America's pastime really English? Earliest reference discovered

LONDON -- Baseball is as American as ... tea and crumpets?That may be case, according to a diary uncovered in southern England last year but only now being made public.Julian
Pooley, the manager of the Surrey History Centre, said Thursday he has
authenticated a reference to baseball in a diary by English lawyer
William Bray dating back to 1755 -- about 50 years before what was
previously believed to have been the first known reference to what
became the American pastime."I know his handwriting very well,"
Pooley told The Associated Press in a telephone interview, adding he
believed the game wasn't very common at the time. "He printed it to
show it was new to him. He doesn't mention baseball again. It was
something that seemed special."Bray wrote that he played the game with both men and women on the day after Easter, a traditional holiday in England."He was about 18 or 19 [at the time of the diary entry]," Pooley said. "He was a very social man. He enjoyed sports."The entry reads:"Easter Monday 31 March 1755"Went
to Stoke Ch. This morning. After Dinner Went to Miss Jeale's to play at
Base Ball with her, the 3 Miss Whiteheads, Miss Billinghurst, Miss
Molly Flutter, Mr. Chandler, Mr. Ford & H. Parsons & Jelly.
Drank Tea and stayed till 8."Baseball has long been thought to have been an American invention, with roots in the British games of rounders and cricket.The
first recorded competitive baseball game took place in Hoboken, N.J.,
in 1846 between the Alexander Cartwright's Knickerbocker Base Ball Club
of New York and the New York Nine. The first professional team played
in 1869 and the first professional league started two years later.Bray,
who died in 1832, kept a diary for much of his life and wrote a history
of Surrey. He also transcribed and published the diary and writings of
English writer John Evelyn.Pooley said he first became aware of
Bray's reference in July 2007 after local historian Tricia St. John
Barry notified Major League Baseball to say she found a notation of the
game that predated their own findings."She said, '... I've got a reference in a diary I found in the shed,'" Pooley said.Pooley
said St. John Barry only told MLB about the diary after researchers
came to England last year working on a movie by Major League Baseball
Advanced Media called "Base Ball Discovered," which examines the
origins of the sport."She didn't realize its significance [before that]," Pooley said.The
movie is to be shown next week at the Baseball Film Festival in
Cooperstown, N.Y., the home of the sport's Hall of Fame. No one at the
Hall was available for comment Thursday."While filming our
documentary in England, we met Tricia, who responded to a BBC piece on
our film crew being in country, looking at the roots of baseball,"
MLB.com said on its Web site. "This discovery places William Bray in a
new role of importance and provides insight into baseball's beginnings."The
Surrey History Centre said there is a reference to baseball that came
earlier than Bray's, but it appears in a fictional book by John
Newberry called "A Little Pretty Pocket-Book." Jane Austen's
"Northanger Abbey" also refers to baseball. It was written in 1798 but
not published until 1817."It is a game steeped in history and
now Surrey County Council's History Centre and an inquisitive local
historian have provided the earliest manuscript proof that the game the
Americans gave to the world came from England," said Helyn Clack, an
executive member for safer and stronger communities at Surrey County
Council.A copy of the diary is to go on display at Surrey History Centre on Saturday.

Oh god, yet another sport we invented but suck at !

We suck at most things we've invented in all fairness :p

were really good in baseball because all of our money goes to baseball, basketball and american football.
i wish the u.s would spend more money on soccer(football)

personally I think in the uk we play too many sports to ever be the best in, but we do represent well in everything we do and gives many options to the youth today

eezerGeezer wrote:personally I think in the uk we play too many sports to ever be the best in, but we do represent well in everything we do and gives many options to the youth today

Very true though, Schools are teaching up to what, 6,7 or maybe even more sports to people, expecting them to take part and do well in most.
Back when i was at school, our P.E. Teacher loved Rugby more then life its self, and you could see it, our school played insane amounts of rugby, and as a result, we were county champions 8 years running.

exactly if we wanna be the best at something we need to put more effort into that field

u would be surprised when i say the school's in u.s has more than 15 sports for boys and girls being taught

Very true Manchester.

not suprising no, christ all the years ago I was at school we did that,

manchester5 wrote:u would be surprised when i say the school's in u.s has more than 15 sports for boys and girls being taught

Same here in Australia , I remember when we came to australia the only sports we had played home in england was football really.
Then when we got here it was a whole new world. Every term there were different sports to play and not just in PE. We had p.e but also interschool sports where one afternoon a week every school sent out their students to play other schools in sports leagues. Cricket and rugby league being the biggest, every year had an A team all the way through to an E team.
I think the more sport you expose the kids to in schools the better chance of unearthing talent and those kids getting into the game. You only have to look at the aussies, no where near the same population as the uk or the usa but the bastards are always winning the big competitions OR right up there with the best. It's beacuse they are sports mad here !!

yup i agree with you som.....the more sports you introduce the better talent appears. i think this is true when it comes to the olympics. The u,s has alot of sports that u can play in.