The Beachville Game
Our latest Inductee, some music, and a book
Welcome back Eh you Hosers! We are definitely hopping in the wayback machine for this one. You know what that means? Get yourself a beverage and a snack, and let’s get straight into it!
CLASS: 1988
WHO:
WHEN: June 4th/1838
WHERE: Beachville, Ontario (about a 2-hour drive to the southwest of Toronto)
WHAT: The earliest recorded baseball game in history took place between Oxford and Zorra townships.
BUT IS IT THOUGH?
Well, that’s the controversy, if you’d like to call it that. That date is several years before the “first official baseball game”, which is said to have taken place in June of 1846 at Elysian Field in Hoboken, NJ, between the New York Nine and the New York Knickerbockers.
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
Professor Bob Barney (University of Western Ontario) researched the first recorded game after coming across a letter from Dr. Adam E. Ford in the Sporting Life (published May 5, 1886). Dr. Ford painted a picture of the game being played in Beachville, with five bases, fair and foul balls, and hitters using a hand-hewn stick and a ball made of yarn in calf skin. These were effectively “Canadian Rules” that evolved from rounders and cricket, with 11 a side, where all 11 players batted in each inning, which did not end until all were out.
WHICH LEADS US TO…
The Hoboken Game was played under “Knickerbocker Rules,” which align more closely with the baseball rules we are all familiar with today than Dr. Ford described the game north of the border. These were established in 1845 by Alexander Cartwright, where the game was 21 outs in length with three outs/inning. There was foul territory outside the 1st and 3rd baselines, along with the ball being “pitched” rather than thrown.
SO WHICH IS IT?
I think I’ll describe it this way - the earliest recorded variation of baseball appears to be our game in Beachville, while the first recording of the game we now recognize as baseball took place in Hoboken…if that makes any sense 🤣. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter too much and highlights the game’s long, extensive, and winding history on both sides of the border.
The links to sources are below at the end of the post if you’d like to dive in further.
Smurfy Soundtrack
Smurfy Reads
A couple of experienced wreck divers discover a U-boat off the coast of New Jersey and become obsessed with identifying it and uncovering its story. The journey is just as much about the human dynamics of those involved as it is about a U-boat that shouldn’t be there in the first place.
Thank you for stopping by and checking in today. Until the next time and as always…
Keep It 80 Grade!
The Beachville Game – Society for American Baseball Research
Baseball — Beachville District Museum
Early Recorded Baseball Game - Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum