[Rarebooks] FS: The Birth of Organized Baseball, 1856

[Charles Agvent]

[BASEBALL] PORTER, William T. PORTER'S SPIRIT OF THE TIMES. A Chronicle 
of the Turf, Field Sports, Literature and the Stage. Volume I, Nos. 1 - 
26. New York: [Wm. Porter & George Wilkes], 1856-1857. First Edition. 
Folio (10-3/4" x 16") in the original cloth rebacked with a recent brown 
morocco leather spine, lettered in gilt, and corners; original morocco 
label with the name "James Burnside" in gilt on the front cover; 416 (of 
424) pages. Illustrated with a color frontispiece of a racing horse, 
"Flora Temple." The debut volume with 26 issues of this important sports 
newspaper containing accounts of horse races, billiards, cricket 
matches, chess, and some of the earliest reportage of baseball games 
including printed box scores (developed by Henry Chadwick in 1856) and 
rule changes. The National Association of Base Ball Players was the 
first baseball organization to extend beyond a single club, and its 
birth coincides neatly with this first volume of PORTER'S. The first 
hint comes in Volume 1, issue #7, page 93 (11 October 1856): "It is said 
that a Convention of all the Base Ball Clubs of this city and suburbs 
will be held this fall, for the purpose of considering whether any and 
what amendments to the rules and laws governing this game should be 
made." The 8 November 1856 issue gives an account that reveals the 
gentlemanly nature of the game at that time describing the toasts 
offered, lyrics of a song performed solo, and other remarks made to the 
crowd, though the writer notes that catches were made on the fly, 
"instead of the child's play, 'from the bound.'" The 6 December 1856 
issue contains rules for "The American National Game of Base Ball as 
played by the Putnam Club of New York illustrated with a diagram of the 
field: "We have been so inundated with communications in reference to 
the mode of playing the game of Base Ball, that although we gave the 
directions in our last issue as to where the rules of the game could be 
purchased, we have concluded to give a diagram and the rules in order 
that those who desire to form clubs may be prepared for action at the 
commencement of the next season." This evokes a response in a later 
issue by New England correspondent "Bob Lively" who describes "how they 
play the game in New England" with its own and different diagram: "The 
ball was thrown, not pitched or tossed, as a gentleman who has seen 
'Base' played in New York tells me it is; it was thrown, and with a 
vigor, too, that made it whistle through the air, and stop with a solid 
smack in the catcher's hands, which he generally held directly in front 
of his face." The first baseball convention was reported at length on 31 
January 1857, with a patriotic flourish: "Base Ball ... ought to be 
looked upon in this country with the same national enthusiasm as Cricket 
and Foot Ball are regarded in the British Islands.... There should be 
some one game peculiar to the citizens of the United States." The 
organization formed at that time can be considered the birth of 
organized league baseball in America. Much more. Very scarce peek into 
the beginnings of our national pastime. Minor foxing, some pages 
browned, some unopened, lacking pages 69-72 and 81-84 (there is no 
baseball information on those pages). Binding quite nice. Overall Near 
Fine. (#019207)     $4,000

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