June 4, 1838, was an historic day for Beachville Ontario, a town located halfway between Woodstock and Ingersol along Highway 9. They hadn’t planned to be catapulted into the history books that day, instead, they were gathering for their annual holiday celebration of the birthday of King George III. The local militia would take the opportunity to execute their formations in the centre of the town, and there would be picnics, speeches, horseshoe pitching contests, and a game of baseball played between the Beachville Club and a team from Zorra, a town just under 10 miles to the northwest.
This game would serve as the first recorded game of baseball. EVER!
This wasn’t the first time the game had ever been played though, and we know that because Dr Adam Ford, who wrote in great detail about that game five decades later in a published letter to “Sporting Life” (the American newspaper not the British racing magazine), noted that the rules of the game were being strictly monitored by a couple of old guys who had been playing the game in that community since they were kids. And clearly, based on the fact that there were teams already formed in other towns, by this point baseball had gained some solid traction in the area.
We might not have recognized the game of baseball as it was played in 1838, not least because it made use of 5 bases and had more colourful terminology. The rules and terms used 183 years ago, were reworked once the Americans embraced the game several years later and threw themselves into it. Their new rules and format further molded the game into the one that we know today.
Back in 1838, when the batter was called a “knocker”, the pitcher was simply known as the “thrower”, the bases were referred to as “byes”, and when it was still legal for an outfielder to intentionally throw the ball at the runner to hit or “plug” him causing him to be out, running around the bases was a thrill for both teams.
There was no demand that the runner make a straight beeline from one base to another. Back then, if your way was blocked by an opposing player or two, well, you just ran out into the outfield with the other team chasing you down until you were plugged or until you made it safely to the next base or home plate to score a point! Anyone else from your team who happened to be on a base during your wild break, was free to continue running the bases while the other team was distracted with trying to plug you. Too bad they changed that rule–I’ll bet it would have made the game very exciting.
The ball used for that June 4th game was a double-twisted ball of yarn that the local shoemaker, Edward McNames (who also played for the Beachville Club), had covered with calfskin and stitched up. The bat was a stick of cedar that had been hand-hewn in the same manner as when making a spoke to be used in a wagon wheel. And there were no gloves worn! One caught the ball with their bare hands, or one did not catch the ball.
Parts of this game of baseball, as played in 1838, had emerged from a European game called “Rounders” that had been brought over to Canada by some early immigrants. That game was even tougher! Rounders, a game still played by children in the UK, used something like a truncheon for a bat that was/is about 18” long, as opposed to a baseball bat which averages 34” long. And the rounders’ bat was swung single-handedly rather than using both hands, though the rules are more relaxed about that these days. In rounders, each batter was/is thrown one pitch, and unless there are technical grievances against it, the batter ran/runs for the base regardless of whether he actually hit the ball or not. That sounds reasonable to me. Pitchers use an underhand throw in rounders, whereas even in that early game in Beachville, baseball pitchers use an overhand throw.
While I could find no score for that first recorded game of baseball, I did find out that the field they played the game on was a pasture out behind the blacksmith shop (presently the site of Beachville Baptist Church). There was a plaque erected on the original site in 1988, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the 1838 game, for those who want to stop by Beachville for a look. Apparently, they’ve got a nice little museum in town that celebrates their notoriety, so pop in there while you’re at it.
Some say that the folks in Beachville are swinging for the fences with their claim of having held the first ever recorded game of baseball. Some say that the birthplace of the game was in Cooperstown, New York. The story that baseball was an American invention by a US Army officer has been dismissed by sport historians as a bit of grandstanding, but that version landed during a time of high patriotism in the States, so it caught on and its supporters have long attempted to dismiss the game’s authentic Canadian roots.
However, in Beachville, they have confidence in their history and of that game played in 1838. They are also very sure of our strong Canadian link to the game of baseball. It’s hard not to support those viewpoints but if you’re still not convinced about the game’s Canadian core, maybe you should slide over to St. Marys, just a 35-minute drive northwest of Beachville, and take a look through the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame to check into the story further. Or perhaps you could catch a game at London Ontario’s Labatt Memorial Park, which continues to hold the Guinness World Record for the oldest baseball diamond In The World. Baseball was first played there in 1877, when the park was originally called Tecumseh Park (which I like the sound of much better), and it has been used for baseball games continuously ever since those days.
Baseball’s roots grow deep in Canadian soil and that seems like a grand slam to me!
