Soooooooo when was baseball invented?

[BULLO12]

Massachusetts town uncovers evidence about its place baseball history

By ADAM GORLICK

ASSOCIATED PRESS

PITTSFIELD, Mass., May 11  City officials and historians released a document Tuesday that they say shows baseball was being played in Pittsfield in the late 1700s, long before legend says Abner Doubleday drew up the rules of the game.  

      The evidence comes in a 1791 by-law to protect the windows in Pittsfield's new meeting house by banning anyone from playing baseball within 80 yards of the building.

      ''It's clear that not only was baseball played here in 1791, but it was rampant,'' said historian John Thorn, who was researching the origins of baseball when he found a reference to the law in an 1869 book on Pittsfield's history. ''It was rampant enough to have an ordinance against it.''

      The Pittsfield group hopes the discovery brings an end to a long-running debate about the origins of America's pastime.

      Legend has it that Doubleday came up with the rules for the modern game in 1839 in Cooperstown, N.Y., where the National Baseball Hall of Fame is located. But historians say that story is not true.

      Later evidence pointed to the first real game being played in Hoboken, N.J., in 1846. But in 2001, a librarian at New York University came across two newspaper articles published on April 25, 1823 that show an organized form of a game called ''base ball'' was being played in Manhattan.

      ''Pittsfield is baseball's Garden of Eden,'' Mayor James Ruberto said.

      But experts say it may be impossible to say exactly where and when the game was created because it evolved from earlier games, such as cricket and rounders, another English game played with a bat and ball.

      ''There's no way of pinpointing where the game was first played,'' said Jeff Idelson, a spokesman for the Hall of Fame. ''Baseball wasn't really born anywhere.''

      Still, Idelson said if the Pittsfield group's document is authentic, it would be ''incredibly monumental.'' A librarian found the actual Pittsfield document in a library vault, and its age was authenticated by researchers at the Williamstown Art Conservation Center.

      ''This was a lucky stroke,'' said area resident Jim Bouton, a former Major League pitcher whose 1970 book ''Ball Four'' offered a scandalous look behind the scenes of professional baseball. ''I'm sure Pittsfield will live off this for a while.''

      For now, the document will be kept in a vault until officials figure out how to properly display it in Pittsfield, a city of about 45,000 in western Massachusetts. A copy will be hung at Wahconah Park, one of the nation's oldest ballparks.  

[Velcro]

interesting... next thing you know, Basketball will have been ripped off by Naismith

[KnightsRule]

How bout that MY hometown.  Pittsfield mass home of jeff reardon.  Former MLB great mark belanger and tommy grieve both grew up in pittsfield and turk wendell of colorado rockies.

[LastKnight]

Come on......everyone knows Al Gore invented baseball.  

[BULLO12]

Come on......everyone knows Al Gore invented baseball.  

lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol....that my friend is classic.!!!!!!!

[smazza]

MAKES SENSE

that is where USA began

[KnightsRule]

MAKES SENSE

that is where USA began

USA began in my hometown of pittsfield mass? **** I missesd that celebration every year.  We did have Alice's restaurant right up the road and Arlo Guthrie still calls the berkshires home.  I also believe that Pittsfield has the biggest 4th of july parade every year but if not the biggest one of the biggest for sure.  

[smazza]

kr- not only thing you missed