Origins of baseball

The question of the origins of baseball has been the subject of debate and controversy for more than a century.Baseball and the other modern bat, ball and running games, cricket and rounders, were developed from folk games in early Britain (for example, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) and Continental Europe (for example, France.

A number of folk games in early Britain and Continental Europe had characteristics that can be seen in modern baseball (as well as in cricket and rounders). Many of these early games involved a ball that was thrown at a target while an opposing player defended the target by attempting to hit the ball away. If the batter successfully hit the ball, he could attempt to score points by running between bases while fielders would attempt to catch or retrieve the ball and put the runner out in some way.

Folk games differed over time, place, and culture, resulting in similar yet variant forms. These games had no standard documented rules and instead were played according to historical customs. These games tended to be played by working classes, peasants, and children. Early folk games were often associated with earlier religious ceremonies and worship rituals. These games became discouraged and even altogether prohibited by subsequent governing states and religious authorities.

Aside from obvious differences in terminology, the games differed in the equipment used (ball, bat, club, target, etc., which were usually just whatever was available), the way in which the ball is thrown, the method of scoring, the method of making outs, the layout of the field and the number of players involved.

___Stoolball___

In an 1801 book entitled The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, Joseph Strutt claimed to have shown that baseball-like games can be traced back to the 14th century, in particular an English game called stoolball. The earliest known reference to stoolball is in a 1330 poem by William Pagula, who recommended to priests that the game be forbidden within churchyards.

In stoolball, one player throws the ball at a target while another player defends the target. Originally, the target was defended with a bare hand. Later, a bat of some kind was used (in modern stoolball, a bat like a very heavy table tennis paddle is used). "Stob-ball" and "stow-ball" were regional games similar to stoolball. What the target originally was in stoolball is not certain; it was possibly a tree stump, since "stob" and "stow" all mean stump in some local dialects. ("Stow" could also refer to a type of frame used in mining). It is notable that in cricket to this day, the uprights of the wicket are called "stumps". Of course, the target could well have been whatever was convenient, perhaps even a gravestone (hence Pagula's objection to churchyard play). A 17th-century book on games specifies a stool.

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