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Version 3

Updated October 2009

The “Safe-Haven” Games:

A Protoball Glossary of 210 Games of Ball

Note: this glossary was developed initially for those doing research on the origins of baseball, including the evolution of those features of baseball that are found in predecessor games. For completeness, contemporary games that resemble baseball are now also included. We welcome submissions of others game and corrections/elaborations of games presented here.

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Those attempting to learn about the origins of baseball confront a large zoo of different games that are candidates as predecessor games. Even more complicated is the array of names for those games as they evolved over the years; some games appear to have sported different names, depending on the region and the era of play; and some names – including “baseball” -- have been used for rather different games.

This glossary is intended to provide a focus for our learning, as a group of researchers, about the full range of “safe-haven” games and their names. We hope that users will add other games, and tell us of mistakes in the current version. We chose to call this set of games “safe haven” games because what they seem to have in common: a set of bases where players gain immunity from being put out, and for which a round trip results in a run. (Some writers have called these games the “stick and ball” games, which would, if taken literally, embrace croquet and golf and tennis, etc., and would exclude kick-ball and punch-ball and all games played with cats instead of balls. Tom Altherr has used the term “baseball-like games,”[1] and Richard Hershberger uses “the baseball family”[2] to denote the class of games of interest. [Richard thus denotes a subset of Group 1 below, but omitting non-US games, two-base games, games arising after 1870, and the o’cat games]. Doubtless future usage will define agreeable generic terms to better convey say what we all mean.)

The glossary is presented in alphabetical order by name. Appendix A contains a set of significant caveats for new researchers. Appendix B sorts all the listed games into six categories:

GROUP 1: CLAN BASEBALL (including Baseball and Cricket): Safe-Haven games featuring running among bases, a bat, pitching, and two distinct teams. This group comprises about 85 games

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GROUP 2: CLAN SCRUB (including Feeder, Scrub, and Work-up) -- Safe-Haven games featuring running among bases, pitching, and a bat (but no teams). This group comprises about 10 games

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GROUP 3: CLAN KICKBALL (including Kickball and Punchball) -- Safe-Haven games featuring running among bases, pitching, and two distinct teams (but no batting). This group comprises about 25 games.

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GROUP 4: CLAN HAT BALL(including Hat Ball and Roly Poly) -- Games featuring baserunning and/or plugging (but no batting). The group comprises about 15 games

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GROUP 5: CLAN FUNGO (including Hit-the Bat, 21, and other Fungo games) -- Games featuring batting/hitting (but no baserunning). The group comprises about 40 games.

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GROUP 6: CLAN HOOK-EM-SNIVY -- Games for which the rules of play are not known and, and some that are commonly encountered by researchers but that are not safe-haven games (including shinty, bandy, and stow-ball). This group comprises about 35 games.

A Protoball Glossary

Aipuni – A boys’ game reportedly played in Hawaii before the game of base ball was introduced in the 1860s. As described, its rules were consistent with those of wicket, but no running or scoring is mentioned.[3]

American Cricket – A hybrid cricket-baseball game reportedly[4] introduced in Chicago in 1870. The game is described as having cricket rules, except with no LBW rule, and with the addition of a third base, so that the bases form a triangle with sides of 28-yards. We have no other accounts of this game.

Bace – In 1805 a game of “bace” was reportedly played among adult males in New York City. Its rules were not reported. The word “bace” is extremely rare in sport: it appeared in a 1377 English document, and, in a list of obsolete Cornish terms, for the game Prisoner’s Base in Cornwall in 1882. Unlike the usual case for prisoner’s base, however, a final score [41-35] was reported for this match.[5]

Ball and Bases – per Perrin (1902).[6] A school-time running game of one-on-one contests between a pitcher and a batter, who propels the tossed ball with the hand and runs bases while the pitcher retrieves the ball. Caught flies and a failure to reach third base before the pitcher touches home with the ball in hand are outs. Batters receive one point for each base attained, and five for a home run. Three-out half innings are used.

Balle au Camp – Translated as “rounders” in an 1855 translation[7] of a French poem. Maigaard[8] identifies it as a longball-type game with four bases [set in a line] and in which the ball is thrown into the field by a member of the in team to initiate play.

Balloon – A fungo-like game played in Elizabethan times in England[9]. The ball was an inflated leather bag, and was knocked with the arm – sometimes aided by a wooden brace. Hitting for distance was evidently desired, but no running or fielding is described.

Ball-Paces: Scotland – per Block.[10] The 1836 book Perth Traditions described Ball-Paces, by then almost extinct, as a game that used a trap to put a ball into play, at which point in-team runners at each of four bases run to the next bases, stopping only when the ball was returned to the original batsman’s station. There is no mention of plugging.

Ball Stand -- Elmore (1922)[11] describes this as a game of attrition for ages 8-12 that involves throwing a ball against a wall. One player is named to catch it. If the player does, “stand” is shouted, and other players are to freeze in their places. If the player with the ball can plug someone, that player is out; if not, the thrower is out. This game has not batting or baserunning.

Ball-Stock: German – per Dick, 1864.[12] A team game like rounders, but having large safety areas instead of posts or bases. A feeder makes a short gentle toss to a batter, who tries to hit it. The batter-runner then chooses whether to run for a distant goal-line or a nearer one, for which there is a smaller chance of being plugged. The nearer station can hold several runners at once. Three missed swings makes an out, as does a caught fly. Versions of Ball-Stock are found in British and American boys’ books in the mid-Nineteenth Century.

Bandy-Wicket: England -- According to Gomme [1894],[13] Bandy-Wicket is Cricket played with a bandy (a curved club) instead of a cricket bat. This name was evidently once used in Norfolk and Suffolk.

Barn Ball (House Ball)-- A two-player game set against a wall or barn. The pitch is made from about ten feet away against the wall, and the batter tries to hit it on the rebound. If successful, he runs to the wall and back. If he misses the ball, and the pitcher catches the rebounding pitch on the fly or on one bound, the batter is out. XX add cite XX. Beard (1896)[14] calls a similar game House Ball. It specifies a brick house, perhaps for the peace of mind of occupants.

Base – Sometimes, a name for base ball. While many references to “base” most likely denote Prisoner’s Base (a team form of tag similar in nature to Capture the Flag and today’s Laser Tag), others denote a ball game. David Block[15] reports that the earliest clear appearance of “base” as a ball game is from New England in 1831, and that the source groups base with cricket and cat as young men’s ballgames.

Base Dodge Ball – Elmore (1922)[16] describes this game as a form of Square Ball (Corner Ball) for 7^th graders through high schoolers in which a player can prevent being called out by catching a ball thrown at him. An “indoor baseball” is used. The game involves no batting or baserunning.

Baseball – America’s national pastime since about 1860. Writing about rounders in 1898, Gomme[17] mused that “An elaborate form of this game has become the national game of the United States.” The term “baseball” actually arose in England as early as 1748, referring to a simple game like rounders, but usage in England died out, and was soon forgotten in most parts of the country. The term first appeared in the United States in 1791.

Baste Ball – Apparently a variant spelling of base ball. The most famous usage is in a Princeton student’s diary entry for 1786, which reveals only that the game involves catching and hitting.[18]

Bat-Ball – We have references to bat-bat from 1791 (when it was banned in both Pittsfield and Northampton MA)[19] to 2003[20], but the basic rules of this game as first played are unclear. Writers have diversely compared it to bandy, to schlagball, and to punchball. It is clear that a club was not always required for hitting,[21] as the ball could instead be slapped into play by the hand.

Batton – All we know about Batton is that in 1851 boys played a game in the village of Norfolk, MA – about 20 miles SW of Boston.[22]

Beep Baseball -- Baseball for blind players. The balls emit beeps, and a base buzzes once a ball is hit. Runners are out if the ball is fielded before they reach base. Sighted players serve as pitcher and catcher for the batting team, but cannot field. There is a national association[23] for the game, and annual World Series have been held since 1976.

Beezy -- per Fraser (1975)[24] – A game played in Dundee, Scotland, in about 1900 and later understood as a “corruption of baseball.” Balls were hit with the hand instead of a bat, and the game evidently sometimes used plugging.

Bittle-Battle – A game mentioned (but not described) in the 1086 Domesday Book in England.[25] Some have claimed that this game resembled Stoolball. In fact, Gomme [1894] [26] defines Bittle-Battle as “the Sussex game of ‘Stoolball.’”

Bo-Ball – Maigaard (1941)[27] notes they while most forms of rounders and longball are now lost, three – baseball, cricket, and bo-ball – remain vigorous. He places Bo-Ball in Finland. The only known source on this game, called Lahden Mailaveikot in Finnish, is a Finnish-language website, one that shows photographs of a vigorous game with aluminum bats, gloves, helmets, and much sliding and running but no solid hints for English-speakers about the nature of the game. Similarities to Pesapallo, including the gentle form of pitching, are apparent.

Boston Ball per Perrin (1902)[28] – Apparently an indoor game derived from baseball. A member of the in-team throws the ball to an area guarded by the pitcher, and runs if and when the ball passes through. There is tagging but no plugging.

Box Baseball – per Bronner [1997].[29] Using three sidewalk squares, a “pitcher” throws the ball into the box closest to his opponent, who tries to slap the ball into the box closest to the pitcher. If he missed the box or the pitcher catches ball on the fly, it is an out. There is no baserunning. Also called “Boxball.”

Brannboll (Brennball) – A Swedish game, also played in Germany and Denmark. A batting and running game with four bases, this game involved fungo-style hitting to start a play. As in some forms of longball, a base can be occupied by more than one runner. A caught fly ball gives a point to the out team, but the runner is not thereby retired. Innings are timed. A home run is six points. A 90-degree fair territory is employed.[30] This game may relate to Swedeball. It is said that Brannboll is played in Minnesota, but no such references are known.

Bull Pen – per Brewster [1953].[31] “Basemen” stand at each corner of a bounded field of play, and try to plug other players inside the bounds. Each player has three “eyes” [lives]. A player loses an “eye” if plugged or if a target player catches a ball thrown at him. There is no batting or baserunning in this game.

Bunt – Bunt is downsized baseball. One reported Massachusetts version[32] was a one-on-one game in which any hit ball that reached the not-distant field perimeter was an out. The batter ran out hit balls, and the pitcher fielded them, but thereafter base advancement was done by ghost [imaginary] runners. Terrie Dopp Aamodt reports playing a similar[33] game as an adolescent girl.

Bunting -- According to Gomme,[34] a Lincolnshire glossary specifies that Bunting is a name for Tip-Cat.

Burn Ball – per Appel [1999].[35] Appel reports that the young Mike Kelly, growing up on Washington DC in the late 1860’s, first played Burn Ball, a form of base ball that included plugging or burning.

Call Ball – A game in which a ball is tossed up among players and one player’s name is then called out. That player must obtain the ball and try to hit fleeing compatriots with it. Newell [1883] [36] notes that this game was played in Austria.

Cashhornie – per Jamieson (1825).[37] A game known in County Fife. Two teams, armed with clubs, try to drive a ball into a hole defended by their opponents. This game may have resembled field hockey more than a safe-haven game.

Cat – per Culin.[38] A batting game played with a six-inch, pointed wooden “cat.” The cat is pitched to a batter standing near a four-foot circle. The batter is out if he hits a caught fly or if the ball falls, unhit, into the circle. If put out, the batter goes to the end of the sequence of fielders, and the pitcher becomes the new batter. A batter can accrue points based on the distance from the circle to the where the hit ball lands. A version described by Newell[39] allows the batter to elevate and hit any cat that is pitched outside the circle.

Cat-and-Bat – per Burnett.[40] Burnett identifies Cat-and-Bat as a form of cricket that was played in Scottish streets in about 1860.

Cat-and-Dog (Cat and Doug): Scotland – A game for three players.[41] Two defend foot-wide holes set about 26 feet[42] apart with a club, or “dog.” A third player throws a four-inch cat toward the hole, and the defender hits it away. If the cat enters the hole, defender and thrower switch places. Gomme,[43] who uses the name Cat and Dog Hole, describes a game using a ball in which a stone replaces the hole where the batter stands, and adds that if the third player catches a hit ball in the air, that player can try to hit the stone, which sends the batter out.

Cat i’ The Hole: Scotland -- per Brand[44] and Jamieson.[45] All but one player stands by a hole, holding a stick [called a “cat.”] The last player, holding a ball, gives a signal, and the others run to place their stick in the next adjacent hole before a ball enters it, or he will become the thrower.

Catch a Fly – A fungo game played in Manhattan in the 1950s. A fungo hitter is replaced by a fielder who catches a ball (or sometimes three balls) on the fly. Played when fewer than six kids were at the ballyard and a team game wasn’t possible. Reported by John Pastier, email of February 12, 2009.

Catch-Ball – per “Boys’ Own Book” (1881).[46] A game similar to Nineholes, but without the holes. A ball is thrown up, and a player named. If that player cannot catch it before it bounces twice, he must plug another player or lose a point.

Cerkelspelen (Circle-Game?) Flanders – According to Maigaard,[47] Cerkelspelen was “rounders without batting” as played in Flanders. The game evidently had five bases, with fielders near each one, but the infield area was occupied only by the in-team.

Chermany – In an email of 12/10/2008, Tom Altherr tells of the game of chermany, defined in a 1985 dictionary[48] as “a variety of baseball.” Early usage of the term dates to the 1840s-1860s. Two sources relate the game to baseball, and one, a 1912 book of Virginia folk language, defines it as “a boys’ game with a ball and bats.” We know of but eight references to chermany [churmany, chumny, chuminy] as of October 2009. Its rules of play are sketchy. A Confederate soldier described it as using five or six foot-high sticks as bases and using “crossing out” instead of tagging or plugging runners to retire them.

Cluich an Tighe – According to Morrison (1908)[49] this game is “practically identical with the game of “Rounders.” He goes on to describe a game with three bases set 50 yards apart, with plugging and crossing as ways to retire batters. Games are played to 50 or 100 counts. The game is depicted as “practically dead” in Uist (In the Outer Hebrides off Scotland) but formerly was very popular.

Club-ball – per Strutt.[50] Strutt speculates that Club-ball was the ancient ancestor of many ball games. Its rules of play are not known.

Cora – This game, encountered in Upper Egypt in the 1850s, is briefly described[51]: it is “played likewise with a ball; one tosses it, and another strikes it with his hand, and runs to certain limits, if he can, without being hit by a ‘fag’ who picks up the ball and throws in.”

Corkball – A St. Louis pastime[52], derived from baseball, involving down-sized bats and balls. The ball is pitched overhand from a distance of 55 feet. There is no running, but imaginary runners advance as in other scrub games. Hit balls are defined as singles, and sometimes as longer hits, depending on where they land. The game is said to have originated in about 1900 among brewery workers using broomsticks and the bungs [corks] used to seal beer barrels. Team sizes vary.

Corner Ball – A plugging game that is closer to dodge ball than to safe-haven games. Some players, standing at designated corners or the perimeter of the playing area, pass the ball teammate to teammate in order to make it easier for one of them to plug anyone among group of players swarming around inside the field. If plugged, a player is out of the game.

Crekettes – A reference to “crekettes” in a 1533 poem has been construed as evidence that the game of cricket originated in a pastime brought to England by Flemish weavers , who arrived in the 14^th Century. A German scholar[53] thinks that this earlier game originated in the Franco-Flemish border area as early as 1150. We have no faint notion of how this earlier game might have been played.

Cricket – The national game of Great Britain, also now favored in former English colonies except the United States and Canada. Abbreviated forms of cricket, involving limited overs [sets of six pitches or “bowls”] are now common.

Cuck-ball – is defined in the OED as “a kind of rounders.” Gomme[54] equates Cuck-Ball with Pize Ball and Tut-Ball.

Cudgel – per Gomme.[55] Two holes are made about ten feet apart. A player on the out-team pitches a cat toward a hole, and its defender tries to hit it with his stick. He and his in-team mate then run between the holes. When more than four boys play the extra out-team players field as in cricket.

Curb-Ball – Gregory Christiano[56] describes this as a non-running game in which a player threw a spaldeen against a curb so that it lofted into the field of play. A caught fly was and out, and otherwise the number of bounces determined base advancement, wilth four bounces counting as a home run.

Diamond Ball – A game played from 1916 to 1926, when it transformed into Softball.

Doutee Stool – According to an 1860 text,[57] players sit on stools placed in a circle, and one player tosses or strikes a ball into the air. If he retrieves the ball and hits another player before that player reaches the next stool, the two players switch roles.

Drive – A ball game, listed along with the Old Cat games and Baseball, mentioned in the memoirs of a New Hampshire man born in 1831.[58] The rules of this game are unknown. It may not have been a safe-haven game.

Dully – A Scottish name for rounders as played by “Edinburgh street boys” in about 1880[59] and by schoolgirls in about 1900.[60]

Dutch Long – This game, called “long out of date” in an 1867 newspaper article,[61] seemed to resemble Long Ball with three bases. A “tosser” lofted the ball and a nearby batter hit it, then ran to a base [a “bye”] a few feet away, then to a second base 25-30 feet distant, then home. Completing this circuit before the ball was returned by fielders to the tosser gave the striker another turn at bat. The account does not say whether this was a team game, whether it employed plugging, or whether runners could elect to stay on base.

Egg-Hat -- A version of this game described in 1860[62] has players place their hats near a wall. One of them tosses a ball from 15 feet away, and if the ball lands in a player’s hat, he tries to quickly plug a fleeing compatriot or else he receives an “egg” [a small stone] in his hat. Three stones and you’re out of the game.

Evansville Townball – per Gilbert (1910).[63] Remembered as Town Ball, this game was a simple fungo game played in the 1850s in which a fielder who caught a hit ball on the fly or on one bounce became the fungo batter.

Feeder – per “The Boy’s Own Book.”[64] A non-team form of rounders using three bases in which a player who is put out then takes on the role of feeder [pitcher]. An 1859 handbook describes feeder as a game with four or five stones or marks for bases. Plugging is permitted.

Five Hundred (also Twenty-One) – Fielders catch fungo hits, with a caught fly worth 100 points, a one-bouncer 75 points, etc. A player who accrues 500 points becomes the hitter. In some versions, muffed catches deduct points, and the Hit-the-Bat option is employed. Land’s review of schoolyard games[65] includes two references to 500.

Flys-Are-Up, Flies-Up – Gregory Christiano[66] recalls this as a fungo game for times where there were too few players for stick-ball in New York. A fielder who caught the ball on the fly went “up” to bat. Land[67] quotes New York City resident Michael Frank: “Hardball? Never. Other baseball-related games we played included Stickball in the street and “Flies-Up” in the playground. The latter game is not further described, but could be a species of Fungo.

Fungo – per Culin.[68] A batter fungoes balls to a set of fielders. A fielder who first catches a set number of balls on the fly becomes the batter. Chadwick[69] describes Fungo as requiring the hitter to deliver the ball on the fly to the fielders, or he loses his place. This practice probably has had numerous local variant names such as Knock Up and Catch and Knocking Flies.[70]

Gate-ball (Thorball) – Bowen (1970)[71] writes that “Gate-ball (‘Thorball’), as found in the early Dutch and Danish accounts is “obviously but wicket [cricket], again.”

German Ball Game – per Perrin (1902).[72] This game involves pitching a ball to a batter who hits it into a field where an opposing team’s fielders are. He tries to reach a goal line at the end of the playing area [80 feet away] and to return to the batting zone without being plugged by the ball. There is no mention of the possibility of remaining safely at the goal area. Three outs constitute a half-inning, and a team that scores 25 “points” [runs] wins the contest.

German Baseball – per Naul (2002).[73] This game, described as an amalgam of Baseball and traditional German Schlagball, was introduced in 1986 by Roland Naul in the context of a revival of Turner games for German youth. In the mid-1990s, a one-handed wooden bat was developed especially for the game. As of October 2009, we are uncertain how the two sets of rules were blended to make this new game. The author mentions that the fielding team can score points as well as the batting team.

German Bat Ball – A 1921 handbook[74] and a 1922 handbook[75] depicts German Bat Ball as a team game that uses a ball like a volleyball and that has neither a bat nor pitching. A “batter” puts the ball in play by serving or “posting” it [as in schoolyard punchball] and then running around a post (Clark) or to a distant safe-haven area (Elmore/O’Shea). A run is scored if the runner can return to the batting base without being plugged. It is unclear whether the runner can opt to stay at the distant base to avoid being put out. A caught fly is an out, and a three-out-side-out rule applies.

Gidigadie -- Court records[76] from 1583 [Elizabeth I was in her 25^th year as queen] show a dim view of this game. “Whereas there is great abuse in a game or games used in the town called ‘Gidigadie or the Cat’s Pallet . . . ‘ no manner persion shall play at the same games, being above the age of seven years, either in the churchyard or in any streets of the this town, upon pain of . . . being imprisoned in the Doungeon for the space of two hours . . . . Thus, Gidigadie may be another name for Cat’s Pallet.

Giftball [German] -- In Baseball Before We Knew It, [page 207] David Block describes a game in a German manual[77] that “is identical to the early French game of la balle empoisonee,” and that an illustration of two boys playing it “shows it to be a bat-and-ball game.

Gi-Gi Ball – per Leavy.[78] A biography of Sandy Koufax reports that he played “stickball, punchball, square ball, and Gi-Gi ball in his neighborhood. We don’t know what Gi-Gi Ball is.

Goal Ball -- Another name for early base ball, perhaps confined to certain areas.

Grutz – per Wieand.[79] This is a game with pitching and batting but no running. A caught fly ball results in an out, and the batter then goes to the outfield, or grutz, to begin his rotation back to the batting position. If a ball is not caught, the fielder tries to return it to home through an arch made by the batter.

Gulli-Danda – An apparent non-running relative of tip-cat. A batter hits a gulli [a six-inch cat] with a danda, and is out if a fielder catches it. If it falls to the ground, a fielder throws it back, trying to hit the danda, which is laid on the ground. It is not clear if this is a team game, or if the gulli is pitched on simply fungoed. There is no running. The geographical range of its play is unclear.

Half-Rubber (Half-Ball) -- per Thomason.[80] Half-Rubber is recalled as a 1930s school recess game involving a sponge-rubber ball sliced cleanly in half and a sawed-off broomstick as a bat. Thrown side-arm, the ball had good movement, and was difficult to field. There was no running, but outs and innings were recorded and (virtual) base advancement depending on the lengths that the ball was batted. A 1997 newspaper article[81] recalls a similar game recalled as Half-Ball being played in the Philadelphia area.

Hand-in-Hand-Out – per McLean.[82] McLean notes that hand-in and hand-out was among the games banned by King Edward IV in 1477. She identifies it as “probably a kind of trick catch.” The 1477 ban spelled the game name as “handyn and handout.”

Hat Ball – A form of Roly Poly (or Roley Poley or Roll Ball) that substitutes hats for holes in the ground. Newell says this game was played among the Pennsylvania Dutch.[83] Brewster[84] says that Hat Ball variants are known in many countries, and include Petjeball [Dutch] and Kappenspiel [German].

Hit the Bat – A fungo game in which a ball is hit to a group of fielders. If one of them can roll the ball back and hit the bat so that the ball hits the ground before the batter can catch the ricochet, the two exchange places.

Hit the Stick: Brooklyn – per Culin.[85] A team game resembling Kick the Ball, but using a simple catapult to put into play a 3-inch stick instead of a ball. Fly outs retire the batsman. The bases are the four street-corners at an intersection.

Hoina: Romania – A predecessor of Oina.

Hook-em-Snivy – Our single reference to this game comes from an 1847 Alabama newspaper[86] in its attempt to describe curling to southern readers: “Did you ever play ‘bass ball,’ or ‘goal,’ or ‘hook-em-snivy,’ on the ice?” Its nature is unknown. “Hookum-snivy” is slang for adultery, not that it matters.

Hornebillets – Only known from Francis Willughby’s 17^th century Book of Games, hornebillets[87] is played with a cat, which is thrown toward holes defended by players with dog-sticks. When they hit the cat, they run to the next hole, placing the stick in the hole before the cat is retrieved and can be put into the hole. The number of holes depends on the number of players on each team.

Hornie-Holes (also Kittie-Cat), per Jamieson (1825.)[88] Two teams of two boys, defend their holes with a sticks, described as like a walking sticks, against a cat (“a piece of stick, and frequently a sheep’s horn”) thrown “at some distance” by their opposite numbers.

House Ball: Scotland – per MacLagan.[89] The Scots name for the ordinary English game of Rounders. Pitched balls are struck by hand.

Howland Rounders – Confected in 2009 at an unidentified school in Howland, Ohio, this game[90] (“usually played from May to September”) melds baseball and rounders. Teams of six players populate an area with an infield in the form of an isosceles triangle [two sides are 83 feet long, and the base is 62 feet long, with home set at the angle at the right side of the base, and foul lines extending from home through the two running posts]. The counterparts to balls and strikes are influenced by whether a pitch lands in a net to the rear of the home square. Apparently, a batter cannot stay at a base, but must try to complete a round before the fielders can return the ball to the net.

Indian Ball [Missouri] – per Brewster.[91] A down-sized, non-running baseball variant. Two teams of five players form. A regular softball is pitched underhand to the batter. Outs are recorded for caught fly balls and ground balls cleanly fielded inside the baselines. Unlimited swings are permitted. Three-out-side-out innings, and five inning games.

Indoor Baseball: Chicago -- Evolving from an 1887 innovation in Chicago involving a broomstick as a bat and a boxing glove as the ball, indoor baseball is described in a 1929 survey[92] as particularly popular in gymnasiums in the US mid-west in the early 20^th century. The game of softball traces back to indoor play.

Ins and Withs -- A name for Scrub used in Philadelphia[93] in the 1930s and possibly before/after that.

Irish Rounders: Ireland – A communication[94] received from Peadar O Tuatain describes what is known of the ancient game of Irish Rounders. Details of the old game are apparently lost to history, but some rules encoded in 1932 were used for a revival in 1956, and the revival version, which resembles baseball much more than it does English rounders, is still being played. It employs a hurling ball and a game comprises five three-out innings. The game is played without gloves and, perhaps unique among safe-haven games, batted balls caught in the air are not outs.

Jellal – Lowth (1855)[95] describes Jellal, encountered among the people of Upper Eqypt, as resembling “in some of its parts our old game of Rounders” as he knew it in England. There was hitting and “getting home,” but a difference that he noted was that one boy hit the ball and another ran.

Kappenspiel – According to Brewster,[96] Kappenspiel is the German word for Hat Ball.

Kekivar: Armenia – per Brewster.[97] A team form of Hat Ball. A player throws a ball to the other group, and runs toward it. If the receiving group can plug the thrower, he is captured, and the game continues until one side is depleted.

Kersa -- An 1834 book[98] on a tour to Abyssinia mentions this game, taken to be “the same game we call bat ball” in England.

Kibel and Nerspel – per Gomme.[99] A game played at Sitxwold [huh?] resembling “Trap, Bat, and Ball.

Kickball – A traditional school recess game in the U.S., Kickball has lately grown in popularity as a co-ed adult game.[100] Kickball strongly resembles Baseball, but the large rubber ball is put in play by bowled delivery and struck by a kicker-runner, who then runs from base to base. Plugging below the neck retires a runner who not at a base. The rules of the World Adult Kickball Association, with 25,000 registered members, specifies 11 players per team, 60-foot basepaths, and a strike zone about 30 inches wide and one foot high.

Kick the Ball: Brooklyn – per Culin (1891).[101] A team game generally resembling Kickball, but using a small rubber ball. There is no plugging; runners are out if they are between bases when the fielding team returns the kicked ball to a teammate near home. No mention is made of fly outs. There is a three-out-side-out rule, and a game usually comprises four innings. Johnson (1910)[102] lists Kick the Ball as a Baseball game.

Kick the Can: Brooklyn – per Culin.[103] A game identical to Kick the Wicket [below] but using a can instead of a wicket.

Kick the Wicket: Brooklyn – per Culin.[104] The wicket is a piece of wood or a short section of a hose. Players kick the wicket, and then run among [usually four] bases. An “it” player tries to catch the ball, or to retrieve and reposition it while baserunners are between bases. The game is not described as a team game.

King’s Play (Cluich an Righ): Scotland – per MacLagan.[105] A player stands at the center of 11 stations marked with a stone, and a player at each. At the central player’s signal, the other 11 must change positions, and he tries to strike one with the ball before they can complete their move. Each position can be occupied by but one player.

Kit-Cat – Brand[106] describes Kit-Cat as a game for two teams of three players each. Each player on the in-team stands near a hole with a two-foot stick. One is thrown a cat. If he hits it [and if it is not caught in the air for an out], the in-team runs from hole to hole, placing their sticks in each hole and counting the number passed. Outs can also be made by throwing a cat into an unoccupied hole, or by strikeout. The number of outs per half-inning, and the number of missed swings that constitute an out, are agreed in advance.

Kitten Ball – An off-shoot of Indoor Baseball played early in the 20^th Century.

Knattleikar: Iceland – A ball game recorded in the “Younger Edda:” Its rules are not known.

Knock-Out – A fungo game in which a player who catches the ball on the fly qualifies to become the hitter.[107] Regionally variant names include Knock-Up and Knock-Up and Catch.

Kuningsapallo: Finland – a traditional Finnish game, features of which were incorporated into Pasepallo.

Kopfspeel: Dutch – per Endrei and Zolnay[108]. “Among the several types of Dutch kopfspeel there is one like rounders.” No other lead to kopfspeel is provided.

La Batonet – According to one 1895 source[109], identifies this game as Tip-cat. He writes that Tip-cat “is doubtless a very old diversion for children. It is illustrated as “La Batonet” in the charming series of children’s games designed by Stella and published in Paris, 1657, as “Les Jeux et Plaisiris [sic] de l’Enfance.”

Lahden Mailaveikot – Maigaard (1941)[110] notes they while most forms of rounders and longball were now lost, three – baseball, cricket, and bo-ball – remain vigorous. He places Bo-Ball in Finland. The only known source on this game, called Lahden Mailaveikot in Finnish, is a Finnish-language website, on that shows photographs of a vigorous game with aluminum bats, gloves, helmets, and much sliding and running but no other helpful hints for English-speakers. Similarities to Pesapallo are apparent.

Lapta: Russian -- Varying accounts of this game are found. It is claimed that evidence places a form of the game to the time of Peter the Great, and bats and leather balls date back to the 1300s. One 1989 news article reports that it is now strictly a children’s game.[111] Still, some Russians say that “baseball is the younger brother of baseball.”[112] In contemporary play, the fielding team’s “server” stands next to a batter and gently tosses a ball up to be hit. After the hit, runners try to run to a distant line [one 1952 account calls this the “city”] and back without being plugged. Caught fly balls are worth a point, but a successful run is two points. A time clock governs a game’s length. [113]

Line Ball – Apparently a form of Stickball played in Chicago area streets as early as the 1940s that uses 16-inch circumference softballs (the standard softball is about 12 inches), a slow-pitch delivery, small teams, and an unspecified bat. The type of hit achieved depended on where the ball fell among lines marked on the street (implying that baserunning was not part of this game.[114]

Long Ball – per Maigaard.[115] Maigaard sees Long Ball as the oldest ancestor of rounders, cricket and baseball, a game that was played in many countries. Long Ball is described as using teams of from 4 to 20 players. It involved a pitcher, batter, and an “out-goal” or base that the batter-runner tried to reach after hitting (or after missing a third swing) before being plugged. Caught flies signaled an immediate switch between the in-team and the out-team. Many members of the in-team could share a base as runners. Runs were not counted, as the objective was to remain at bat for a long period. A 1914 text[116] describes Long Ball in generally similar terms, but one that uses a regular indoor baseball, one base to run to, scoring by runs, a three-out-side-out rule, and no foul ground. Plugging is allowed. A weblog written in the Australian outback in 2007 described a version of contemporary Long Ball.

Long Dutch – A solitary source[117] mentions this game. It implies there were only two bases, and that if a runner only got to the far base, that runner would need to return home as the pitcher and catcher played catch.

Long Town – per Curtis.[118] An alternative name for Long Ball. We have several references to Long Town Ball, most in the South and mid-West states, none north of a line between New York and Chicago. Most describe no rules of the game. One account[119] in Lehigh County PA (about 50 miles NE of Philadelphia) recalls the game as played in the 1850s as having two bases about 25 paces apart, plugging, a fly rule, and as allowing multiple runners on the non-batting base.

Massachusetts Game – This is the game played according to rules that were codified in May 1858 in Dedham Massachusetts, and included short basepaths, an absence of foul ground, plugging, a smaller softer ball, games won by the first team to reach 100 “tallies,” and a one-out-side-out rule. It remains unclear how close these rules – written 13 years after the Knickerbocker rules – were to round ball games played in MA for the previous 50-75 years.

Matball (Big Base) – This invented game,[120] an invented form of Kick Ball, is an indoor game reportedly played in many US schools. It uses large mats instead of bases, and multiple runners can safely occupy a base. The standard format uses an all-out-side-out rule to define a half-inning, can involve large teams, can have areas (e.g., a scoreboard or a basketball hoop) for designated home runs, a fly rule, tagging, and scoring only when a runner passes home and successfully returns to first base. Some schools use the infield format of Massachusetts base ball – the striker hits from between the first and fourth base. Foul territory varies, but forward hits are required.

Monday, Tuesday – per Games and Sports.[121] Each player is assigned the name of a day of the week. A player throws a ball against a wall, calling out a day. The player assigned that day must catch the ball, or if missing it must throw as one of his fleeing compatriots, losing a point if he misses.

Mickey – Described[122] in 1977 as a children’s game played at PS 172 in New York City, Mickey resembles traditional Barn Ball. A pitcher bounces a spaldeen ball off a wall and a batter tries to hit it on the rebound. Rules for baserunning and scoring are not given.

Move-Up – per Brewster.[123] Baseball for small groups. This game is very similar to Scrub, Work-up and Rounds, but sets the usual number of players at 12, and specifies a rotation of 1B-P-C-batter instead of 1B-C-P-batter. A variant name is Move-up Piggy[124].

Munshets: England – per Gomme.[125] A boy throws a small stick to another boy standing near a hole, who tries to hit it with a three-foot stick, and then to run to a prescribed mark and back without being touched by the smaller stick, and without that stick being thrown into or very near the hole. Any even number of boys can play this game.

Nations [Czech] – per Brewster.[126] A Czech variant of Call Ball is called Nations. Each player is assigned a country name, a ball is placed in a hole, and a country name is called out. The player with that name retrieves the ball as all others start running away. The ball-holder can then call “stop,” and the others must freeze in position while he attempts to plug one of them.

Nine Holes – Sometimes described as a board game or a form of quoits, Nine Holes is elsewhere (1853-1868)[127] depicted as a running game -- in which players had to run among holes without being plugged by a ball -- that resembles Hat-ball and Egg-Hat.

Norr and Spell – A game described[128] as the same as Trap Ball. Also names as Nor and Spel, Knur and Spell, and Nur and Spel. Gomme[129] notes that a wooden ball was sometimes used. The objective was mainly to hit the ball for distance.

Northern Spell – A game described[130] as the same as Trap Ball.

Norwegian Ball – This game is mentioned, along with Swede Ball in a 1908 book[131] on North Dakota folkways. Said to be taught to local children by Swedish newcomers and a Swedish teacher, the game is only depicted as being “played somewhat like ‘one old cat.’” It seems conceivable that this game is Brannboll. Maigaard (1941)[132] notes a Norwegian form of Long Ball, noted as “probably recent,” that uniquely uses a field that resembles baseball’s use of a 90-degree fair territory delimitation.

Off-the-Wall – A game played at the intersection of West 184^th Street and Park Avenue in New York City, as recalled by Gregory Christiano.[133] A player would slam the ball into a painted square on a concrete median barrier, and it would rebound onto Park Avenue, then still paved with cobblestones. The player would then try to reach the first base [an open sewer] before a fielder could field it and throw to the baseman there. There were two sewer-bases and home in this game.

Oina: Romania – A game played in Romania, reportedly traced back to a shepherd’s game, Hoina, played in southern Romania from the year 1310. The game is described as involving two 11-player teams that alternate batting as in a one-innings game of cricket. The pitch is a soft toss. One 1990 report[134] says that there are nine bases set out over 120 yards, that the defensive team can score on tagging and plugging putouts, and that there were over 1500 teams throughout Romania, mostly in rural areas. That account describes a ball the size of a baseball and a bat resembling a cricket bat. A second report from 1973[135] describes the ball as small, and the bat only a little thicker than a billiard cue, and that if a runner deflects a thrown ball with the palms, he is not put out. Note: Protoball’s only evidence on oina comes from the two western news accounts provided in the Hall of Fame’s “Origins of Baseball” file.

Old Fashioned Base Ball – The term “old fashioned base ball” appears to have been used in the decades after the 1850s to describe the game that was played locally before the New York game arrived. The term was used extensively in upstate New York. One might speculate that later still, such games would be thought of as “town ball.”

Old Hundred – A game described in 1945[136] another name for town ball, and played in North Carolina with an all-out-side-out rule.

Om El Mahag: Berber Tribes, Africa – In a 1939 account,[137] Om El Mahag is described as elementary baseball, and said to be analogous to rounders and old-cat. It was reported that Om El Mahag was only played by the Berber tribes.

One O’ Cat: Brooklyn – per Culin.[138] A non-team variety of base ball entailing fly outs and four bases and a three-strike rule, but no plugging. Players rotate through a series of fielding positions with each out, until they become one of two batters. “An ordinary base-ball bat is used.”

One-Three-One-One – per Cassidy.[139] A 1934 reference from Massachusetts: “One-three-one-one” was the old game the boys used to play when I went to school. Regular baseball – very similar to Stub One.”

One, Two, Three: Brooklyn – per Culin.[140] Identical to Culin’s One O’Cat, differing only in the way that players call out their initial positions.

Over-the-Line -- This game[141] is described as a reduced form of softball with no running (ghost runners determine when runs score) and soft tossing by a team-mate as pitching. Fair ground is defines by an acute angle much smaller than 90 degrees, and a line is drawn about 20 yards from home. Three or four players make up a team. Balls hit past the line and not caught on the fly are counted as singles, unless they pass the deepest fielder. A bobbled grounder is counted as Reached on Error. The game is played as a beach game in the San Diego area[142].

Palant – A Polish game. Chetwynd (2008)[143] notes that Palant, similar to baseball, had a long history. “Poland had played its own traditional bat-and-ball game – particularly in the areas of Upper Silesia and the Opole District – dating back centuries and, by the 1920s, the game of Palant had a popular following.” A Polish website[144] describes Palant as using a rectangular field of about 25 yards by 50 yards, governed by a clock, and having a provision by which, if a runner is hit, his teammates can enter play and retain their ups by plugging a member of the fielding team. David Block identifies Palant [pilka palantowa] as the Silesian game played in Jamestown VA in 1609 by a small group of Polish craftsmen.[145]

Palm Ball (Slap Ball) – A form of baseball in which the ball is slapped by the slapper-runner, rather than being batted with a club. [Needs verification.]

Patch Baseball – A name for a form of baseball that allows the plugging of runners. We find the term used in upstate New York[146] in about 1850.

Peanut Baseball – Described as akin to Pepper, this bat-control game[147] involved hitting lobbed pitches toward a fence featuring extra-base zones. Cleanly-fielded balls, wide hits, and hits over the fence were outs. Baserunning is not part of this game.

Pellet: Scotland (Cat’s Pellet, Cat’s Pallet, Gidigadie) – per MacLagan.[148] This game is played like Tip-Cat, but with a ball and a one-handed bat, and with plugging instead of crossing to put runners out. An Orkney game. Elsewhere MacLagan described the game as using four small holes in a twelve-foot square.[149] An 1882 source[150] finds a usage of “cat’s pellet” in 1648, and defines it as “a game, perhaps the same as tip-cat.” Court records from 1583[151] seem to indication that the game “Cat’s Pallet” was also called Gidigadie, at least in the Manchester area.

Pepper – A drill to sharpen the batting eye and fielding reflexes in baseball. A few players stand side by side in a line and toss the ball to a batter who hits short grounders to them in turn. Forms of the game involve penalizing players for fielding errors and mis-hits.

Pesapallo: Finland – “Finnish Baseball.” This invented game is based on American baseball, kuningaspallo, pitkapallo, and poltopallo, and was introduced in 1922. Some call it Finland’s national game. It involves two 9-player teams, pitching via vertical toss from next to the batter, a zigzag basepath of progressive length [about 65 feet from home to first, about 150 feet from third to home], optional running with fewer than two strikes, a three-out-side-out rule, runners being “put out” or “wounded” [not counted as an out, and allowed to bat again], no ground-rule home run and four-inning games.

Petjeball – According to Brewster,[152] Petjeball was the early Dutch term for Hat Ball.

Philadelphia Bat Ball – Called an “advanced form” of German Bat Ball[153] [above], this game involves three bases for runners instead of one, and runners can remain at a base if they believe they cannot safely advance further. Runners can tag up after caught flies. Otherwise, the rules of German Bat Ball apply.

Philadelphia Town Ball – The game that arose in Philadelphia in the 1830’s. The rules of this game have recently been induced from game accounts by Richard Hershberger.[154] The game is distinct from the Massachusetts Game. It’s signature features were 11-player teams, an absence of set defensive positions, stakes [as bases] set in a circle 30-feet in diameter, non-aggressive pitching, a lighter, softer ball, an all-out-side-out rule, and a bound rule.

Pie-Ball – Heslop (1893)[155] defines this word: “a game resembling the game of Rounders, however, the ball is always struck with the hand.”

Pingball – A game – evidently evolved uniquely by Bob Boynton[156] -- with two players, a field marked with zones for singles, doubles, etc., and employing a ping-pong ball thrown from 33 feet to a batter standing at a home plate of 12 inches square. Bats were the size of broomsticks with toweling for padding. There was some fielding but all “baserunning” used only imaginary runners.

Pitching-In: Gregory Christiano[157] recalls this urban game as being a derivative on Stickball for two or more players. A square painted on a building was the strike zone. A batter used a broomstick to hit a pitched spaldeen ball across the street, where the height at which the ball hit a wall across the street determined the degree of base advancement. This game resembles Strike-Out.

Pitkapallo: Finland -- a traditional Finnish game, features of which were incorporated into Pasepallo.

Pize Ball – a game defined in the OED as “a game similar to Rounders in which a ball is hit with the flat of the hand.” The game is mainly associated with the English North Country, and is said to feature three or four ‘hobs,’ or stopping-places. The first cited use appeared in 1796. Gomme[158] adds that if the batter-runner is hit before reaching on of the “tuts” he is “said to be burnt, or out.

Playground Ball – Johnson (1910)[159] lists Playground Ball among seven “Baseball games.

Podex – This game is modification of cricket evidently made to move things along played at several English schools. Batters must run when they make contact with a bowled ball. Bowled balls can not hit the ground in front of the wicket, and a baseball bat is used.[160]

Poisoned Ball: France – According to an 1810 text,[161] “La Ball Empoisonée” was a game for two teams of eight to ten boys involving repelling the ball (presumably by hitting it by the palm of the hand) and running to bases trying to avoid being plugged.

Poltopallo: Finland -- a traditional Finnish game, features of which were incorporated into Pasepallo.

Prelleries: Switzerland – Maigaard (1941)[162] lists this game as the Swiss variation of Long Ball.

Punchball –This is a variation of baseball in which a rubber ball is punched, and not hit with a bat, to start a play. One set of modern rules is at. http://www.spaldeen.com/punchball.html. Johnson (1910)[163] lists Punch Ball under “Baseball games.” An urban form of this game is recalled by Gregory Christiano.[164]

Retenido: Spain – per Brewster.[165] When a player throws a ball high in the air, the others run away. When he catches it, he yells “caught,” the others freeze in position, and he tries to plug them.

Roley Poley: Brooklyn – per Culin.[166] [Elsewhere Roly Poly, Roll Ball, Roley Holey] Each player defends a hole (or hat). If another player rolls a “medium-sized” rubber ball into the hole, he tries to hit another player with it to prevent having a count made against him.

Rotation – McCurdy (1911)[167] lists this game, along with Old Cat and Fungo, as minor forms of bat-and-ball. One might speculate that it is a non-team game like Scrub and Move-Up, in which players rotate among positions on the field as outs are made.

Round Ball –This appears to be the name given to the game played in Eastern Massachusetts . . . and possibly beyond that . . . in the years before the Dedham rules of 1858 created the Massachusetts Game.

Round Cat – A game noted by Tom Altherr in September 2009. We find several brief mentions of this game being played from Washington DC southward, but no explanation of how it was played. One account identifies it as similar to Scrub as played in New England.[168]

Round Town (Round Town Ball) – As played in Eastern PA in the 1850s this game[169] is recalled as having four or five bases or “safety spots,” tagging instead of plugging, the fly rule, the sharing of bases by multiple runners, and a bat made of a rail or clap-board. A game “similar to baseball” recalled[170] as being played by school boys in 1891 in a grove of trees in Beech Grove, Kentucky.

Rounders: [England] – An 1852 London publication[171] describes Rounders as a team game using a bat about two feet long, five bases [stones or posts] placed 12 to 20 yards apart, “gentle” pitches, plugging, stealing, and all-out-side-out play. An 1863 book[172] specifies teams of about eight players including a “feeder,” a one-handed bat, a one-swing strikeout, foul ground, plugging, stealing, and games won by scoring the most rounders. Rounders is still popular in the UK, mostly among school-age players.

Rounders: [Hungary] – per Hajdu[173]. This game resembles contemporary British rounders. The bases form a regular pentagon, a pitcher stands at its center, fly balls are outs, and there is plugging. A baserunner, however, could make plays on subsequent batter-runners as a member of the fielding team.

Rounds: [Iowa] – per Brewster.[174] Baseball modified for small groups. Players count off, the first two or three becoming batters, the next the pitcher, the next the catcher, the next first base, etc. For most outs, the retired player goes to the last fielding position, and others move up one position, the pitcher becoming a batter. For fly outs, the batter and the successful fielder exchange places. The game is not notably different from Scrub and Workup.

Roundsies -- Gene Carney[175] describes this game as a one-out-all-out team game, but notes that “a fielder catching a ball on the fly joined the offense immediately.”

Rownes – In his definition of Rounders, Hazlitt[176] suggests that “it is possible that this is the game which, under the name of rownes (rounds) is mentioned in the ‘English Courtier and the Country Gentleman,’ in 1586.”

Run-Around – A name given in some localities, evidently, to the game played in the Boston area in the early 19^th century; it is possibly another name for what is elsewhere in New England recalled as Round Ball. Our single reference to this game comes from a letter written in 1905 by a Boston man.[177]

Schlagball: Germany – per Endrei and Zolnay[178]. “German Schlagball (‘hit the ball’) is similar to rounders.” No other clues are provided.

Scrub – Another label for the game Work-up and Move-up: The available number of players is initially divided between several defensive positions and a smaller number of batters. If a batter is put out, he/she becomes the fielder who is last in line to return to batting, and must work the way back position by position. A fielder to catches a fly ball exchanges places immediately with the batter. Because the small number of player precludes team play, “ghost runners” and special ground rules are sometimes required. Plugging is allowed, at least when the ball is soft enough to permit that. Once called Ins and Withs in the Philadelphia area.

Single-Wicket Cricket – A game played by teams much smaller than the usual 11-player teams. All bowling is to a single wicket. There is, in effect, a foul ground beyond the wicket, so only balls hit forward are deemed in play. As late at 1969 there were annual single-wicket championships at Lord’s in London.

Sixteen-Inch Softball (No-Glove Softball) -- A 2009 article[179] reports on a game played mostly in Chicago involving a ball of 16” circumference and using no gloves. No other variations are covered. The article is not clear on the local name for the game, but another account[180] calls the large ball a “clincher,” and notes that games were sometimes played in the street. [Note: Line Ball, another Chicago game, also used a large ball.]

Sky-Ball – A game banned, along with cat-ball, in Norwich CT in 1832[181]. A 1890 source[182] describes Sky-Ball as a fungo game in which a player who can catch the hit ball qualifies to hit the next fungo.

Slavonic Long Ball: Poland – Maigaard (1941)[183] lists this game. It varies from other regional variations in placing the batting area mid-way between the home area and the first of two resting areas for runners. It is possible that this represents a form of Palant.

Soak Ball – Apparently a name for an early game marked by the “soaking” (plugging) of baserunners. If this was a distinct game with its own rules, we have not yet uncovered evidence of it.

Sockey -- An 1887 source[184] reporting that Rounders was still being played in some Southern and Western states, also noted that the game was called Sockey in some states. Our only reference to Sockey is in an 1888 recollection[185] of ballplaying at a PA school, and notes that this game was played against the wall of a stable.

Softball – As described in Bealle,[186] Softball evolved from Indoor Baseball, which was first played in 1887. Softball rules are close to Baseball rules, but the infield dimensions are smaller and the ball is pitched with an underhand motion. A full team has ten players. Many forms are played, depending on the age and agility of the players. The term Softball debuted in 1926.

Speilinn: Scotland – per MacLagan.[187] The Uist form of Pellet. A horse-hair ball is put in play with a trap, and the batter attempt to hit it with a bat. Outs are attained by caught fly balls, three missed swings, throwing the ball into the hole at home, and plugging runners between two calaichean (harbors). Points are scored by measuring the lengths of hits in bat-lengths.

Spoonie Hoosie – The name for rounders in Crathie in Scotland around 1900, according to a 1975 source.[188]

Square Ball: Brooklyn – per Leavy.[189] A biography of Sandy Koufax reports that he played “stickball, punchball, square ball, and Gi-Gi ball in his neighborhood. In one 1922 handbook,[190] Square Ball appears to be a variant of Corner Ball in which the peripheral plugging team and the central target team are equal in number, and is which the ball, after hitting a player on the target team, can be retrieved, “Halt!” called, and the ball thrown at “frozen” members of the peripheral team.

Squares – According to Block[191], an 1838 encyclopedia[192] describes the game of Squares as “roughly identical” to contemporary Rounders and Baseball.

Stickball – A game usually played in urban streets. The ball is rubber [a “spaldeen,” now virtually the same that used in racketball, and bats vary but include broom handles. Allowances are made for traffic of various sorts, and the bases are specified at the start of play. [Verification needed.] One variation of the game is found in a recollection of New York play by Gregory Christiano.[193]

Stones – According to Gomme (1898),[194] a game played in Ireland in about 1850, using either a ball or a lob-stick. A circle of about a half-dozen stones is arranged, one for each player in the in team. A member of the out team throws the ball/stick is thrown at one of the stones. If the defending player hits it, all members of the out team must move to another stone. The teams exchange places if a stone is hit, the ball/stick is caught, or a player is hit while running between stones.

Stoolball – Stoolball’s first renaissance was in the 1600’s; there are many more references to stoolball than to cricket in the early years. Believed to originate as a game played by English milkmaids setting a milking stool on its side as a pitching target, stoolball evolved to include the use of bats instead of bare hands and running among goals. The modern form of the is actively played in parts of Southern England, and uses an opposing pair of square targets set well off the ground as goals, and heavy paddles as bats.

Strike-Out – This game is most often seen as a schoolyard game with from two to five players. A strike zone is drawn on a suitable wall, and a batter stands before it, attempting to hit a tennis ball or rubber ball. Baserunning is not usual. All other rules – for base advancement by imaginary runners, changing of batters, etc., seem flexible to circumstance. [Verification needed.]

Strike Up and Lay Down -- A fungo-style game for two teams as shown in an 1863 handbook.[195] A feeder throws the ball to a batter, who hits it as far as possible. A member of the out-team picks up that ball and bowls it toward the bat, which lies on the ground. If the ball hits or hops over the bat, the batsman is out. The batsman is also out with three missed swings.

Stub One – Apparently a baseball-like game, perhaps played in Massachusetts in the early 20^th Century. We have but one obscure reference to this game, in Cassidy.[196]

Swede Ball – This game is mentioned, along with Norwegian Ball in a 1908 book[197] on North Dakota folkways. Said to be taught to local children by Swedish newcomers and a Swedish teacher, the game is only depicted as being “played somewhat like ‘one old cat.’” It seems conceivable that this game is related to Brannboll. Maigaard (1941)[198] lists two Swedish variants for Long Ball.

Tabeh: Arab -- In an 1873 book[199] on Arab children’s games Tabeh is described as “base ball and drop ball.” That’s all we know right now.

Thèque: France -- Block[200] discusses whether Thèque belongs on the list of baseball’s predecessors. Thèque is an old Norman game, but there are evidently few descriptions of the game before baseball and rounders appeared. He cites an 1899 depiction of the game that shows five bases, plugging, and the pitcher belonging to the in-team, but otherwise resembles baseball and rounders. Block concludes that there is insufficient evidence to say whether Thèque came before or after the English counterpart game.

Three-Base Ball – Craig Waff came across an 1894 reference[201] to Three-Base Ball as having been played at Erasmus Hall, a school in Brooklyn. The game, reported as being playing circa 1840, involved vigorous plugging and while its rules are not further described, its playing positions suggest base ball. Two-Old-Cat is described separately in the 1894 article.

Tip-Cat – Strutt (1801)[202] says there were various versions of Tip-Cat, and describes two of them. The first is basically a fungo game: a batter stands at the center of a circle and hits the cat a prescribed distance. Failing that, another player replaces him. [A similar version appears in The Boy’s Handy Book,[203] but adds the feature that the fielding player tries to return the cat to the hitter’s circle such that the hitter does not hit it away again.] In a second version, holes are made in a regular circle, and each is defended by an in-team player. The players advance after the cat is hit away by one of them, but they can be put out if a cat crosses them – that is, it passes between them and the next hole. Gomme (1898) [204] notes that in some places runners are put out be being hit with the cat, and three misses makes an out. She adds that Tip-Cat was “once commonly played in London streets, now forbidden.”[205] Writing in 1864, Dick[206] noted that Tip-Cat was only rarely being played in the U.S. In 1896, however, Beard[207] was experiencing a revival in the US, Germany, Italy, “and even in Hindostand,” whereas in about 1850 it had been confined to “rustics on England.” Richardson (1848)[208] notes Tip-Cat’s resemblance to Single-Wicket Cricket. “Twenty-one [runs] is usually a game,” he adds. The earliest reference to a cat-stick we have is the 1775 report that a witness to the Boston Massacre carried a cat-stick with him.

Touch-Ball – There appear to be two distinct games that have been labeled Touch-Ball. One was as a local synonym for Rounders, as recalled in an 1874 Guardian article[209] written on the occasion of the 1874 base ball tour in England. That game was recalled as having no bats, so the ball was propelled by the players’ hands; the “touch” was the base. Writing in 1922, Sihler[210] that in Fort Wayne IN from 1862 to 1866 (when base ball arrived) “the favorite game was ‘touch-ball,’ where “touch” referred to the plugging or tagging of runners.

Touch-the-Base -- Writing of the Ohio youth of a Civil War general in about 1840, Whitelaw Reid (1868)[211] reported that “Touch-the-Base” was the favorite game, and of all who engaged in the romp, none were more eager or happy than ‘Jimmy” [the late Major-General James McPherson]. We cannot be sure that this was a ball game.

Tournoi [France] – Writing of the late 1860’s boyhood of a World War I General, Johnston (1919)[212] writes that “the French boys were accustomed to play a game called tournoi, or tournament, which was something similar to the game of Rounders.” That’s all we seem to know about Tournoi.

Town Ball –Ideas of how to understand the term “Town Ball” are still evolving. In most common usage, the term seems to have been used generically to denote, in much later years, any of a variety of games that preceded the New York game in a particular area. Philadelphia Town Ball, however, used the term to denote a current game before the New York game emerged, and had generally standard rules [see “Philadelphia Town Ball,” entry, above]. In Cincinnati another form evolved, and there are many recollections of town ball from the South and mid-West. Town ball is not infrequently confused with the Massachusetts Game, but the term is in fact very rarely found in MA usage in the 19^th century.

Tradgy – Heslop (1893)[213] defines this word as “a boys’ game of ball, otherwise known as Rounders, and formerly called Pie-Ball locally.

Trap Ball – Trap ball is one of the earliest known ball games. Its distinguishing characteristic is the use of a “trap,” a mechanical device that, when triggered by a batter, lofts the ball to a height at which it may be struck. Most forms of trap ball do not involve running or bases; to the modern eye, it is a fungo-type game. Trap ball commonly used foul territory to define balls that were in play, where the “play” involved the catching and tossing back of the ball toward the batter. Trap ball persists today in Kent, England, as a tavern game.

Tribet – Gomme (1898)[214] identifies this game as the Lancashire version of Trap-Ball. A game named Trypet is listed in a English-Latin dictionary[215] from the 1300s.

Tripbal -- An old Dutch game. Chetwynd[216] reports that a proponent of the importation of baseball to the Netherlands in the 1910s “pitched it as an ideal summer activity. It probably helped that Grasé pointed out that baseball bore a resemblance to an ancient Dutch game, called “Tripbal,” which had been played by American colonists.” We have no other reference to this game in the US, and no indication of how it was played.

Trippit and Coit (Trippets, Trip-Cat) – Gomme (1898)[217] identifies this game as the Newcastle version of Trap-Ball.

Trounce-Ball – Gomme (1898)[218] identifies this game as a Norfolk version of Trap-Ball, but with a hole for the trap and a cudgel for a bat.

Trunket – Gomme (1898)[219] compares this game to Cricket, except that the ball is “cop’d” [whaa?] instead of bowled, and it uses a hole instead of stumps.

Two-Base Town Ball – Describing ballplaying in the Confederate regiments during the Civil War, Wiley[220] suggests that “the exercise might be of the modern version, with players running four bases, or it might be two-base town ball.” It is not clear whether he means “two-base town ball” as a formal name, or simply as a way to distinguish prior folk game[s] in the South. Long Ball and Long Town used two bases.

Tut-Ball – Also called Tut, this game was in 1777 called “a sort of stool ball much practiced about the Easter holidays,” according to the OED. OED identifies Tut-Ball with Stoolball and Rounders. Gomme[221] also cites a view that “This game is very nearly identical with ‘rounders.’” Another writer is known to say that Tut-Ball is the same as Pize-Ball. One wonders whether some observers used “Tut-Ball” generically, to signify any game with “tuts,” or bases.

Twenty-One – This game is a fungo game that enhances fielding skill. A batter hits a ball, fungo style, to a number of fielders. A fielder receives 7 points for a caught fly, 5 points for a ball caught on one bounce, 3 points for catching a bouncing ball, and 1 point for retrieving a ball at rest. Points are similarly lost for muffed balls. Fielders who amass 21 points become the batter. Another form of this game is Five Hundred, which proceeds similarly.

Unnamed Game: Balkans – per Endrei and Zolnay[222]. “We may be of the opinion that these ‘hitting’ games, which were universal in the Middle Ages, have disappeared entirely. This is far from true: in the Balkans they are still played by children . . . .” No other lead to the Balkan games is provided.

Unnamed Game: Czech – per Guarinoni[223]. This game, reportedly played in Prague circa 1600, involved two teams, pitching, and a small leather ball “the size of a quince.” The bat was tapered and four feet long. Caught balls caused the teams to change positions. Baserunning is not mentioned, according to David Block[224], but is at least inferred by Endrei and Zolnay: who say that the batter “attempted to make a circuit of the bases without being hit by the ball.[225]” Guarinoni mentions that the Poles and the Silesians were the best players.

Unnamed Game: Hungarian – per Endrei and Zolnay[226]. “In Hungary several variants of rounders exist in the countryside.” No other lead to these variants is provided.

Up-Ball – The nature of this game is unknown. It is found an 1849 chapbook printed in Connecticut: “there are a great number of games played with balls, of which base-ball, trap ball, cricket, up-ball, catch-ball and drive-ball are the most common.[227]

Vigoro -- A sport that claims 1500 players among the women of Queensland, Australia, Vigoro[228] is a souped-up version of [slightly down-sized] cricket. A key point is that if a ball Is hit forward of the crease, running is compulsory.

Waggles (Whacks) – Gomme (1898)[229] compares Waggles to a game of four-player Cricket using cats instead of balls.

Welsh Baseball – This game[230] uses a smaller ball than US baseball, and features a flattened bat, underhand pitching, ten-player teams, no foul ground, an all-out-side-out rule, and two-inning games.

Wicket – The game of wicket[231] was evidently the dominant game played in parts of Connecticut, western MA, and perhaps areas of Western New York State, prior to the spread of the New York game in the 1850’s and 1860’s. Wicket resembles cricket more than baseball. The “pitcher” bowls a large, heavy ball toward a long, low wicket, and a batter with a heavy curved club defends the wicket. Some students of cricket speculate that it resembles cricket before it evolved to its modern form.

Wiffleball – A Wiffle Ball is a hollow plastic ball with holes strategically placed in order to exaggerate sideways force, and thus enabling pitchers to produce severe curves and drops. Competitive games of Wiffleball are known, some exhibiting team play. None, we believe, appear to involve baserunning.

Wireball – In this game[232] opponents position themselves on the opposite sides of as wire strung over the street. Singles, doubles, etc., are determined by whether the ball hits the wire and whether it is caught by the out team as it descends. There is no running or batting in this urban game.

Workup – Another label for the game Scrub/Move-up: The available number of players is initially divided between several defensive positions and a smaller number of batters. A batter who is put out, becomes the fielder who is last in line to return to batting [right field, when there are enough fielders], and must work the way back position by position.[233] A fielder to catches a fly ball exchanges places immediately with the batter. Because the small number of player precludes team play, “ghost runners” and special ground rules are sometimes required. Plugging is allowed when the ball is soft enough to permit that.

Appendix A -- Caveats

Caveats: The reader should understand that there are several central uncertainties that complicate modern research. [1] Many historical references to ballplaying do not name the game that was played – typical usages are “playing ball”, “playing at ball,” etc. While some researchers interpret such references as implying a baseball-like game, we have no firm reason for excluding the possibility that games like handball, playing catch, football, or games like modern field hockey are also meant. [2] There is a game using no ball known as Prisoner’s Base, which is sometimes referred to as Base. While we know of some references to Base that clearly denote a baseball-like game, more often we are left in doubt. [3] The term Town Ball has had varying meaning over time. While early use of the term refers to a distinct game, at least in the Philadelphia area, it was later used generically to denote the game that preceded the New York game in areas of the United States. Thus, for example, an observer writing in 1870 might refer to an earlier local pastime as Old Fashioned Base Ball, while a writer referring to the same pastime in 1910 might call it Town Ball. [4] Stoolball (a safe-haven ballgame in its later form) and Stow Ball (a game something like golf) are sometimes confused by writers. [5] Especially in the early days, similar games were played using short sticks, usually called cats, and not using balls. We include them here. We note that one common term for baseball-like games is “stick-and-ball” games. Because this term used literally would include such games as croquet, golf, tennis, hurling, and field hockey, and would exclude relevant games not using clubs, like punchball and kickball, we do not employ that term here.

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Appendix B – A Typology of Safe-Haven Games

GROUP 1 (including Baseball and Cricket): Safe-Haven games featuring running (usually among safe-haven bases), a bat, pitching, and two distinct teams.

American Cricket, Ball-Paces (also bazies, baisies, beezy, bess, bessy, paces); Ball-Stock; Bandy-Wicket; Baseball (see also Base Ball, Base-Ball, Base, Bace, Baste Ball, Goal Ball); Bo-Ball (Lahden Mailaveikot), Brannboll, Bunting; Burn Ball; Chermany (or churmany, chumney, chuminy), Cluich an Tighe; Cuck-ball; Cudgel; Cricket; Diamond Ball; Dully; Dutch Long; Gate-ball (Thorball); Giftball; German Ball Game; Hornebillets; Howland Rounders; Indoor Baseball; Irish Rounders; Jellal; Kit-Cat (also La Batonet); Kitten Ball; Lapta; Long Ball; Long Dutch; Long Town (Long Town Ball); Massachusetts Game; New England Game, Oina; Old Fashioned Base Ball (Burn Ball, Patch Ball, Soak Ball, Sting Ball, Touch-Ball); Old Hundred; Palant; Patch Baseball; Pellet (or Cat’s Pellet or Cat’s Pallet or Gidigadie); One-Three-One-One; Pesapallo; Philadelphia Town Ball; Podex; Round Town Ball; Roundball (see also Run-around, the Massachusetts Game, The New England Game); Round Cat; Rounders (Cuck- Ball, Tradgy); Roundsies; Rownes; Run-Around; Single-wicket Cricket; Sixteen-inch Softball; Slavonic Long Ball; Softball; Speilinn; Squares; Stickball; Stones, Stoolball (see also Stow Ball, Stobbal); Stub One; Thèque; Three-Base Ball; Tip-Cat; Two-Old-Cat, Three-Old-Cat, Four-Old-Cat (Three O’Cat, Three Hole Cat, etc.); Touch-Ball; Tournoi; Trunket; Vigoro; Waggles; Welsh Baseball; Wicket

GROUP 2 (including Scrub, Work-up, Feeder) – Safe-Haven games featuring running among safe-haven bases, pitching, and a bat (but no teams)

Barn Ball (House Ball); Feeder; Ins and Withs; Kick the Wicket (Kick the Can); Move-Up (Move-Up Piggy); Munshets; One O’ Cat; One Two Three; Rotation; Rounds; Scrub; Workup

--

GROUP 3 (including Kickball, Punchball) – Safe-Haven games featuring running among bases, sometimes pitching, and two distinct teams (but no bat)

Ball and Bases; Balle au Camp, Beezy; Boston Ball; Cat i’ The Hole; Cerkelspelen (Flanders); Cora; Hit the Stick; House Ball; Kick the Ball; German Bat Ball; Kickball; Matball (Big Base); Off-the-Wall, Palm Ball; Pie Ball; Pize Ball; Poisoned Ball; Punchball.

--

GROUP 4 (including Hat Ball) – Games featuring baserunning and plugging (but no pitching or batting).

Call Ball; Aipuni, Catch-Ball, Doutee Stool; Egg-Hat; Hat Ball; Kappenspiel; Kekivar; King’s Play; Monday, Tuesday; Nations; Petjeball; Retenido; Roley Poley (Roly Poly, Roll Ball, Roley Holey)

--

GROUP 5 (including assorted Fungo Games) – Games featuring batting/hitting and/or pitching (but partial or no baserunning), and sometimes using cats or horns instead of balls

Balloon; Box Baseball (Boxball); Bunt; Cashhornie, Cat; Cat and Dog; Catch a Fly, Corkball; Curb Ball; Evansville Townball; Five Hundred; Flys-Are-Up, Flies-Up; Grutz; Gulli-Danda; Half-Rubber (and Half-Ball); Hit-the-Bat; Hornie-Holes (Kittie Cat); Hoina; Indian Ball; Kibel and Nerspel; Knock-Out; Line Ball; Norr and Spell; Over-the-Line; Peanut Baseball; Pepper; Pingball; Pitching-In; Strike-Out, Strike Up and Lay Down; Sky-Ball; Trap Ball; Tribet; Trippet and Coit; Trounce-Ball; Twenty-One; Wireball

---

GROUP 6 – Games for which the rules of play are [type 6A] not understood, or [type 6B] which are ballgames commonly reported in sports histories that are not safe-haven games.

Ball Stand; Base Dodge Ball; Bat-ball; Batton; Bittle-Battle; Bull Pen, Club-Ball; Crekettes; Corner Ball; Drive; GiGi-Ball; Hand-in-Hand-out; Hook-em-Snivy; Knattleikar; Kuningaspallo; Mickey; Norwegian Ball, Palant; Pitkapallo; Poltopallo; Square Ball; Swede Ball, Tabeh; Touch-the-Ball; Tripbal; Up-ball.

Bandy, Barres, Pall Mall, Shinty, Hockey, Hurley, Hurling, Prisoner’s Base, Stow-ball.

---

References

Ball Games. London: George Routledge and Sons, 1860.

Bealle, Morris A. The Softball Story. Washington: Columbian Publishing Group, 1956.

Beard, D. B., The American Boy’s Book of Sport (Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1896.

Berkow, Ira. "Russian Eye on Baseball." New York Times, August 14 1989.

Block, David. Baseball before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game: University of Nebraska Press, 2005.

The Boy's Handy Book. London: Ward and Lock, 1863.

The Boy's Own Book. London: D. Bogue, 1852.

Brand, John. Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain: The Origins of Our Vulgar and Provincial Customs, Ceremonies and Superstitions. London: George Bell and Sons, 1900.

Brewster, Paul G. "Games and Sports in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century British Literature." Western Folklore 6, no. 2 (1947): 143-56.

Brewster, Paul G. American Nonsinging Games: University of Oklahoma Press, 1953.

Bronner, Simon J. "Concrete Folklore: Sidewalk Box Games." Western Folklore 36, no. 2 (1977): 171-73.

Burnett, John. Riot, Revelry and Rout: Sport in Lowland Scotland before 1860. East Linton, Scotland: Tuckwell Press, 2000.

Culin, Stewart. "Street Games of Boys in Brooklyn, N.Y." Journal of American Folklore 4, no. 14 (1891): 221-37.

Curtis, Henry S. Play and Recreation for the Open Country: Ginn 1914.

Dick, ed. The American Boys Book of Sports and Games: A Practical Guide to Indoor and Outdoor Amusements: Dick and Fitzgerald [reprinted by Lyons Press, 2000], 1864.

Endrei, Walter, and Laszlo Zolnay. Fun and Games in Old Europe. Budapest: Corvina Klado, 1986.

Fillmore, Stanley. The Pleasure of the Game: The Story of Toronto Cricket, 1827-1977. Toronto: Toronto Cricket, Skating, and Curling Club, 1977.

Games and Sports for Young Boys. London: Routledge, Warne, and Routledge, 1859.

Gini, Ado. "Rural Ritual Games in Libya." Rural Sociology 4, no. 1 (1939).

Gomme, Alice Bertha. Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Volume 1. Vol. I. London: David Nutt, 1894.

———. The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Volume 2. New York: Dover [reprint -- original publication 1898], 1964.

Guarinoni, Hippolytus. The Horrors of the Devastation of the Human Race (Orig: Greuel Der Verwustung Des Menschlichen Geschlechts. Ingolstadt, Austria 1610.

Hajdu, Gyula. "Collection of Hungarian Folk Games" (as Translated from Hungarian Magyar Nepi Jatekok Gyujtemenye). Budapest, 1971.

Hazlitt, W. Carew. Faiths and Folklore: A Dictionary of National Beliefs, Superstitions and Popular Customs. London: Reeves and Turner, 1905.

Jamieson. Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language. Edinburgh, 1825.

Keller, Bill. "In Baseball, the Russians Steal All the Bases." New York Times, July 20 1987.

Land, Gary, Growing Up with Baseball (University of Nebraska Press, 2004).

Les Jeux Des Jeunes Garcons. 1810.

MacLagan, R. C. "Additions to 'the Games of Argyleshire'." Folklore 16, no. 1 (1905): 77-97.

Maigaard, Per. "Battingball Games." Genus 5 (1941). [Reprinted as Appendix 6 of Block, Baseball Before We Knew It.]

Montague*. The Youth's Encyclopedia of Health 1838.

Newell, William Wells. Games and Songs of American Children. New York: Dover [1963 reprint], 1883.

Newell, William Wells. Games and Songs of American Children. New York: Dover [1963 reprint], 1883.

Schreck, Carl. "No Wrong Way to Swing Bat." The St. Petersburg Times, October 31 2003.

Strutt, Joseph. The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, 1801.

———. The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England—a New Edition, Much Enlarged and Corrected by J. Charles Fox: ????? [Reissued by Singing Tree Press, Detroit, 1968], 1903.

Vecsey, George. "Playing Baseball in Wales." New York Times, August 11 1986.

Wieand, Paul R. Outdoor Games of the Pennsylvania Germans. Plymouth Meeting, PA: Mrs. C. N. Keyser, 1950.

Back to the Protoball Chronology

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[1] Thomas L. Altherr, “A Place Leavel Enough to Play Ball: Baseball and Baseball-type games in the Colonial Era, Revolutionary War, and Early American Republic,” Nine, Volume 8 , number 2 (2000), pages 14-48.

[2] Richard Hershberger, “A Reconstruction of Philadelphia Town Ball,” Base Ball, Volume 1, Number 2 (Fall 2007), page 28.

[3] Monica Nucciarone, Alexander Cartwright (UNebraska Press, 2009), page 201. The author cites the source as W. R. Castle, Reminiscences of William Richards Castle (Advertiser Publishing, 1960), page 50.

[4] Reportedly in the Philadelphia Mercury. An account of the article appeared in the Penny Illustrated Paper (London), December 17, 1870 (page 370). Contributed by Tom Shieber, email of 2/25/2009.

[5] See Protoball Chronology entries 1805.4 and 1805.5. The game was reported in the New York Evening Post of April 13, 1805.

[6] E. Perrin, et. Al., One Hundred and Fifty Gymnastic Games (G. H. Ellis, Boston, 1902), pages 58-59.

[7] W. Chapman, Every-Day French Talk (J. B. Bateman, London, 1855), page 20.

[8] P. Maigaard, “Battingball Games,” reprinted in Block, Baseball Before We Knew It, Appendix 6. See page 263.

[9] Paul G. Brewster, "Games and Sports in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century British Literature," Western Folklore 6, no. 2 (1947)., page 143.

[10] David Block, email of 5/17/2005.

[11] Emily W. Elmore, A Practical Handbook of Games, (Macmillan, NY, 1922), pages 16-17.

[12] Dick, ed., The American Boys Book of Sports and Games: A Practical Guide to Indoor and Outdoor Amusements (Dick and Fitzgerald [reprinted by Lyons Press, 2000], 1864)., pages 112-113.

[13] Alice Bertha Gomme, Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Volume 1, vol. I (London: David Nutt, 1894)., page 17.

[14] D. C. Beard, The American Boy’s Book of Sport (Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1896), pages 341-342.

[15] 19cBB posting, October 17, 2007.

[16] Emily W. Elmore, A Practical Handbook of Games, (Macmillan, NY, 1922), pages 19-20.

[17] Gomme, Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Volume 1.2, page 146.

[18] See Protoball Chronology entry #1786.1. A second entry, #1848c.9, includes baste ball in a list of boyhood games played by future US President Benjamin Harrison.

[19] See Protoball Chronology entries for 1791.

[20] D Wise and S. Forrest, Great Big Book of Children’s Games (McGraw-Hill, 2003), pages 219-220.

[21] See http://www.askaboutsports.com/boball.htm

[22] F. Dennis, The Norfolk Village Green (privately printed, 1917), page 72.

[23] The National Beep Baseball Association: see http://www.nbba.org/, accessed 11/9/2009.

[24] Amy Stewart Fraser, Dae Ye Min’ Langsyne? (Routledge, 1975), pages 59-60.

[25] See Protoball Chronology #1086.1.

[26]Gomme, Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Volume 1, page 34.

[27] P. Maigaard, “Battingball Games,” reprinted in Block, Baseball Before We Knew It, Appendix 6. See page 274.

[28] E. Perrin, et. Al., One Hundred and Fifty Gymnastic Games (G. H. Ellis, Boston, 1902), pages 59-63.

[29] Simon J. Bronner, "Concrete Folklore: Sidewalk Box Games," Western Folklore 36, no. 2 (1977)., page172.

[30] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brannboll. See also http://www.brennball.de/english/davidcurle.htm. [Accessed 10/09/09.]

[31] Paul G. Brewster, American Nonsinging Games (U Oklahoma Press, Norman OK, 1953), page 82-83.

[32] C. Bevis, “A Game of Bunt,” in G. Land, Growing Up with Baseball (UNebraska, 2004), pages 128-130.

[33] T. Aamodt, “The Impossible Dream,” in G. Land, Growing Up with Baseball (UNebraska, 2004), pages 61-62.

[34] Gomme, Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Volume 1., page 53.

[35] Marty Appel, Slide Kelly Slide (Scarecrow Press, 1999), page 9.

[36] William Wells Newell, Games and Songs of American Children (New York: Dover [1963 reprint], 1883)., page 181.

[37] J. Jamieson, Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (Edinburgh, 1825), page 187.

[38] Stewart Culin, "Street Games of Boys in Brooklyn, N.Y.," Journal of American Folklore 4, no. 14 (1891). page 233.

[39] William Wells Newell, Games and Songs of American Children (New York: Dover [1963 reprint], 1883)., pages 186-187.

[40] John Burnett, Riot, Revelry and Rout: Sport in Lowland Scotland before 1860 (East Linton, Scotland: Tuckwell Press, 2000)., page 208.

[41] John Brand, Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain: The Origins of Our Vulgar and Provincial Customs, Ceremonies and Superstitions (London: George Bell and Sons, 1900)., page 95.

[42] In their account, Steel and Lyttelton put the distance at 13 yards. Cricket (Longmans, Green, 1890), page 4.

[43] A. B. Gomme, The Traditional Games o f England, Scotland, and Ireland (David Nutt, 1898),page 410.

[44] Brand, Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain: The Origins of Our Vulgar and Provincial Customs, Ceremonies and Superstitions., page 408.

[45] J. Jamieson, Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (Edinburgh, 1825), page 192. Jamiesson describes the game as being played in County Fife and perhaps elsewhere.

[46] Boys’ Own Book: A Complete Encyclopedia of Athletic, Scientific, Outdoor and Indoor Sports (James Miller, Pub’r, New York, 1881), page 14.

[47] P. Maigaard, “Battingball Games,” reprinted in Block, Baseball Before We Knew It, Appendix 6. See page 263.

[48] Frederic Gomes Cassidy and Joan Houston Hall, Dictionary of American Regional English (Harvard University Press, 1996), page 604. The dictionary notes usage as “esp. VA” and gives four attested citations from 1889 to 1911, one of them a recollection from 1840, and another a 1911 dictionary associating the game with “the Southern United States.”

[49] A. Morrison, “Uist Games,” The Celtic Review, Volume 4 (1907/1908), pages 361- 363.

[50] Joseph Strutt, The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England (1801)., pages 104-105.

[51] G. T. Lowth, The Wanderer in Arabia; or, Western Footsteps in Eastern Tracks (Hurst and Blackett, London, 1855), page 109.

[52] Special thanks to Jeff Kittel, email of 10/11/09, for material on this game. See also http:///www.angelfire.com/sports/corkball/STLhistory.html. Accessed 10/8/09.

[53] See Google search for “‘kings of crekettes’ ‘patrick sawer’" accessed 10/10/09. Special thanks to Beth Hise, emails of September 2009, for leads on this game.

[54] Gomme, Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Volume 1, page 83.

[55] Ibid., pages 84-85.

[56] http://www.myrecollection.com/christianog/games.html.

[57] Ball Games, (London: George Routledge and Sons, 1860)., page 41.

[58] F. B. Sanborn, New Hampshire Biography and Autobiography (Private Printing, Concord NH, 1905), page 13.

[59] R. Macgregor, Pastimes and Players (Chatto and Windus, London, 1881), Chapter 1 (first page).

[60] Amy Stewart Fraser, Dae Ye Min’ Langsyne?: A Pot-pourri of Games, Rhymes, and Ploys of Scottish Childhood (Routledge, 1975), page 59.

[61] Daily Cleveland Herald, April 24, 1867, as posted to the 19CBB listserve by Kyle DeCicco-Carey on 8/19/2008.

[62] Ibid., page 42.

[63] F. M. Gilbert, History of the City of Evansville (Pioneer Publishing, 1910), page 107.

[64] The Boy's Own Book, (London: D. Bogue, 1852), page 29.

[65] G. Land, Growing Up with Baseball (UNebraska, 2004), pages 61 and 174.

[66] http://www.myrecollection.com/christianog/games.html.

[67] G. Land, Growing Up with Baseball (UNebraska, 2004).

[68] Culin, "Street Games of Boys in Brooklyn, N.Y.." page 232.

[69] Henry Chadwick, Sports and Pastimes for American Boys (Routledge, New York, 1884), page 18.

[70] F. G. Cassidy et al., Dictionary of American Regional English (Harvard University Press, 1996), page 245.

[71] R. Bowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development Throughout the World (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1970), page 36.

[72] E. Perrin, et al., One Hundred and Fifty Gymnastic Games (G. H. Ellis, Boston, 1902), pages 22-23.

[73] Roland Naul, “Applied Sport History,” Proceedings of the Sixth Congress of the International Society for the History of Physical Education and Sport (Plantin-Print, Budapest, 2002), pages 432ff.

[74] Lydia Clark, Physical Training for the Elementary Schools (B. H. Sanborn, Chicago, 1921), pages 240-243.

[75] Emily Elmore and M. O’Shea, A Practical Handbook of Games (Macmillan, New York, 1922), pages 36-39.

[76] John Harland, ed., A Volume of Court Leet Records of the Manor of Manchester in the Sixteenth Century (Chetham Society, 1884), page 156.

[77] Jugndspiele zur Ehhjolung und Erheiterung (W. Simmerfled, Tilsit Germany, 1845),

[78] Jane Leavy [Koufax bio, page ref needed].

[79] Paul R. Wieand, Outdoor Games of the Pennsylvania Germans (Plymouth Meeting, PA: Mrs. C. N. Keyser, 1950)., page 9

[80] Hugh M. Thomason, “A Depression-Days Schoolyard Game,” Western Folklore, Vol. 34, Issue 1, January 1975, pages 58-59.

[81] The article, by Brian Howard in he City Paper June 5, 1997, was retrieved with the Google web search “a million games in the naked” on 10/10/09.

[82] Teresa McLean, The English at Play in the Middle Ages (Kensal Press, 1985), page 80.

[83] Newell*, Games and Songs of American Children. page 183.

[84] Paul G. Brewster*, American Nonsinging Games (University of Oklahoma Press, 1953), page 85.

[85] Culin, "Street Games of Boys in Brooklyn, N.Y.", page 231.

[86] The Alabama Reporter, as reprinted in Spirit of the Times (January 16, 1847), page 559. Provided by David Block, 2/28/2008.

[87] David Cram, et al., editors, Francis Willughby’s Book of Games (Ashgate, 2003), page 182.

[88] J. Jamieson, Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (Edinburgh, 1825), page 592-593.

[89] R. C. MacLagan, "Additions to 'the Games of Argyleshire'," Folklore 16, no. 1 (1905), page 83. A similar description appears in Folk Lore; A Quarterly Review of Myth, Tradition, Institution, and Custom (David Nutt, London, 1905), page83.

[90] http://howlandrounders.com. Unique among sports organizations, the Board for this game features a chair and two CEOs.

[91] Brewster*, American Nonsinging Games.

[92] John Allen Krout, Annals of American Sport (Yale University Press, 1929), page 219.

[93] F. G. Cassidy et al., Dictionary of American Regional English (Harvard University Press, 1996), pages 47-48.

[94] “Irish Rounders,” email from Peadar O Tuatain to L. McCray, January 30 2002.

[95] G. T. Lowth, The Wanderer in Arabia; or, Western Footsteps in Eastern Tracks (Hurst and Blackett, London, 1855), pages 108-110.

[96] Brewster, American Nonsinging Games.

[97] Ibid.

[98] Prospective Missions in Abyssinia (Massachusetts Sabbath School Society, Boston, 1834), page 74.

[99] Gomme, Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Volume 1., page 298.

[100] http://www.kickball.com/, accessed 10/09/09.

[101] Culin, "Street Games of Boys in Brooklyn, N.Y.", pages 230-231.

[102] G. E. Johnson, What to Do at Recess (Ginn, Boston, 1910), page 32.

[103] Ibid., page 230.

[104] Ibid., page 230.

[105] MacLagan, "Additions to 'the Games of Argyleshire'.", page 80.

[106] Brand, Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain: The Origins of Our Vulgar and Provincial Customs, Ceremonies and Superstitions., pages 423-424

[107] F. G. Cassidy et al., Dictionary of American Regional English (Harvard University Press, 1996), page 245.

[108] Walter Endrei*, and Laszlo Zolnay, Fun and Games in Old Europe (Budapest: Corvina Klado, 1986).

[109] Geo. Clulow, in Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, Etc. (J. Francis, London, 1895), Volume 7 -- January - June , pages 375-376.

[110] P. Maigaard, “Battingball Games,” reprinted in Block, Baseball Before We Knew It, Appendix 6. See page 274.

[111] Ira Berkow, "Russian Eye on Baseball," New York Times, August 14 1989.

[112] Bill Keller, "In Baseball, the Russians Steal All the Bases," New York Times, July 20 1987.

[113] Carl Schreck, "No Wrong Way to Swing Bat," The St. Petersburg Times, October 31 2003.

[114] F. G. Cassidy et al., Dictionary of American Regional English (Harvard University Press, 1996), page 365.

[115] Per Maigaard, "Battingball Games," Genus 5 (1941).

[116] Henry S. Curtis, Play and Recreation for the Open Country (Ginn, 1914). pages 62-63.

[117] F. G. Cassidy et al., Dictionary of American Regional English (Harvard University Press, 1996), page 415.

[118] Ibid., page 62.

[119] J. Lambert and H. Reinhard, A History of Catasaqua in Lehigh County (Searle and Dressler, Allentown, 1914), pages 363-364.

[120] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/matball. Accessed 10/11/09.

[121] Games and Sports for Young Boys, (Routledge, Warne, and Routledge, London, 1859)., page 33.

[122] F. G. Cassidy et al., Dictionary of American Regional English (Harvard University Press, 1996), pages 586-587.

[123] Brewster, American Nonsinging Games. Brewster cites Mason and Mitchell, Active Games [“Rotation”], page 327 and Boyd, [“Piggie Move Up”], page 65.

[124] F. G. Cassidy et al., Dictionary of American Regional English (Harvard University Press, 1996).

[125] Gomme, Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Volume 1, pages 407-408.

[126] Brewster*, American Nonsinging Games.

[127] The Boy's Own Book, pages 29-30. Ball Games (Routledge, 1860), page 54. The Boy's Handy Book (Ward and Lock, London, 1863), pages 18-19. Alfred Elliott, The Playground and the Parlour (Nelson and Sons, London, 1868) page 56.

[128] Ball Games., page 56.

[129] Gomme, Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Volume 1., pages 421-423.

[130] Strutt, The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England.

[131] Collections of the State Historical Society, Volume 2 (State Printers and Binders, Bismark ND, 1908), pages 213-214.

[132] Per Maigaard, "Battingball Games," Genus 5 (1941); see Block, Appendix 6, page 263.

[133] http://www.myrecollection.com/christianog/games.html.

[134] “Play Oina!: Romanians Say Their Game Inspired Creation of Baseball,” Oneonta Times, March 29, 1990.

[135] “Oina – Perhaps it was Baseball’s Grandfather,” World Leisure and Recreations Association Bulletin, September-October 1973.

[136] W. Battle, Memories of an Old-Time Tar Heel, (UNC Press, Chapel Hill, 1945), page 57.

[137] Ado Gini*, "Rural Ritual Games in Libya," Rural Sociology 4, no. 1 (1939).

[138] Culin, "Street Games of Boys in Brooklyn, N.Y.." pages 231-232.

[139] F. G. , Dictionary of American Regional English (Harvard University Press, 1996), page 882.

[140] Ibid., page 232.

[141] http://www.baseballfit.com/otl.htm.

[142] http://www.ehow.com/how_2251292_play-over-line.html.

[143] Josh Chetwynd, Baseball in Europe: A Country by Country History (McFarland, 2008). page 219.

[144] Try a web search for “palant ‘baseballowa liga.’ ”

[145] D. Block, Base Ball Before We Knew It (UNebraska Press, 2005), page 101. Protoball entry #1609.1 summarizes the Jamestown account.

[146] See Protoball Chronology item #1850c.17. Thanks to Skip McAfee for explaining the term.

[147] W. Runquist, “The Hill,” in G. Land, Growing Up with Baseball (UNebraska, 2004), page 98.

[148] MacLagan, "Additions to 'the Games of Argyleshire'", page 87.

[149] R. C. MacLagan, The Perth Incident of 1396 from a Folk-lore Point of View (Blackwood and Son, 1905), page 54.

[150] The Encyclopedic Dictionary (Cassel, Peter and Galpin, 1882), page 625.

[151] J. Harland, A Volume of Court Leet Records of the Manor of Manchester in the Si xteenth Century (Chetham Society, 1864), page 156.

[152] Brewster, American Nonsinging Games.

[153] Emily Elmore and M. O’Shea, A Practical Handbook of Games (Macmillan, New York, 1922), pages 93-95.

[154] Richard Hershberger, “A Reconstruction of Philadelphia Town Ball,” Base Ball, Volume 1, number 2 (Fall 2007), page 28-43.

[155] O. Heslop, Northumberland Words (Oxford U Press, London, 1893), page 535.

[156] B. Boynton, “Diceball and Pingball,” in G. Land, Growing Up with Baseball (UNebraska, 2004) pages 156 – 159.

[157] http://www.myrecollection.com/christianog/games.html.

[158] Alice Bertha Gomme, The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Volume 2 (New York: Dover [reprint -- original publication 1898], 1964), page 45.

[159] G. E. Johnson, What to Do at Recess (Ginn, Boston, 1910), page 32.

[160] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podex.

[161] Les Jeux Des Jeunes Garcons, (1810)., pages 104-105.

[162] Per Maigaard, "Battingball Games," Genus 5 (1941); see Block, Appendix 6, page 263.

[163] G. E. Johnson, What to Do at Recess (Ginn, Boston, 1910), page 32.

[164] http://www.myrecollection.com/christianog/games.html.

[165] Brewster*, American Nonsinging Games.

[166] Culin, "Street Games of Boys in Brooklyn, N.Y.." page 234.

[167] J. H. McCurdy, “Classification of Playground Activities,” American Physical Education Review Volume 16 (1911), page 49.

[168] Dialect Notes (American Dialect Society, Norwood MA, 1896), page 214.

[169] J. Lambert and H. Reinhard, A History of Catasaqua in Lehigh County (Searle and Dressler, Allentown, 1914), page 364.

[170] William F. Mason, The Journal of William Franklin Mason, completed in 1954; from http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ky/elliott/mason/mason29.txt, accessed 2/24/2008.

[171] The Boy's Own Book. London: D. Bogue, 1852, page 28-29.

[172] The Boy's Handy Book., pages 15-16.

[173] Gyula Hajdu*, "Collection of Hungarian Folk Games" (as Translated from Hungarian Magyar Nepi Jatekok Gyujtemenye) (Budapest: 1971).

[174] Brewster*, American Nonsinging Games.

[175] G. Carney, “The Tennis Court,” in G. Land, Growing Up with Baseball (UNebraska, 2004), page 110.

[176] W. Carew Hazlitt, Faiths and Folklore: A Dictionary of National Beliefs, Superstitions and Popular Customs (London: Reeves and Turner, 1905)., page 527.

[177] See Protoball Chronology item #1855c.1. The letter was written to the Mills Commission, which was examining the origins of American baseball.

[178] Endrei*, Fun and Games in Old Europe.

[179] M. Davey, “Gloveless Players Hold on to Softball Dream,” New York Times, 9/18/09.

[180] E. Hageman, “The Clincher,” Growing Up with Baseball (UNebraska, 2004), pages131-132.

[181] Norwich Courier, Volume 11, issue 8 (May 16, 1832),page 1.

[182] H. Philpott, “A Little Boys’ Game with a Ball,” The Popular Science Monthly, Volume 37, Number 5 (September 1890) page 654.

[183] Per Maigaard, "Battingball Games," Genus 5 (1941); see Block, Appendix 6, page 263.

[184] Hall, The Tribune Book of Open-Air Sports (1887), cited in K. Grover, Hard at Play: Leisure in America, 1840-1940 (UMass Press, 1992), page 244.

[185] F. C. Tatum, Old West Town Ferris Brothers, Philadelphia, 1888), page 8.

[186] Morris A Bealle, The Softball Story (Washington: Columbian Publishing Group, 1956).

[187] MacLagan, "Additions to 'the Games of Argyleshire'.", pages 87-88.

[188] Amy Stewart Fraser, Dae Ye Min’ Langsyne? (Routledge, 1975), page 59.

[189] Jane Leavy [Koufax bio, page needed].

[190] Emily W. Elmore, A Practical Handbook of Games, (Macmillan, NY, 1922), pages 17-18.

[191] David Block, Baseball before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game (University of Nebraska Press, 2005)., page 138.

[192] Montague*, The Youth's Encyclopedia of Health (1838).

[193] http://www.myrecollection.com/christianog/games.html.

[194] A. B. Gomme, The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (David Nutt, London, 1898), pages 216-217.

[195] The Boy's Handy Book., pages 18-19.

[196] F. G. Cassidy, Dictionary of American Regional English (Harvard University Press, 1996), page 882.

[197] Collections of the State Historical Society, Volume 2 (State Printers and Binders, Bismark ND, 1908), pages 213-214.

[198] Per Maigaard, "Battingball Games." Genus 5 (1941). [Reprinted as Appendix 6 of Block,

Baseball Before We Knew It.] See page 263.

[199] Henry H. Jessup, The Women of the Arabs, with a Chapter for Children (Dodd Mead, 1873), page 90.

[200] Block, Block, David, Baseball before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game [University of Nebraska Press, 2005]., pages 147-148.

[201] Posted to the 19CBB listserve on May 13, 2007 by Craig B. Waff. Craig cites the source as “Sports in Old Brooklyn: Colonel John Oakley Tells of the Games of His Boyhood: How Some Well-Known Men Amused Themselves in Bygone Days – Duck-on-the-Rock, Three Base Ball and Two Old Cat Good Enough for Them,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Volume 54, number 292 (Sunday, October 21, 1894), page 21, columns 4-5.

[202] Joseph Strutt, The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England—a New Edition, Much Enlarged and Corrected by J. Charles Fox (????? [Reissued by Singing Tree Press, Detroit, 1968], 1903)., pages 109-110

[203] The Boy's Handy Book., page 14.

[204] Gomme, . pages 294-295.

[205] Ibid., page 295.

[206] Dick, ed., Dick and Fitzgerald, the American Boys Book of Sports and Games: A Practical Guide to Indoor and Outdoor Amusements [Lyons Press Reprint, 2000]. Originally Published in 1864., pages 117-118.

[207] D. C. Beard, The American Boy’s Book of Sport (Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1896), page 332.

[208] H. D. Richardson, Holiday Sports and Pastimes for Boys, (Wm S. Orr, London, 1848), apges 63-64.

[209] “The American Base Ball Players,” Guardian, July 31, 1874, page 5.

[210] E. G. Sihler, “College and Seminary Life in the Olden Days,” in W. Dau., ed., Ebenezer: Reviews of the Work of the Missouri Synod During Three Quarters of a Century (Concordia Publishing, St. Louis, 1922), page 253.

[211] Whitelaw Reid, Ohio in the War (Moore, Wilstach and Baldwin, Cincinnati, 1868), page 562.

[212] Charles Johnston, Famous Generals of the Great War (Page Company, Boston, 1919), page 253.

[213] O. Heslop, Northumberland Words (Oxford U Press, London, 1893), page 741.

[214] Alice B. Gomme, The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Davit Nutt, London, 1898), page 307.

[215] Promptorium Parvulorum (Society of Camden, reprinted 1865), page 503.

[216] Josh Chetwynd, Baseball in Europe: A Country by Country History (McFarland, 2008). page 14.

[217] Alice B. Gomme, The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Davit Nutt, London, 1898), page 308.

[218] Alice B. Gomme, The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Davit Nutt, London, 1898), page 309.

[219] Alice B. Gomme, The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Davit Nutt, London, 1898), page 310.

[220] Bell Irvin Wiley, The Common Soldier in the Civil War (Grosset and Dunlap, New York, 1952), Book Two, “The Life of Johnny Reb,” page 159.

[221] Gomme, ., page 314.

[222] Endrei*, Fun and Games in Old Europe.

[223] Hippolytus Guarinoni*, The Horrors of the Devastation of the Human Race (Orig: Greuel Der Verwustung Des Menschlichen Geschlechts (Ingolstadt, Austria 1610).

[224] Block, David, Baseball before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game [University of Nebraska Press, 2005].

[225] Endrei*, Fun and Games in Old Europe.

[226] Ibid.

[227] Juvenile Pastimes: Or, Girls’ and Boys’ Book of Sports (S. Babcock, New Haven, 1849.)

[228] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigoro. Also try a Google web search for “history of vigoro.”

[229] Alice B. Gomme, The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Davit Nutt, London, 1898), page 329.

[230] George Vecsey, "Playing Baseball in Wales," New York Times, August 11 1986.

[231] Short descriptions of the game are found in Protoball Chronology items #1846.8, 1850.16, and 1855c.3. There is also a Protoball Subchronology devoted to wicket, with over 40 entries.

[232] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireball.

[233]Two examples of Work-Up are depicted in G. Land, Growing Up with Baseball (UNebraska, 2004), pages 83 and 175.