Early Ballplay in New England : A Working Chronology

Last Updated January 2008

Early Ballplay in New England: A Working Chronology

Note: This list was derived from the version 8 of the full Protoball Chronology in December 2007. (Search terms: MA, round, round ball, run-round, CT, RI, ME, NH, VT) In order to focus on the evolution of what became known as the “Massachusetts Game,” entries were excluded that denote wicket or cricket as the game played. Additional relevant items may have been added to later versions. Readers are encouraged to suggest or perform updates. Send notes about omissions, mistakes, typos, etc, to Lmccray@mit.edu.]

1704.1 – Traveler Observes Ball-Playing in CT

Madame Knight, “in her inimitable journal of her ride from Boston to New York in 1704, speaks of ball-playing in Connecticut.”

“The Game of Wicket and Some Old-Time Wicket Players,” in George Dudley Seymour, Papers and Addresses of the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut, Volume II of the Proceedings of the Society, [n. p., 1909.] page 284. Submitted by John Thorn, 7/11/04. John notes 9/3/2005 that Seymour observes that Madame Knight does not specifically name the sport as wicket, but he excludes cricket as a possibility because cricket was not then known to have been played in America before 1725; however, John adds, we now have a cricket reference in Virginia from 1709.

1775.1 – Soldier in CT “Played Ball All Day”

“Wednesday the 6. We played ball all day”

[Lyman, Simeon], “Journal of Simeon Lyman of Sharon August 10 to December 28, 1775,” in “Orderly Book and Journals Kept by Connecticut Men While Taking Part in the American Revolution 1775 – 1778,” Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society, volume 7 [Connecticut Historical Society, 1899, p. 117. Per Altherr, ref # 26. Lyman was near New London CT.

1778.6 -- NH Loyalist Plays Ball in NY; Mentions “Wickett”

The journal of Enos Stevens, a NH man serving in British forces, mentions playing ball seven times from 1778 to 1781. Only one specifies the game played in terms we know: “in the after noon played Wickett” in March of 1781. C. K. Boulton, ed., “A Fragment of the Diary of Lieutenant Enos Stevens, Tory, 1777-1778,” New England Quarterly v. 11, number 2 (June 1938), pages 384-385, per Altherr reference #33. Tom notes that the original journal is at the Vermont Historical Society in Montpelier VT.

1778.3 – MA Sergeant Found Some Time and “Plaid Ball”

Benjamin Gilbert of Massachusetts and New York [New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, 1980], pp. 30 and 49; and “Benjamin Gilbert Diaries 1782 – 1786,” G372, NYS Historical Association Library, Cooperstown. Per Altherr ref # 30.

1780c.4 – “Round Ball” Believed to be Played in MA

“Mr. Stoddard believes that Round Ball was played by his father in 1820, and has the tradition from his father that two generations before, i.e., directly after the revolutionary war, it was played and was not then a novelty.”

Letter from Henry Sargent, Grafton MA, to the Mills Commission, May 23, 1905. Stoddard was an elderly gentleman who had played round ball in his youth.

1791.1 – “Bafeball” Among Games Banned in Pittsfield MA – also Cricket, Wicket

In Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to promote the safety of the exterior of the newly built meeting house, particularly the windows, a by-law is enacted to bar “any game of wicket, cricket, baseball, batball, football, cats, fives, or any other game played with ball,” within eighty yards of the structure. However, the letter of the law did not exclude the city’s lovers of muscular sport from the tempting lawn of “Meeting-House Common.” This is the first indigenous instance of the game of baseball being referred to by that name on the North American continent. It is spelled herein as bafeball. “Pittsfield is baseball’s Garden of Eden,” said Mayor James Ruberto.

Per John Thorn: The History of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, From the Year 1734 to the Year 1800. Compiled and Written, Under the General Direction of a Committee, by J. E. A. Smith. By Authority of the Town. [Lea and Shepard, 149 Washington Street, Boston, 1869], 446-447. The actual documents themselves repose in the Berkshire Athenaeum. ||16||

1800c.4 – Four Old Cat and Three Old Cat Well Known in MA

“Four Old Cat and Three Old Cat were as well known to Massachusetts boys as Round Ball. I knew both games in 1862, and Mr. Stoddard tells me that his father knew them and played them between 1800 and 1820. They bore the same relation to Round Ball that “Scrub” does to Base Ball now. The main thing to be remembered is that Four and Three Old Cat seem to be co-eval with Massachusetts Round Ball, and even considered a modification of Round Ball for a less number of players than the regular game required.”

Letter from Henry Sargent, Grafton, MA, to the Mills Commission, May 31, 1905.

1805.2 – Portland ME Bans “Playing at Bat and Ball in the Streets”

The By Laws of the Town of Portland, in the County of Cumberland, 2^nd Edition [John McKown, Portland, 1805], p. 15. Per Altherr note #69.

1813.1 -- Newburyport MA Reminder -- “Playing Ball in the Streets” is Unlawful

“Parents and Guardians are also requested to forbid, those under their care, playing Ball in the streets of the town; as by this unlawful practice much inconvenience and injury is sustained.” Newburyport [MA] Herald, May 4, 1813, Volume 17, Issue 10, page 1 [classified advertisement]. Submitted by John Thorn 1/24/07.

1816.2 – Worcester MA Ordinance Bans “Frequent and Dangerous” Ball Playing and Hoops”

“Ball-playing” in the streets of Worcester, Massachusetts is forbidden by ordinance.

Worcester, MA Town Records, May 6, 1816; reprinted in Franklin P. Rice, ed., Worcester Town Records, 1801 – 1816, volume X [Worcester Society of Antiquity, 1891], p. 337. Also appears in Henderson, p. 150 [No ref given], and Holliman, per Guschov. ||25||

1816.5 -- In “The Year Without a Summer,” CT Lads Play Ball on Christmas Day

“My father [Charles Mallory] arrived there [Mystic CT] on Christmas Day and found some of his acquaintances playing ball in what was called Randall’s Orchard.”

Baughman, James, The Mallorys of Mystic: Six Generations in American Maritime Enterprise [Wesleyan University Press, 1972], page 12. Submitted by John Thorn, 10/19/2004.

1820.2 – Round Ball played in Upton, Massachusetts.

Henderson, p. 137, attributes this to Holliman, but has no ref to Holliman or to George Stoddard, who reported the game to the Mills Commission. Also quoted at Henderson, p. 150.

1820s.12 – Boys Are Attracted to Sports of “Playing Ball or Goal” in Bangor ME

Paine, Albert Ware, “Auto-Biography,” reprinted in Lydia Augusta Paine Carter, The Discovery of a Grandmother [Henry H. Carter, Newton MA, 1920], p. 240. Per Altherr ref # 77. Note: Dean Sullivan [7/29/2004] observes that Harold Seymour puts the year of play at Bangor at 1836, citing both pages 198 and 240 of The Discovery of a Grandmother. Payne was born in 1812, and was not a “boy” in 1836, so this event needs further examination. This item needs to be reconciled with #1823C.4 below.

1822.1 – Round Ball Played in Worcester

“Timothy Taft, who is living in Worcester, October 1897, played Round Ball in 1822. The game was no new thing then. I think Mr. Stoddard is right about the game being played directly after the close of the Revolutionary War [see c1780 entry]. At any rate, if members of your Commission question the antiquity of the game (Round Ball) we have Mr. Taft still living who played it 83 years ago, and we have corroborative testimony that it was played long before that time.”

Letter from Henry Sargent, Worcester MA, to Mills Commission, June 10, 1905. Henderson, on page 149, quotes the Commission’s press release as referring to a Timothy Tait, which seems likely a reference to Taft. Note: do we have that Mills Commission release that Henderson cites? In this letter Sargent also reports that in Stoddard’s opinion, “the game of Round Ball or Base ball is one and the same thing, and that it dates back before 1845.”

1823.5 -- Providence RI Bans “Playing Ball” in the Streets

“The Town of Providence have passed a law against playing ball in any of their public streets; the fine is $2. Why is not the law enforced in this Town? Newport Mercury, April 26, 1823, Vol. 62, Issued 3185, page 2. Submitted by John thorn 1/24/2007.

1825.9 -- Ballplaying Planned on Saturdays in Hartford CT

“BALL PLAYING: There will be Ball playing in Washington Street, a few rods South of the College, every Saturday afternoon, through the season, the weather permitting, Bats Balls and Refreshments provided by Emmons Rudge.” American Mercury [Hartford CT], April 12, 1825. Submitted by John Thorn, 9/29/2006.

1827.1 – Brown U Student Reports “Play at Ball”

Brown University (Providence, RI) student Williams Latham notes in his diary: “We had a great play at ball today noon [March 22].” On April 9: “We this morning . . . have been playing ball, But I have never received so much pleasure from it here as I have in Bridgewater. They do not have more than 6 or 7 on a side, so that a great deal of time is spent in running after the ball, neither do they throw so fair ball, They are afraid the fellow in the middle will hit it with his bat-stick.”

Latham, Williams, The Diary of Williams Latham, 1823 – 1827, quoted in W. C. Bronson, The History of Brown University 1764 – 1914 [Providence, Brown University, 1914], p. 245. Per Henderson ref # 101. ||32||

1828c.4 – NH Man Recalls Boyhood Habit of Playing Ball

Cyrus Bradley, born in 1818 in rural NH, refers in 1835 to his boyhood habit of playing ball.

“Journal of Cyrus P. Bradley,” Ohio Archeological and Historical Society, Volume XV [1906], page 210. Per Seymour, Harold – Notes in the Seymour Collection at Cornell University, Kroch Library Department of Rare and Manuscript Collections, collection 4809.

1828c.5 – Vermont Schoolboy Recalls Playing Goal, With Elm Trees as Goals

“The big boys had great times playing goal, and other noisy and running games, and the elm trees by our yard were the goals . . . “

History of Samuel Paine, Jr., 1778-1861 and His Wife Pamela (Chase) Paine, 1780-1856, of Randolph VT and Their Ancestors and Descendants, compiled and edited by their grandson Albert Prescott Paine, 1923. Per Seymour, Harold – Notes in the Seymour Collection at Cornell University, Kroch Library Department of Rare and Manuscript Collections, collection 4809.

1828.7 -- Ballplaying in Pawtucket RI

[Note: Need to recover lost attachment submitted by John Thorn, 7/23/2005 -- see 1828 folder.]

1829.2 – Round Ball Played in MA

From a letter to the Mills Commission: “Mr. Lawrence considers Round Ball and Four Old Cat one and the same game; the Old Cat game merely being the they could do when there were not more than a dozen players, all told. . . . Mr. Lawrence says, as a boy, he played Round Ball in 1829. So far as Mr. Lawrence’s argument goes for Round Ball being the father of Base Ball it is all well enough, but there are two things that cannot be accounted for; the conception of the foul ball, and the abolishment of the rules that a player could be put out by being hit by a thrown ball. No one remembers the case of a player being injured by being hit by a thrown ball, so that cannot be the reason for that change. The foul rule made the greatest skill of the Massachusetts game count for nothing – the batting skill – the back handed and slide batting. Mr. Stoddard told me that there were 9 of the 14 Upton batters who never batted ahead.”

Henry Sargent Letter to the Mills Commission, June 25, 1905.

1830.4 – School Boys Play Base Ball Regularly at Portsmouth NH Grammar School

Letter from J. A. Mendum to Albert Spalding, My 17, 1905. From Henderson, pp. 149-150, no ref given. John Thorn on 3/4/2006 notes that the letter included a clip from the New Hampshire Gazette titled “Origin of Baseball. Mr. Mendum Played the Game in Portsmouth in 1830.” XXX request scan from John Thorn

1830s.6 – Players Drink Egg-Nog in Base Ball Intervals in Portsmouth NH

Brewster, Charles W., Rambles About Portsmouth, Second Series [Lewis Brewster, Portsmouth, 1869], p. 269. Per Altherr ref # 67.

1830c.7 – Bostonian Recalls Old Game of “Massachusetts Run-Around”

T. King wrote to the Mills Commission in 1905. “Just a word in regard to the old game of Massachusetts Run-around. We always pronounced the name as if it were run-round without the “a,” but I presume, technically that should be incorporated.

“This was the old time game which I played between 44 and 50 years ago [1855-1861 – LM.], and which I heard my father speak of as playing 35 to 40 years before that, carrying it back to the vicinity of 1830.” [Actually, the arithmetic implies the vicinity of 1820.] Note: can we establish the age of King’s father at King’s birth?

T. King, Letter to the Mills Commission, November 24, 1905.

1834.1 – Carver’s The Book of Sports [Boston] describes “Base, or Goal Ball”

Rules for “’Base’ or ‘Goal Ball’” are published in Boston, in the The Book of Sports by Robin Carver. Carver’s book copies the rules for rounders published in England’s “The Boy’s Own Book” (see entry #1828.1, above). A line drawing of boys “Playing Ball” on Boston Common is included. David Block in Baseball Before We Knew It, page 196-197, reports that this is the “first time that the name “base ball” was associated with a diamond-shaped infield configuration.” As for the name of the game, Carver explains: “This game is known under a variety of names. It is sometimes called ‘round ball.’ But I believe that ‘base’ or ‘goal ball’ are the names generally adopted in our country.” According to Carver, runners ran clockwise around the bases. Note: Do we have other accounts of clockwise baserunning?

Carver, Robin, The Book of Sports [Boston, Lilly Wait Colman and Holden], pp 37-40. Per Henderson ref 31. Reprinted in Dean A. Sullivan, Compiler and Editor, Early Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1825 – 1908 [University of Nebraska Press, 1995], p.3ff

1836.1 – “Old-fashioned ‘Ball’” Popular in Waterville ME

“Baseball and foot ball did not, in those days, ensnare the athletic sympathies and activities of college boys, but old-fashioned ‘ball’ and quoits were popular.”

Martin B. Anderson [Pub? Date?], pp 36-37. Per Seymour, Harold – Notes in the Seymour Collection at Cornell University, Kroch Library Department of Rare and Manuscript Collections, collection 4809. Seymour’s note implies that the section heading in which this text appears is “(1836) “Ball” at Waterville.” The name A. C. Kendrick appears, and may be the author or publisher. A note says that Waterville is later Colby University. Note: Now findable on the web?

1837.3 – Yale Student Sees College Green Covered With Ballplaying

“[March 1837, New Haven CT] It is about time now for playing ball, and the whole green is covered with students engaged in that fine game: for my part, I could never have made a ball player. I can’t see where the ball is coming soon enough to put the ball-club in its way.”

Whitney, Josiah D., letter to his sister, March 1837, reprinted in E. T. Brewster, Life and Letters of Josiah Dwight Whitney [Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1909. Per Altherr ref # 50.

1841.2 -- Boston Common Ballplaying Scene Appears on Writing Tablet

Specimens of Penmanship [Bridgeport, CT, J. B. Sanford], per David Block, Baseball Before We Knew It, page 206. The image first appeared in Carver’s Book of Sports (see 1834 entry).

1844.1 – “Round Ball” is Played in Bangor ME

A match of “round ball” is played on Wadleigh field, near Bangor, Maine, between neighborhood teams representing Samuel Cony and Samuel Hunt.

[Article Title?] Bangor Whig, [date?] 1844; also reprinted in Official Baseball Record [Date? Issue?]. Per John Thorn, 7/7/2004. ||53||

1849.6 -- Inmates Play Base Ball at Worcester MA “Lunatic Hospital”

“[O]utdoor amusements consist in the game of quoits, base ball, walking in parties . . . “

“State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester,” The Christian Register, Volume 28, Issue 6 [February 10, 1849], page 6. Submitted by Bill Wagner 6/4/2006 and David Ball, 6/4/2006. Bill notes that the same article appears in Massachusetts Ploughman and New England Journal of Agriculture, Volume 8 Issue 20 [February 17, 1849], page 4.

1852.5 -- Religious Chapbook Shows Action in Ball Play at Recess

Fernald, Benjamin C., My Little Guide to Goodness and Truth [Portland ME, Sanborn and Carter], per David Block, Baseball Before We Knew It, page 214. This Sunday school reader has a detailed illustration of a game in progress.

1853c.1 – “Rounders” Played at Phillips Exeter, According to 1917 Account

“The game of “rounders,” as it was played in the days before the Civil War, had only a faint resemblance to our modern baseball. For a description of a typical contest, which took place in 1853, we are indebted to Dr. William A. Mowry:”

[Several students had posted a challenge to play “a game of ball,” and that challenge was accepted.] ‘The game was a long one. No account was made of ‘innings;’ the record was merely of runs. When one had knocked the ball, had run the bases, and had reached the ‘home goal,’ that counted one ‘tally.’ The game was for fifty tallies. . . . [T]he pitcher stood midway between the second and third bases, but nearer the center of the square . . . Well, we beat the eleven [50-37].’ [Mowry then tells of his success in letting the ball hit the ball and glance away over the wall “behind the catchers,” which allowed him to put his side ahead.]

Claude M. Fuess, An Old New England School: A History of Phillips Academy, Andover [Houghton Mifflin, 1917], pp. 449-450. Researched by George Thompson, based on partial information from reading notes by Harold Seymour. Note: It appears that Fuess saw this game as rounders, but Mowry did not use that name. The game as described is indistinguishable from the MA game.

1854.3 – Organized Round Ball in New England Morphs to the MA Game

“’Base Ball in New England.’ The game of ball for years a favorite sport with the youth of the country, and long before the present style of playing was in vogue, round ball was indulged in to a great extent all over the land. The first regularly organized Ball Club in this section was doubtless the Olympic Club, of Boston, which was formed in 1854, and for a year or more this club had the field entirely to themselves.

“In 1855 the Elm Trees organized, existing but a short time, however. In 1856 a new club arose, the ‘Green Mountains,’ and some exciting games were played between this Club and the Olympics. Up to this point the game as played by these clubs was know as the Massachusetts game; but it was governed by no regular code or rules”

Wright, George, Account of November 15, 1904, catalogued by the Mills Commission as Exhibit 36-19; accessed at the Giamatti Center in Cooperstown.

1854.11 -- The Game in Ontario -- the MA Game, with Variations

“Organized teams first appeared in Hamilton in 1854 and London in 1855. The game they played was described in the August 4 1860 issue of the New York Clipper as having several unique features. ‘The game played in Canada,’ the Clipper reported, ‘differs somewhat from the New York game, the ball being thrown instead of pitched and an inning not concluded until all are out, there are also 11 players on each side.’ It differed as well from the Massachusetts Game, in its strict adherence to 11 men on the field as opposed to the Massachusetts rules, which allowed 10 to 14.

“As well all 11 men had to be retired before the other team came to bat. Both games allowed the pitcher to throw the ball in the modern style, rather than underarm as in the New York rules.”

William Humber, “Baseball and the Canadian Identity,” College Quarterly, Volume 8 Number 3 [Summer 2005]. Submitted by John Thorn 3/30/2006.

1856.17 -- The Mass Game Explained

“I have thought, perhaps, a statement of my experience as to the Yankee method of playing ‘Base,’ or ‘Round’ ball, as we used to call it, may not prove uninteresting.

“The ball we used was, I should think, of the size and weight described by the Putnam rules, made of yarn, tightly wound round a lump of cork or India rubber, and covered with smooth calf-skin in quarters (as we quarter an orange), the seems closed snugly, and not raised, lest they should blister the hands of the thrower and catcher: the bat round, varying from 3 to 3.5 feet in length; a portion of a stout rake or pitchfork handle was much in demand, and wielded generally in one hand by the muscular young players at the country schools, who rivaled each other in the hearty cracks they gave the ball.

“There were six to eight players upon each side, the latter number being the full complement. The two best layers upon each side -- first and second mates, as they were called by common consent -- were catcher and thrower. These retained their positions in the game, unless they chose to call some other player, upon their own side, to change places with them.” Dated Boston, December 20, 1856. A field diagram followed. It shows either 6 or 10 defensive positions, depending on whether each base was itself a defensive station.

“Base Ball; How They Play the Game in New England, by An Old Correspondent” Spirit of the Times [date?] Submitted by John Thorn. Note: The Dedham rules of 1858 specified at least ten players on a team. The writer does not call the game the MA game, and does not mention plugging, the use of stakes as bases, the one-out-all-out rule -- conceivably because he thinks the NY shares their attributes?

1858.28 – The MA Ball: Smaller, Lighter, “Double 8” Cover Design

Dedham Rules of the Massachusetts Game specifies that “The ball must weigh not less than two, nor more than two and three-quarter ounces, avoirdupois. It must measure not less than six and a half, nor more than eight and a half inches in circumference, and must be covered with leather.”

William Cutler of Natick, MA reportedly designs the Figure 8 cover. The design was sold to Harrison Harwood. Harwood develops the first baseball factory (H. Harwood and Sons) in Natick, Massachusetts. Baseballs that are manufactured at this facility include the Figure 8 design as well as the lemon peel design.

Submitted by Rob Loeffler, 3/1/07. See “The Evolution of the Baseball Up to 1872,” March 2007.

1859.9 – In MA, Excelsiors and Union Club play for $500 Prize Money

New York Clipper, July 21, 1860, per Guschov. The two clubs were the Excelsior Club of Upton MA and the Union Club of Medway MA. In 1860 the two clubs would meet for a $1000 purse.

1859.10 – Philadelphia Man Interested in Forming MA Game Club

“We have already several clubs in the neighborhood who I presume play the same game as the New York clubs, which the New York Tribune call a “baby game” if as the article in the Tribune to-day indicates your Massachusetts game is the best we shall be glad to introduce it here.”

Letter from William Stokes, Philadelphia to Geo H. Stoddard, Pres., Excelsior Ball Club, Upton Mass, October 18, 1859. From the Mills Commission files at the HOF Giamatti Center.

1859.12 – MA Championship: Unions 100, Winthrop 71, in 101 Innings

Wilkes Spirit of the Times, October 15, 1859. Per Seymour, Harold – Notes in the Seymour Collection at Cornell University, Kroch Library Department of Rare and Manuscript Collections, collection 4809.

1859.14 – New York Tribune Compares NY Game and NE Game

“That [NY Tribune} article was a discussion, I believe, of the two games, the New York game and the Massachusetts round ball game, with a view to decide which was the standard game. So far as we know, this newspaper indicates that [text obscured] became a sport of national interest. The fact that the club of a little country town up in Massachusetts should be weighed in the balance against a New York club, in the columns of the first paper of the country marks a beginning of national attention to the game.”

New York Tribune, October 19, 1859, as described in Henry Sargent letter to the Mills Commission, [date obscured; a response went to Sargent on July 21, 1905, suggesting that the Tribune article had arrived “after we had gone to press with the other matter and consequently it did not get in.]. The correspondence is in the Mills Commission files, item 65-29. Note: George Thompson reports: “I have looked at that issue and have not found such a story.” George suspects that the date is wrong.

1859.21 -- Porter’s: MA Game Will Surely Die

“This thing cannot last, and the Massachusetts game will surely die a natural death when the New England clubs come to realize the superiority of base ball, “The New York Game,” as played under the rules adopted by the NABBP.”

Editorial, Porter’s Spirit of the Times?? October 1859?? From the ninth segment of Rankin’s 1910 history??

1859.22 -- Worcester High School in MA Has First Secondary School Base Ball Team

“Worcester High School in Massachusetts has been traditionally recognized as the first secondary institution to form a team that competed against teams outside of the school.”

Source: Illinois High School Association website

1859.23 -- Base Ball Comes to Lowell MA, Town of Factories

“BASE BALL CLUB. We are glad to chronicle the formation of any club whose object is rational out-door amusement and exercise. In a place like Lowell, where a large portion of the working male population is confined eleven hours a day in close rooms, such exercise is especially needed . . . . [Company teams are encouraged.]

Lowell [MA] Daily Journal and Courier, August 1, 1859.

1860.10 – Atlantics Are Challenged to Play MA Game for $1000 Stake, But Decline

“In a long talk with “Bill” Lawrence, who put up the money for the Upton-Medway game, and himself a player on the mechanics Club of Worcester, he tells me that just before the war – he thinks in 1860 – he went to New York with Mr. A. J. Brown (now dead), of Worcester, and challenged the Atlantics of Brooklyn to come to Worcester and play the Uptons for 1000 dollars; the game to be the “Massachusetts Game” and not the “New York Game,” which was the game played by the Atlantics. The winner to get the entire $1,000; the loser nothing. After a good deal of consideration the challenge was not taken up by the Atlantics, on the ground that the players could not spare sufficient time for the practice requisite for such an important match; the officials of the Atlantic Club at the same time scoffing at the idea that could beat the Uptons or any other Club.”

Letter from Henry Sargent, Worcester MA to the Mills Commission, June 25, 1905. n a posting to 19CBB on 8/5/2005 [message 4], Joanne Hulbert reports on four articles from the Worcester Daily Spy [July 16, July 17, July 17, and August 4] that record the rumor of the “great match game of base ball,” as well as a return match in New York if Upton wins, and the Atlantics’ turndown, “probably on account of the expenditure of time and money . . . as well as to their objection to playing any but the New York game.”

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