Last Updated April 30, 2007
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Wicket Chronology
1704.1
– Traveler Observes Ball-Playing in CT
Madame Knight, “in her
inimitable journal of her ride from
“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
1725c.1
– Wicket Played on
“Sam. Hirst got up betimes in
the morning, and took Ben Swett with him and went into the (
Per George Dudley Seymour, Papers
and Addresses of the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of
1766.2
-- Cricket Challenge in CT
“A Challenge is hereby given
by the Subscribers, to Ashbel Steel, and John Barnard, with 18 young Gentlemen
. . . to play a Game of BOWL for a Dinner and Trimmings . . . on Friday
next.” Connecticut Courant , May 5, 1766, as cited in John A. Lester, A
Century of Philadelphia Cricket [University of Pennsylvania Press,
Philadelphia, 1951], page 6. Note: is “game of bowl” a common
term for cricket? Could this have
been a wicket challenge?
1778.4
– Ewing Reports Playing “At Base” and Wicket at
George Ewing, a Revolutionary War
soldier, tells of playing a game of “Base” at
Ewing, G., The Military Journal of
George Ewing (1754-1824), A Soldier of Valley Forge [Private Printing,
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
1779.2
– Lieutenant Reports Playing Ball, and Playing Bandy Wicket
“Samuel Shute, a New Jersey
Lieutenant, jotted down his reference to playing ball in central Pennsylvania
sometime between July 9j and July 22, 1779; ‘until the 22nd,
the time was spent playing shinny and ball’ Incidentally, Shute
distinguished among various sports, referring elsewhere in his journal to
‘Bandy Wicket.’ He did not confuse baseball with types of field
hockey [bandy] and cricket [wicket] that the soldiers also played.” -- Thomas Altherr. Note:
Gomme says that “bandy wicket” was a name for cricket in
[Shute, Samuel], “Journal of
Lt. Samuel Shute,” in Frederick Cook, ed., Journals of the Military
Expedition of Major General John Sullivan against the Six Nations of Indians in
1779 [Books for Libraries Press, Freeport NY, reprint of the 1885 edition],
p. 268. Per Altherr ref # 28.
1787.2
– VT Man’s Letter Says “Three Times is Out at Wicket”
Levi Allen to Ira Allen, July 7,
1787, in John J. Duffy, ed., Ethan Allen and His Kin, Correspondence, 1772
– 1819 [University Press of New England,
1791.1
– “Bafeball” Among Games Banned in
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. “
Per John Thorn: The History of
1793.1
-- Engraving Shows Game with Wickets at
A copper engraving showing
See http://www.dartmouth.edu/~library/Library_Bulletin/Nov1992/LB-N92-KCramer2.html; Submitted by Scott Meacham 8/17/06.
1800.2
– John Knox Owns a “Ball Alley” and
Item from John Thorn, 6/25/04. Note:
It seems possible that a “ball alley” is for bowling, but
wicket was also played on what was termed an alley.
1818.1
– Yale Student Reports Cricket on Campus
A student at
Lester, ed., A Century of
Philadelphia Cricket [U Penn Press,
1820s.9
– In
Delaney, ed., Life in the
Connecticut River Valley 1800 – 1840 from the Recollections of John
Howard Redfield [Connecticut River Museum, Essex CT, 1988], p. 35. Per Altherr ref # 82.
1825.8
-- Wicket Bat Reported Held in
The Pocumtuck Valley Memorial
Association reported that, as of 1908, it retained a wicket bat dating from
1825-30. Submitted by John Thorn,
1/13/2007. Note: John is trying to ascertain whether the bat remains in the
collection.
1830s.5
-- Wicket Played in The
[Per note from John Thorn,
6/25/2005; XXX details to be sought.]
1830s.12
-- Wicket Ball in
“[The Indians] would lounge on
the steps of the ‘
Samuel M. Welch, Home History:
Recollections of
1833.8
– Untitled Drawing of Ball Game [Wicket?] Appears in Songbook
Watts’ Divine and Moral Songs
– For the Use of Children [
A drawing shows five children
– a tosser, batter, two fielders, and boy waiting to bat. The bats are spoon-shaped. The wicket looks
more like a cricket wicket than the long low bar in wicket. Is it wicket? Base-ball? Here’s Block’s commentary. “ . . .an interesting woodcut portraying boys
playing a slightly ambiguous bat-and-ball game that is possibly baseball . . .
. A goal in the ground near the
batter might be a wicket, but it more closely resembles an early baseball goal
such as the one pictured in A Little Pretty Pocket-Book” (see
#1744.2, above).
1834.6
-- In Wicket, It’s Hartford CT 146, Litchfield CT 126
The contest took three
“ins.” “Thus, it
appears that the ‘Bantam Players’ ‘barked up the wrong
tree.’ The utmost harmony
existed, and every one appeared to enjoy the sport.”
Connecticut Courant, volume 70, Issue 3618, page 3 [probably reprinted from the
1841.9
-- County-wide Wicket Challenge Issued Near Rochester NY
“A CHALLENGE. The undersigned, Amateur (Wicket) Ball
Players, of the Town of
Noted by Priscilla Astifan, 19CBB
posting, 1/28/2007. Priscilla
adds: “Pioneer baseball
players’ [in
1841.10
--
“The Ball Players of
Bloomfield and vicinity, respectfully invite the Pall Players of the city of
Hartford Daily Courant, June 23, 1841, page 3. Notes:
Is the bound rule [2] usual in wicket?
What is rule 3 getting at?
What is rule 4 getting at?
1843.4
-- Wicket at Yale
“Were it spring or autumn you
should see a brave set-to at football on the green, or a brisk game of
wicket.”
Belden, Sketches of Yale College
[Pubr?, 1843] , per John Lester, A Century of Philadelphia Cricket
[UPenn,
John Thorn, 6/25/2005, mentions that
he has an account of wicket at Yale. Note
-- XXX Need to follow up with John Is he
referring to the Belden citation?
Does it say any more, or give a view date?.
1846.7
–
“Friday,
October 16. At prayers
as usual. Studied Demosthenes till
breakfast time. After breakfast
came off the great match between our class and the juniors. We beat them 77 to 53. They had on the ground nineteen men out
of twenty-nine, and we thirty out of thirty-five. Had the remainder of both
classes been there, at the same rate we should have beaten them 90 to 81. As a
class they were completely used up. Their players, however, averaged about 0.23
each more than ours. The whole was played out in about an hour. The victory was
completely ours, a result different from what I expected. Got a lesson in
Demosthenes and went to recitation.”
On October 3, the MA diarist had written: “played a game of
wicket, with a party of fellows . . . . Had a fine game, though I, knowing
little of the rules, was soon bowled out.
Then cam home and wrote journal till 5PM. Then to prayers and afterward
to supper.”
1846.8
–
Dr. Edward Hitchcock
gives this account of the game of MA wicket: "In my days baseball was
neither a science nor an art, but we played ‘wicket’. On smooth and level ground about 20 feet
apart were placed two 'wickets,' pine sticks 1 inch square and 8 to 10 feet
long, supported on a block at each end so as to be easily knocked off. The ball
was made of yarn, covered with stout leather, about six inches in diameter and
bowled with all the power of the wicket tender at each end. The aim was to roll
it as swiftly as possible at the opposite wicket and knock it down if possible.
This was defended by the man with a broad bat, 3 feet long, and the oval about
8 inches [broad], who must defend his wicket. If the bowler could by a fair ball,
striking twice between the wickets, knock down the opposite wicket, the striker
was out. But if the batter could by a direct or sideways hit send the ball
sideways or overhead the outside men, they [ i.e. ., the batter and his
teammate at the opposite end] could run till the ball was in the hands of the
bowler. But the bowler to get the batter out must with the ball in his hand
knock the wicket outwards before the batter could strike his bat outside a line
three feet inside the wicket . . . . This game was played on the lowest part of
the 'walk' under the trees which now extends from chapel to the church."
Hitchcock, Edward,
“Recollections,” in George F. Whicher, ed., Remembrance of
1846.11
-- Suspicious
“You speak . . . of
Harrington, the express robber as being in prison here. This is incorrect. He isn’t, neither has he been in
jail since his arrival here, unless you can call the Eagle Hotel a jail. . . .
[W]hen the weather has been pleasant, he has occupied his time in playing wicket
in the public square; or playing the fiddle in his room . . . to solace and
relieve the tedium of his boredom.”
Rochester Police Officer Jacob
Wilkinson letter of April 7, 1946, as quoted in “The Express
Robbery,” The National Police
Gazette, Volume 1, Number 32 [April 18, 1846], page 277. Submitted by John Thorn, 9/2/2006. Note:
It is possible to construe wicket as a daily
1850s.16
-- Wicket Play in
“The immediate predecessor of
baseball was wickets. This was a modification
of cricket and the boys who excelled at that became crack players of the latter
sport of baseball. In wickets there
had to be at least eight men, stationed as follows: Two bowlers, two stump keepers or
catcher, two outfielders and two infielders or shortstops. . . .
“The wickets were placed sixty
feet apart, and consisted of two ‘stumps’ about six inches in
height above the ground and ten feet apart. . . . The ball was as large as a
man’s head, and of peculiar manufacture. Its center was a cube of lead weighing
about a pound and a half. About this were tightly wound rubber bands . . . and
the whole sewed in a thick leather covering. This ball was delivered with a stiff
straight-arm underhand cast . . . . Three out was side out, and the ball could
be caught on the first bound or on the fly.”
“Baseball Half a Century
Ago,”
1851.3
-- Wicket Players in CT Found Liable
“In a recent case which
occurred at Great Barrington, an action was brought against some 12 or 15 young
men, by an old man, to recover damages for a spinal injury received by him and
occasioned by a wicket ball, which frightened his horse and threw him from his
wagon. The boys were playing tin
the street. . . . . If this were fully understood, there would be less of the
dangerous and annoying practice so common in our streets.”
“Caution to Ball Players in
the Street,” The Pittsfield Sun,
Volume 51, Issue 2647 [June 12, 1851], page 2. Submitted by John Thorn, 6/10/2006.
1855c.3
– Wicket, Seen as a CT Game, Played in
In 1880 the Brooklyn Eagle
carried long articles that include a description of the game of wicket,
described as a
“Instead of eleven on a side,
as in cricket, there are thirty, and instead of wickets used by cricketers
their wickets consist of two pieces of white wood about an inch square and six
feet long, placed upon two blocks three inches from the ground. The ball also differs from that used in
cricket or base ball, it being almost twice the size, although it only weighs
nine ounces. The bat also differs from
that used in cricket and base ball, it being more on the order of a lacrosse
bat, although of an entirely different shape, and made of hard, white
wood. The space between the wickets
is called the alley, and is seventy-five feet in length and ten feet in width.
Wicket also differs from cricket in the bowling, which can be done from either
wicket, at the option of the bowlers, and there is a centre line, on the order
of the ace line in racket and hand ball, which is called the bowler’s
mark, and if a ball is bowled which fails to strike the ground before it
reaches this line it is considered a dead ball, or no bowl, and no play can be
made from it, even if the ball does not suit the batsman. The alley is something on the order of
the space cut out for and occupied by the pitcher and catcher of a base ball
club, the turf being removed and the ground rolled very hard for the
accommodation of the bowlers.”
1855c.10
– Wicket Played in HI
“One game they all enjoyed was
wicket, often watched by small Mary Burbank. Aipuni, the Hawaiians called it, or
rounders, perhaps because the bat had a large rounder end. It was a forerunner of baseball, but the
broad, heavy bat was held close to the ground.”
Ethel, Damon M, Sanford Ballard
Dole and His Hawaii [Pacific Books,
Through further digging, John Thorn
traces the migration of wicket to
1858.26
-- Wicket, as Well as Cricket and Base Ball, Reported in
“Exercise clubs and gymnasia
are spring up everywhere. The
papers have daily records of games at cricket, wicket, base ball, etc.”
Editorial, “Physical Education,”
Graham’s American Monthly of
Literature, art, and Fashion, Volume 53, Number 6 [December 1858], page
495. Submitted by John Thorn
9/2/2006.
1859.24
-- CT State Championship in Wicket Attracts 4000
“When
1860c.11
– Man Played Base Ball in CT Before the War
“I am a native of
Letter from Philip W. Hudson,
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