In an article written in 2014, a man named Richard Hershberger answered one of the burning questions of our time, a question that I just know is on everyone's mind.
That question, friends, is "Who invented baseball?"
What's that? You say you don't know and you don't care?
I forge ahead undaunted, nevertheless. A snippet of Tennyson comes to mind: "Ours not to reason why / Ours not to make reply / Ours but to do and die / Into the valley of death rode the six hundred". The very astute among you will note that it is a butchered snippet, the original having said "Theirs" and not "Ours". Note also that Tennyson wrote "do and die" and not "do or die". As the King said to the jury at Alice's trial, that's very important.
Moving right along, I thought I was pretty good at doing research, including lots of detail, and getting to the bottom of things, but Mr. Hershberger's tenacity puts me in the shade, leaves me in the dust, and other strange expressions.
Let me just say that if you think Abner Doubleday invented baseball, think again. If you think Alexander Cartwright invented baseball, think again.
Better yet, read this from beginning to end and don't stop until you reach the end.
Opening day for Major League Baseball's 2019 season is only two weeks away and we should all be on the same page.
In other news, Babe Ruth's last surviving daughter, Julia Ruth Stevens, died this week in Henderson, Nevada, at the age of 102.
Did what I sent you help? Guess not.
ReplyDeleteAdrian, no, actually, it did. I learned some new stuff and that is always good. I fiddled around with widths and fonts and colors a bit, but in the end left it pretty much the way it was, maybe a little wider is all. As we say in the states, you done good.
DeleteI think your template is old and unsupported. I couldn't pull HTML dimensions from it. Live with it or update to a new template. Save this one first. Google are wee devils and don't want Blogger as it earns next to nothing.
DeleteSome form of baseball has been around for centuries. Soldiers in the Civil War amused themselves by throwing a ball or stone and hitting it with a bat or stick. However it did take someone to organize rules and logistics. I am extremely grateful to whoever it was and I am so ready for opening day.
ReplyDeleteEmma, if only every day were opening day, life would be a dream. Or maybe it would turn out to be more like the movie Groundhog Day....
DeleteStoolball is a game played in a marked field with a batter and a bowler. The game of rounders has been played in England since Tudor times, with the earliest reference being in 1744 in “A Little Pretty Pocketbook” where it was called baseball.
ReplyDeleteGraham, you are my "go to guy" for interesting bits of information. You and Ian Who Shoots Parrots.
DeleteOf course the cricket ball was invented long before the baseball...so long ago that its inventor's name is lost in the mists of time.
ReplyDeleteYorkshire Pudding, cricket and rugby are two of the most confusing games to me. And polo. And backgammon. And multi-dimensional chess. Why anyone would ever want to pole vault boggles the mind. As a boy my dad played lacrosse in La Crosse, Wisconsin, with actual Native Americans. I'll take baseball over them all.
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