The Origins of Baseball
July 13, 2008 – 7:45 pm
Many questions surrounding the exact origins of baseball have been the main subject of controversy and debate for longer than a century. Baseball as well as softball, just as any other modern ball, bats and running games, rounders and cricket, have all developed from the earlier forms of folk games. Despite the fact that baseball’s roots are English, there are similar games that have been played in several other areas of the world. There is a Romanian ball sport known as Oina, that is similar is several ways to the sport of baseball.
Since the thirteen hundreds, Russia has had a game of bat and ball known as Lapta. The Germans are known for playing a game known as Schlagball, which is very similar to the game of rounders. In this game however, the bowler would throw a ball to the striker, who would hit it with the club and then try to run around the circuit of bases without even get hit with the defender’s ball.
In the early eighteen hundreds, Americans played a version of Rounders, the English game, and they referred to the game as “Town Ball”. In fact, these early forms of the sport of baseball had several different names, which include “Goal Ball”, “Base Ball”, “Round Ball” and just “Base”. There was at least one particular version of the game where the teams would pitch to themselves, and the runners would run the bases in a totally opposite direction from that of today’s game, in this game, the players were able to be put out by being hit by the ball just like in Schlagball. However, like today, it was a total of three strikes and then you were out.
There are very few details surrounding how the modern games were able to develop from the earlier folk games that are known. Some may assume that several folk games resulted within the game referred to as town ball, which was where baseball was born eventually. Whereas, there are others that believe that town ball was totally independent from baseball.
Some of the ancient sports that were similar with baseball include Oina which is a Romania sport. All of its origins seem to be related to a pastoral game that was played among the shepherds of ancient times.
The Origins of Stoolball
Within stoolball, which was developed by the eleventh century, one player would throw the ball at the set target while the other player would defend the target. Stow-ball and Stob-ball were the regional games that were similar to stoolball. In stow-ball and stob-ball the actual target was more than likely a tree stump, since both terms “stow” and “stob” mean stump when used within some dialects. The original target that was used in stoolball isn’t certain. It may have been a stump, who knows?
Based on one legend, the milkmaids would play stoolball while they were waiting for their husbands to come home from the fields. One of the other theories is that stoolball was developed as a game and it was played after attending regular church services, in which case, a church stool was probably the target.
