Note: This site was last updated
in January 2008
Project Protoball
Supporting
Research on the Origins of Baseball
A Handful of Chronologies – Each Comprising Short Historical Entries on
the Evolution of Ballplaying through 1860, with Bibliographic Sources
340 Histories
and Other References – to be annotated, eventually – that
cover safe-haven ballplaying up to 1870
27 Active Researchers, and What They’re All
Working On
Some Notes on
the Use of this Site
Some Ways to
Join in Research on Early Ball Play
Where We
Think We’re Going, Generally
5 Smart and
Large-Hearted People Who Provide Guidance and Help
Who We Are,
and What We Think We’re Up To
Special Feature – Ballmaking
in the Protoball Era
Rob Loeffler
Gives a Chronology of Ballmaking up to 1870 – and a list of 32 Ballmakers from the 1990s
Current and Recent Research on
Origins
Brief notes on
35 current researchers and their recent and ongoing work
Research
Questions? Suggestions? Corrections?
Tell Us About Them
Active Researchers and Their Special
Interests
[Note: for a bit more on some diggers’ current work, go here.]
A.
Regional Focus
At Large – Bill Wagner
Chicago and the old “NW Territory” -- John
Freyer
Eastern Shore MD -- Marty Payne
New Hampshire – Wayne McElreavy
B. Thematic Focus
19th Century Rules – Eric Miklich
Ballmaking – Rob
Loeffler
Ballplaying Equipment -- Bob
Schaefer, Jerry Casway
Baserunning -- Larry McCray
General Knowledge -- John
Thorn
Gloves – David Arcidiacono
Henry Chadwick -- Andrew Schiff
Length of Games – Phil Lowry
Newspaper Coverage -- Andrew Schiff
Town Ball – Richard Hershberger, David Nevard
US Cricket -- Larry McCray
The basic idea of this site is to make material available to researchers
so that they can use it and improve it.
If you’re interested in working on early ballplay, you can help by:
This site operates under the general operating philosophy of Retrosheet:
researchers and others are free to use the information on the site, but we
request that the site be acknowledged in your writings if its information
proves useful.
The data on this site are not guaranteed to be accurate, nor to adhere
to common standards of publishability. We are attempting to identify and remove any
errors, but need the help of you and other researchers in doing so,
particularly because the Project does not possess many of the original sources
that are cited and used for the site.
Our policy is to ventilate questionable material [noted as such] in
order to determine if it is reliable.
For security reasons, readers cannot put comments directly to the
Protoball site. However, we plan at some
point to conduct a moderated discussion of open issues and research ideas. To suggest specific points that might be
added to particular entries on the Protoball Chronology, or to other site
features, contact Larry McCray at lmccray@mit.edu.
Project Protoball was conceived when it became clear that interesting
new finds were still being added to our store of knowledge about the origins of
baseball . . . and about earliest forms of ballplaying.
A few years ago, John Thorn and Tom Heitz assembled a helpful chronology
of early baseball, one that listed about 70 key documented events from 2000 BC
to the Civil War. In 2000, Tom Altherr
published a prize-winning paper in Nine
that included scores of new citations to “baseball-like” games from 1621 to
1830. Our project began as an attempt to
build, and to maintain, a comprehensive tabulation of such evidence, adding
bibliographic sources for each.
Our hope is to provide a wide range of primary and secondary information
on the evolution of ballplaying to today’s researchers, so that they can
identify interesting patterns readily -- and do so without chasing after
elusive texts stored in libraries and personal collections around the globe.
Our central online document is the Protoball “Fat Chronology,” a listing
of primary sources on known events in ballplaying. Owing to recent finds by [most importantly]
in David Block’s stunning 2005 book, Baseball
Before We Knew It, in John Thorn’s recent research, and to a fresh
scouring of the research notes of Harold Seymour and the 1905 Mills Commission
files, the current version has about 625 entries.
The primary focus of the chronology, like the Protoball effort itself,
is on what some term “bat-and-ball” games, but which are called “safe-haven”
games at this site. [The desire is to
understand the evolution of ballgames that involve bases --where runners are
magically immune from harm -- and not to spotlight the many other games that
employ striking clubs, such as golf, hurling, lawn tennis and other racquet sports,
croquet, field hockey, lacrosse, and such ancient non-base games as soule, bandy, kingball, ballstock, and northern spel.] The site’s current time range is from
Antiquity to 1860, with fragmentary information now being collected for the
years 1861-1871 for possible later inclusion.
The Project’s files include a
[often sparsely filled] folder for each entry in the chronology, and about
twelve shelf-feet of baseball histories, each of which has at least nominal
coverage of pre-1861 ballplaying. We are
happy to consult with site visitors about these assembled sources to help
answer questions, and can supply current Word versions of our documents upon
request. The Project is centered at the
The Project has close ties to the
Society for American Baseball Research
Priscilla Astifan,
Evelyn Begley,
Tom Ruane,
George Thompson,
John Thorn,
--------
Other Special Contributions -- The Project is particularly indebted
to John
Thorn
This small website, like the Project that it reflects, is in a primitive state. We welcome your suggestions for making it most useful in supporting new research on the evolution of ballplaying to 1860.
As first uploaded in July 2005, the site comprised mainly a rudimentary chronology of about 460 entries, with proximate citations for most, and the first draft of a general bibliography of secondary sources on early ballplaying. Since then a score or more of researchers have contributed about 160 additional items.
Future goals include:
The Chronology -- The initial chronology included short 1 or 2 paragraph] coverage drawn from 10 or 12 of the richest sources of data on early baseball and base-ball-like games, including David Block’s new Baseball Before We Knew It [2005], Robert Henderson’s classic Bat, Ball, and Bishop [1947], Tom Altherr’s A Place Leavel Enough to Play Ball [2000], Harold Seymour’s Baseball: the Early Years [1960], and Seymour’s extensive research notes. A next step is to screen about 150 other standard baseball histories, along with a small stack of isolated finds collected informally since 1999, in search of additional items. Later, we hope to extend the coverage of each entry to make it both more extensive -- including original text wherever feasible -- and more easily searchable.
The Bibliography -- The bibliography of secondary work on early ballplay remains incomplete. We hope to add missing sources, to procure hard copies for the Project collection, and provide annotations for each source that will help lead new researchers to the most productive sources.
Other Possible Site
Features
1. A Local Resource Guide for New Researchers?
2. Short “Why, Dad?” Write-up? [Why nine innings? Why not flat bats?]
3. “Best Recent Finds” Awards?
4. A Collection of Early Baseball Images?
5. First Appearance of Baseball Terms? “1-2-3 Inning?” “Double Play?”
6. Your Other Suggestions?
Send your ideas and criticisms to Larry McCray at lmccray@mit.edu.
To contact the Protoball Project by email, write to lmccray@mit.edu.
The mailing address:
The Protoball Project
Some Research Reports: Project Updates
Note: These brief
summaries are taken from “The Next Destin’d Post,” a minimalist research
summary updated every so often. If you
would like to be added to the email list for this update, contact Larry McCray.
Tom Altherr [
---
David Arcidiacono
[
---
Priscilla Astifan [
---
“Gentlemen at the Bat” is the working title of Howard Burman’s [
---
Jerry Casway’s
[
---
Kyle DeCicco-Carey
[
---
Researcher and author John Freyer [Chicago] reports that his
interest is still Chicago-area baseball from back before the National League.
Among other feats, he has accumulated every
---
The Vintage Base Ball Association’s [VBBA] recently-installed president
is Glenn Drinkwater [
---
César Gonzalez [
--
Brock Helander [
---
Long-term preparation for a special exhibit on cricket and baseball is under way by Beth Hise [
---
The UK Chapter of SABR is preparing to resume publication of The Examiner, which has given us several
accounts of members’ research on English ballplaying [see http://www.sabruk.org/examiner/index.html.]
Martin Hoerchner [Kent,
---
In addition to helping lead the Boston SABR Chapter and pushing along an
anthology of Deadball Era baseball poetry, Joanne Hulbert [Holliston MA is working
on a local project that brings together the histories of the Massachusetts game
and the NY Game as they impacted one small town -- Holliston. She sees a big story in these local
events. She says that when one wanders
around among the ghosts of the game, the stories are impressive: they involve
triumph and tragedy, sex and violence, pathos and drama. Besides, she lives in the original Mudville, and that’s part of the story. Her tentative
title: For Fun, Money or Marbles: How
Baseball Transformed a Perfectly Good Town.
She hasn’t set a target date for publication yet. [January 2008]
---
A book-length evaluative history of baseball from 1845 to 1857 --
Knickerbocker Base Ball -- is occupying Fred
Ivor-Campbell [
---
Wendy Knickerbocker's
[Castine
ME] main baseball research interest
is Billy Sunday. However, she is also interested in American cultural history
in general, and while doing research on a book about a contemporary of Ralph
Waldo Emerson, she was delighted to find [and to submit for the Protoball
chronology] an entry on baseball from Emerson's journals. It was while reading
Emerson's journals to get a handle on Emerson’s friendship with
---
Jim Lannen [
---
A chronology of the evolution of ballmaking has been assembled by Rob Loeffler [Rancho Santa Margarita
CA]. It appear
elsewhere on this Protoball site. Rob
has a collection of photos of well over 200 19th C baseballs and is
analyzing them to estimate their size and weight. [March 2007]
---
MLB Advanced Media is preparing a full-length documentary on the origins
of baseball. Directed by Ms Sam Marchiano
[
MLB Advanced Media runs the website MLB.com. Sam, who has covered sports for nearly 20
years, has worked there since 2003, receiving two Emmy nominations, including
one for the 2006 documentary Vintage Base
Ball.
The documentary is scheduled to be released online at about the All-Star
break of 2008. Online viewing will be
free, with downloads available at a fee.
"The Next Destin’d Post will provide additional details on the release of The Origins of the Game" when they become available. [January 2008]
---
Eric Miklich [
---
Larry McCray [
---
Wayne McElreavy
[
---
The earliest days of
---
The latest book by Peter Morris
[Haslett MI] is Level Playing Fields: How the Groundskeeping
Murphy Brothers Shaped Baseball. It includes coverage of the development of
early ballfields before 1872. Peter’s
next project is a textbook on the history of baseball from 1840-1870, and will
include the scoop from many new sources that Peter has turned up. [March 2007]
---
SABR’s Seymour Medal, awarded to “the best book of baseball history or biography from the previous year,” was awarded to Peter Morris [Haslett MI] for the amazing two-volume Game of Inches [Ivan R. Dee, 2006]. He thinks of his book as “a never-ending project,” and in that vein he is posting updates to the book on his website at http://www.petermorrisbooks.com. Peter reports that the work has gone through several printings, with sales of about 4000 copies.
Peter’s next publication will be But
Didn’t We Have Fun, which examines the first generation of ballplayers, and
is based on “dozens of previously unpublished or unavailable
reminiscences.” It is slated for release
in March 2008. [January 2008].
---
David Nevard [
---
“The Cartwright Conundrum: Fact
and Fiction of Cartwright’s Baseball Legacy” was the subject of a poster
session by Monica Nucciarone at the
SABR 36 convention. She is in the
rewrite phase of her treatise on Alexander Cartwright, and may present some
results at the St. Louis SABR convention.
She spent part of last April doing research in
---
Marty Payne [Saint Michaels MD] continues to explore
the influence of the advent of the New York Game on rural towns. He is finding that The New York game
---
A narrative history of baseball from 1845 to the Civil War is being put
together by Bill Ryczek
[
---
SABR-UK maintains an interest in the origins of
baseball. A handsome compilation of articles on the English roots of baseball
in 1995-2003 issues of the SABR-UK Examiner has been produced
by Martin Hoerchner [
---
Dan Selz [
---
Andrew Schiff [
John Schiffert [
---
George Thompson [
---
Conceived and edited by John
Thorn [
---
Trained in the history of science, Craig
Waff [Beavercreek OH] is focusing for now on
early ball in
---
The Evolution
of the Baseball Up To 1872
Contributed by Rob Loeffler, 3/1/2007
Rancho
The following chronology represents key points in the development of the baseball in the time period of the early 1800s to 1872. The information listed is based on research that I have been conducting on the development of the baseball in the 19th Century over the last 6 years. Any additional information to further refine this timeline would be greatly appreciated.
Pre-1845: Baseballs are constructed of cores consisting of nuts, bullets, rocks or shoe rubber gum and even sturgeon eyes [1a – 1d] wrapped with yarn and covered in leather or sheepskin in the lemon-peel style or the belt/gusset ball style. Both cover styles are identical to those used in feathery golf balls from the 1700s. Typically homemade, the sizes ranged anywhere from 5.1 to 9.8 inches in circumference and could weigh anywhere from 1 oz. to 7 oz. with the typical baseball weighing 3 oz. Because outs were made by “soaking” a runner in the game of rounders or town ball, the early baseballs were typically lighter. [1e]
1845 – 1854: The Knickerbockers developed and adopted the New York Game style of baseball in September 1845 in part to play a more dignified game that would attract adults. The removal of the “soaking” rule allowed the Knickerbockers to develop a harder baseball that was more like a cricket ball. [1e]
Dr. D.L. Adams of the Knickerbocker team stated that he
produced baseballs for the various teams in
1854: Joint rules
committee at Smith’s Tavern,
1858:
William
Cutler of
Harrison
Harwood develops the first baseball factory
1860: National Association of Baseball Players rules specifies that “The ball must weigh not less than five and three-fourths, nor more than six ounces avoirdupois. It must measure not less than nine and three-fourths, nor more than ten inches in circumference. It must be composed of India rubber and yarn, and covered with leather, and, in all match games, shall be furnished by the challenging club, and become the property of the winning club, as a trophy of victory.” [5a]
1863: Weeks patents the cork center ball for use in cricket [6a]
1863 - 1866: National Association of Baseball Players rules specifies that “The ball must weigh not less than five and one-half, nor more than five and three-fourths ounces, avoirdupois. It must measure not less than nine and one-half, nor more than nine, and three-fourths inches in circumference. It must be composed of India-rubber and yarn, and covered with leather, and, in all match games, shall be furnished by the challenging club, and become the property of the winning club as a trophy of victory.” [7a]
1860s – 1870: At least 9 manufacturers are producing baseballs during this time period, including 1) Harwood and Sons, Natick, MA, 2) Ryan and Harvey Ross, NY, 3) John Van Horn, NY, 3) Edward Horsman, NY, 4) Andrew Peck and Co., 5) Peck and Snyder, 6) Rice, NY, 7) S.W. Brock, NY, 8) George Ellard, Cincinnati, OH, and 9) John Whiting, NY. [ 8a]. One NY manufacturer is reported to have produced 162,000 baseballs in 1870 alone. [8b]
1870: The New York Rubber Company reportedly manufactures a ball with a rubber cover which is deemed a failure for baseball uses because the rubber cover tears easily.
1872: National Association of Baseball Players rules specifies that “The ball must weigh not less than five nor more than five and one quarter ounces avoirdupois. It must measure not less than nine nor more than nine inches and one-quarter inches in circumference. It must be composed of india rubber and yarn, and covered with leather. The quantity of rubber used in the composition of the ball shall be one ounce, and the rubber used shall be vulcanized and in mould form. The ball is required to weigh not less than 5 and not more than 5 1/4 ounces, with a circumference of not less than 9 and not more than 9 1/4 inches.” [9a]
REFERENCES
[1a]. Woodbury Reporter, March 6, 1926. 70 Years Ago, Youths Made Balls at Home.
George F. Morris, a Woodbury resident, recalls that overshoes were made from pure rubber gum and were salvaged by boys when they were worn out. Strips of rubber from the ball, wound into an egg-sized ball and baked in an oven until the rubber could be pressed into a solid ball. Yarn was then wound around the ball and a cobbler would be paid $ 0.25 to sew on a cover.
[1b].
Base Balls. Manner and Extent of the Manufacture in this Country – How they were Made Fifty Years Ago – Gradual Growth of the Business – Preparing for the Next Season’s Trade – Dead Balls Going Out of Favor – Ball Makers’ Wages.
An article discussing the early development of the baseballs. This article discusses the use of overshoe rubber to make a core for the baseball. In the lake regions, sturgeon eyes were used as a core. The article also discusses the business of making baseballs in the 1870s and 1880s.
[1c]. New York Times, April 30, 1871
Base Balls. Manner and Extent of the Manufacture in this Country – How they were Made Fifty Years Ago – Gradual Growth of the Business – Preparing for the Next Season’s Trade – Dead Balls Going Out of Favor – Ball Makers’ Wages.
An article discussing the early development of the baseballs. This article discusses the use of overshoe rubber to make a core for the baseball. In the lake regions, sturgeon eyes were used as a core. The article also discusses the business of making baseballs in the 1870s and 1880s.
[1d]. Major League Baseball Official Program, American League Championship Series, 1996
An article by Tim Wiles, titled “What a Ball” about the history of the baseball.
[1e]. Gilbert, 1995, Elysian Fields, The
Birth of Baseball, pg. 16 – 17.
Includes a discussion of the Knickerbockers development of a harder baseball due to the removal of the “soaking” rule.
[2a]. Sporting News, February 29, 1896
Dr. D.L. Adams, Memoirs of the Father of Baseball. Dr. Adams reiminces about the early days of baseball when he was member of the Knickerbockers. Dr. Adams recalls that for six or seven years, he made all of the baseballs for his team as well as the other local teams. He discusses that he would use three or four ounces of rubber cuttings, wound with yarn and then covered with leather. It was not until 1858 that he found a saddler that would produce the ball for them.
Sullivan reprints this article in Early Innings, A Documentary History of Baseball, 1825-1908, pages 13-18.
[3a]. Peverelly, 1866, The Book of American Pastimes, pgs. 346 – 348.
An annual joint meeting between the Knickerbockers, Gotham
and Eagle clubs was held on April 1, 1854 at Smith’s Tavern in
[4a].
The Massachusetts Association of Base Ball Players convened
to codify the rules of the Massachusetts Game
[4b]. Bob Schaefer, http:/groups.yahoo.com/group/19cBB/message/2146
Mr. Schaefer indicates that he received information from the
Natick Historical Society that Col. William Cutler designed the figure 8 ball
cover in his kitchen at
[4c]. Natick Baseball Factory, http:/www.natickhistory.com/timeline/baseball.html
A small article on the Natick Baseball Factory by the Natick Historical Society and Museum. I have a photo of a lemon peel ball and it’s box that Harwood manufactured, indicating that they made both types of baseballs.
[5a]. 1860 National Association of Baseball Players, Rules
and Regulations Adopted by the National Association of Baseball Players -
[6a]. In 1863, an Englishman named Weeks patented a cork center ball for cricket. http://webusers.npl.uiuc.edu/~a-nathan/pob/evolution.html
Although not directly related to the baseball before the 1870s, this fact is important to the later development of the baseball. In 1910, George Reach developed the first cork-centered baseball.
[7a]. 1866 National Association of Baseball Players, Rules
and Regulations Adopted by the National Association of Baseball Players, Held
in
Although this rule is commonly associated with 1866, these ball dimensions were in use by the National Association of Baseball Players on December 1863. The 1863 rules can be found in the 1864 edition of The American Boy’s Book of Sports and Games, pgs. 89-93.
[8a]. Robert Loeffler, 19th Century Baseball Manufacturers
[8b]. New York Times, April 30, 1871.
Bats, Balls and Mallets. Concerning the Implements of Base-Ball - Facts, Figures and Fancies About the Trade- Neglected Cricket and Fascinating Croquet – Games that Have Gone Out, and Games That Ought to Come In – A Plea for Ladies’ Archery Meetings.
[9a]. The Rules of Baseball for 1873, as Revised by the National Association in 1872. http://wiki.vbba.org/index.php/Rules/1873
19th Century Baseball Manufacturers
1. Harwood Baseball Factory – 1858 –
1890s
Corner of
2. Andrew Peck & Co. – 1858 –
mid-1860s
105 Nassau Street, N.Y.
Civil War – obit)