Sept 23: “Base-ball” evolves

SEPTEMBER 23, 1845 | NEW YORK, NEW YORK – The Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York published the first known set of rules for the game of “base-ball” on this date in 1845. The club’s goal, under the leadership of Alexander Cartwright, was to codify and differentiate “base-ball” from similar games, such as “rounders,” “townball and “The New York Game.” 

Serious baseball historians, such as Leonard Koppett, author of Koppett’s Concise History of Major League Baseball and John Thorn, author of Baseball in the Garden of Eden, The Secret History of the Early Game, are reluctant to call anyone “the father” of baseball, or any place its “birthplace.” Baseball wasn’t invented. It evolved. And historians agree, the game was not invented by Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, New York.

It’s amazing how many rules laid down by the Knickerbocker Club more than 150 years ago remain with the game today, for example:

  • Four bases laid out in a diamond.
  • Bases are approximately 90 feet apart.
  • Balls hit outside of first or 3rd base are foul.
  • Three “hand” outs per inning.
  • Teams play an equal number of “hands,” or innings.
  • The striker (batter) must swing and miss three times to strike out.
  • On the third swinging strike, the “striker” (batter) may run to first if the catcher does not catch the ball before it hits the ground.
  • Runners may be put out by being tagged or forced.
    • A runner cannot be put out by “soaking” (hitting them with a thrown ball).
    • Throwing at a runner is prohibited.

Here are some differences between the Knickerbocker rules and today’s:

  • Foul balls were not considered strikes
  • The game continues until one team scores 21 “aces” (runs), (but only ends after an equal number of hands (innings) have been played.)
  • The ball must be pitched underhand.
  • A “striker” (batter) is out if a fair or foul ball is caught on the fly or the first bounce. All base runners may advance on a fair ball caught on the first bounce.
  • There are no called strikes.

Contributing sources:
Knickerbocker Rules
Koppett’s Concise History of Major League Baseball, by Leonard Koppett, 1998, Carroll & Graf Publishers, New York.
Baseball in the Garden of Eden, The Secret History of the Early Game, by John Thorn, 2011, Simon & Schuster
Encyclopedia Britannica-Baseball

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Bill Grimes

I'm from Chicago. I worked in broadcast journalism for much of the 1970's and 80's. In 1990 I became a litigation consultant, retiring in 2017. Around 2005 I recall flipping through the sports section of the newspaper coming across "On this day in baseball history Willie Mays hit his 600th home run." I enjoyed the one-liners, but I wanted more. I wanted a story. I took my news reporting skills and started researching and telling baseball stories, one for every day of the year. TodayinBaseball.com is the result.