invitations to clubs of
other states,” and no one under age 21 can join.” “National indeed!
Truth is a few individuals wormed into the convention and have been
trying to mould men and things to suit their views. If real lovers of the
game wish it to spread over the country as cricket is doing they might cut
loose from parties who wish to act for and dictate to all who
participate. These few dictators wish to ape the New York Yacht Club in
their feelings of exclusiveness. Let the discontented come out and
organize an association that is really national – extend invitations to base
ball players every where to compete with them and make the game truly
national.”
Clipper,
April 3, 1858, page 396, Seymour, Harold – Notes in the Seymour Collection at
Cornell University, Kroch Library Department of Rare and Manuscript
Collections, collection 4809. Note: text needs to be verified, as
1858.8 – Harvard Student Notes “Multitude” Playing Base or Cricket There
“[On] almost any evening or pleasant Saturday, . . . a
shirt-sleeved multitude from every class are playing as base or cricket . .
. “Mens Sana,” Harvard Magazine 4
1858.26 -- Wicket, as Well as
Cricket and Base Ball, Reported in
“Exercise clubs and gymnasia are spring up
everywhere. The papers have daily records of games at cricket, wicket,
base ball, etc.”
Editorial, “Physical Education,” Graham’s American
Monthly of Literature, art, and Fashion, Volume 53, Number 6 [December 1858],
page 495. Submitted by John Thorn
1858.38 – Brooklyn Base Ball Admirer Sizes up the 1858 Season
“. . . we think it would be an addition to every
school, that would lead to great advantages to mental and bodily health, if each
had a cricket or ball club attached to it. There are between 30 and 40 Base
Ball Clubs and six Cricket Clubs on Long Island [Brooklyn counted as
1858.40 – Cricket Plays Catch-up; Plans a National Convention
“CRICKET CONVENTION FOR 1858. – A Convention of
delegates from the various Cricket Clubs of the
1858.41 –
“The Niagara Club, of
1859.3 – 24,000 Attend US-England All-Star Cricket Match at Elysian Fields
Per Rader, page 91; no citation given
1859.13 – First Tour of English
Eleven, to US and
Wisden, history of cricket 1966.
1859.26 – NY Herald Weighs Base Ball against Cricket
A detailed comparison of base ball and cricket
appeared in the New York Herald,
October 16, 1859, page 1, columns 3-5.
Some fragments:
“[C]ricket could never become a national sport in
“The home base [in base ball] is marked by a flat
circular iron plate, painted white. The
pitcher’s point . . . is likewise designated by a circular iron plate painted
white . . . .”
“The art of pitching consists in throwing it with such
force that the batsman has not time to wind his bat to hit it hard, or so close
to his person that he can only hit it with a feeble blow.”
“[The baseball is] not so heavy in proportion to its
size as a cricket ball.”
“Sometimes the whole four bases are made in one
run.”
“The only points in which a the base ball men would
have any advantage over the cricketers, in a game of base ball, are two –
first, in the batting, which is overhand, and done with a narrower bat, and
secondly, in the fact that the bell being more lively, hopping higher, and
requiring a different mode of catching.
But the superior activity and practice of the [cricket] Eleven in
fielding would amply make up for this.”
It occupies about two hours to play a game of base
ball – two days to play a game of cricket.”
“[B]ase ball is better adapted for popular use than cricket. It is more lively and animated, gives more
exercise, and is more rapidly concluded.
Cricket seems very tame and dull after looking at a game of base
ball.
“It is suited to the aristocracy, who have leisure and
love ease; base ball is suited to the people . . . . “
In the American game the ins and outs alternate by
quick rotation, like our officials, and no man can be out of play longer than a
few minutes.”
Posted to 19CBB on 3/1/2007 by George Thompson.
1859.46 – Visiting English Cricketers View the Bound Rule as “Childish”
On October 22, 1859, the touring English cricketers
played base ball at a base ball field, which is “about two miles from the town,
and had been enclosed at great expense. The base-ball game is somewhat similar
to the English game of “rounders,” as played by school-boys. . . .Caffyn played
exceedingly well, but the English thought catching the ball on the first bound a very childish game.” Fred Lillywhite, The English Cricketers’
Trip to Canada and the United States
1860s.2 – NY game, Mass game, Cricket co-exist
The New York Game, the Massachusetts Game, and cricket
co-exist. Many athletes play more than one of these games. Varying forms of
baseball are now played in virtually every corner of the continent. The Civil
War years disrupt the organizational development of baseball to a degree but,
with the war and the great movement of soldiers that it brings, baseball’s
popularity is solidified. The New York Game emerges from the war years
1860.30 – CT Wicketers Trounce CT Cricketers --at Wicket
Was wicket an inferior game? “the game [of wicket] certainly reached a level
of technical sophistication equal to these two sports [base ball and
cricket]. This was clearly demonstrated
during a wicket match at
1860.36 – In
“Cricket vs. Base Ball: A match game was played on the 21st
inst., between the first nine of the Detroit Base Ball Club and nine of the first
eleven of the Detroit Cricket Club. . . . No return game will be played, as the
cricketers find base ball too much like hard work.”
1860.54 – Yes, The Game Would Move Right Along . . . But Would it be Cricket?
“Whenever the cricket community realized that American
participation and interest were low, they talked about changing the rules. Some Americans suggested three outs per
inning and six innings a game.”
William Ryczek, Baseball’s First Inning
(McFarland, 2009), page 103. Attributed
to the Chadwick Scrapbooks. Query:
Were there really several such proposals? Can we guess what impediments required that it
take another century to invent one-day and 20/20 cricket?
1860.57 – Alabamans Choose Cricket
“Cricket in
1862.3 –
“The cricket season last year was a very dull one,
this clubs in this locality [
“For several years, cricketers had been talking of
forming as association similar to that set up by the baseball fraternity. Despite several meetings, they had not done
so. At the annual convention of 1862,
the Clipper noted the meager attendance and proclaimed the gathering ‘a
mere farce.’ It despaired of cricket
ever becoming popular unless it was made more American in nature. The disappointing convention was the last the
cricketer would hold.”
William Ryczek, Baseball’s First Inning
(McFarland, 2009), page 105. The Clipper
quoted is this May 24, 1862 issue.
1862.18 -- 51st
The 51st PA regimental history has four
references to ballplaying. In July 1862,
the unit arrived at
Thomas H. Parker, History of the 51st
Regiment of PV [
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