Major League Baseball told: Your sport is British, not American

[snopes]

Where did baseball's original first pitch take place? American fans may be shocked to find out that Britain is laying claim to inventing their treasured national game.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oth...-American.html

[Tarquin Farquart]

Does it matter who invented it? It's not like everyone watches the games here or anything...

[Hans Off]

Originally Posted by Tarquin Farquart

Does it matter who invented it? It's not like everyone watches the games here or anything...

We're not loosing baseball like we lost whif-waf !!!

Unpatriotic man!

[James G]

Originally Posted by Hans Off

We're not loosing baseball like we lost whif-waf !!!

Unpatriotic man!

Right, I'm going to hate you now, because I know that's a reference to something and I can't for the life of me remember what.

ETA: And Google doesn't help, probably because in the original it was something other than whif-waf

Ahh, was it Futurama? Professor Farnsworth line? Shortly followed by him saying, 'Ahh, whif-waf.' (Or whatever)

[Mycroft]

Whif-waf (may really be whif-whaf but I'm too lazy to look it up) is the origins of Table Tennis (but of course played with champagne corks and cigar box lids. We are still one of the top nations; but the chinese especially are supreme, probably because our top players still drink the champagne before the match, even though they don't need the cork (that bit is satire, but we have to have an excuse why we never win anything)

[James G]

Originally Posted by Mycroft

Whif-waf (may really be whif-whaf but I'm too lazy to look it up) is the origins of Table Tennis (but of course played with champagne corks and cigar box lids. We are still one of the top nations; but the chinese especially are supreme, probably because our top players still drink the champagne before the match, even though they don't need the cork (that bit is satire, but we have to have an excuse why we never win anything)

Oh... then I'm just imagining a line, or at least Hans Off wasn't referencing something.

[Hans Off]

Originally Posted by James G

Oh... then I'm just imagining a line, or at least Hans Off wasn't referencing something.

Heh....

Reference

[Bonnie]

I'm no baseball historian, but I think the idea that what we now know as baseball originated in England isn't particularly new: Newberry's A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, first published in London in 1744, not only mentions "base ball," but also illustrates the game in play.

http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume2/june04/pocketbook.cfm

(Note that the folks at Colonial Williamsburg give us pages from an edition published in Worcester, Massachusetts. On the relevant page, "Britons" has been substituted for "Seamen." Still, there's your 264-year-old depiction of "base ball.")

Julian Pooley apparently knows this, too, since an Associated Press report published yesterday held that,

The Surrey History Centre said there is a reference to baseball that came earlier than Bray's, but it appears in a fictional book by John Newberry called "A Little Pretty Pocket-Book."

I'm not sure why this distinction -- diary entry vs. "a fictional book" (?) -- is all that important. If anything, Bray's 1755 mention of "base ball" just reinforces that "base ball" was in play in England in the mid-18th century.

Bonnie "we'll score that an error, then" Taylor

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by Hans Off

We're not loosing baseball like we lost whif-waf !!!

Unpatriotic man!

I thought the only sport we didn't invent (or rather, formally codify and write down all the rules for the first time) was lacrosse.

[SatansHobbit]

So why did you call it Aussie Rules?

Which explains our total contempt for tough American gridiron players.

...and crying Italian soccer strikers.

[cubbie]

Baseball might have been invented by the British, but we perfected it

[BringTheNoise]

Originally Posted by Tarquin Farquart

Does it matter who invented it? It's not like everyone watches the games here or anything...

Hey, the 3 people who watch MLB on Channel 5 are probably highly offended by that!

[BenPenguin]

Originally Posted by BringTheNoise

Hey, the 3 people who watch MLB on Channel 5 are probably highly offended by that!

They have three now? Im very impressed. I thought they only kept it on to fill the slot between QuizCall and the morning

[Andrew of Ware]

MLB is also shown on ESPN America. I have even watched a bit of it. However, it is not as exciting, varied or as interesting as cricket. (I will now hide and not come out again until every American snopester promises not to hurt me.)

[Gayle]

Originally Posted by Andrew of Ware

MLB is also shown on ESPN America. I have even watched a bit of it. However, it is not as exciting, varied or as interesting as cricket. (I will now hide and not come out again until every American snopester promises not to hurt me.)

I won’t argue with the varied part. I’ve had a Dutch sportswriter try and explain cricket to me. The tequila didn’t help, but it sure didn’t hurt. It’s a pretty funny game the way I tell it after a couple of shots. I’m not sure it could hold my interest for a two day game. That’s just… mind-boggling. Even without the tequila.

Half the people in the US would agree with you anyway. Every year or so, someone bleats out the “baseball is a dying sport” call. Yeah, and aspartame is bad for you, too. That’s how much credence I give it.

It’s all in what you enjoy. The idea of spending even 10 minutes watching NASCAR is beyond my imagination. I’d like to meet the guy who said “We’re going to charge people $50 to sit in a seat for four hours and watch guys drive in a circle”. Yeah, I know there are techniques and skills, but it bores me silly. I understand that some people feel the same way about baseball. I pity them, but I get it.

To quote Leo “Baseball is like church. Many attend; few understand.”

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by Gayle

I’m not sure it could hold my interest for a two day game. That’s just… mind-boggling. Even without the tequila.

Two days? Try FIVE!

[Johnny Slick]

Yeah, but realistically you guys play what? 3 hours a day? Except for the cumulative aspect of it, it's not really all that far off from baseball teams playing a 3 game series. Then again, the cumulative aspect is pretty big. Do teams just, like, not show up on Day 3 when they're down by 100 runs/points/chimeroos?

[Andrew of Ware]

It's actually six hours a day - for up to five days. A typical day of cricket will start at 11:00 and finish at 18:00. The lunch interval is usually 40 minutes and the tea interval 20. As for 100 runs being enough to make teams give up - well that is nothing. Scores for just one innings will often be 400 or 500.

A new form of cricket - Twenty/Twenty - is done and dusted in a lot under three hours.

Oh, and as for the early English references to baseball, the pictures and rules seem more akin to the old English game of rounders (which of course has nothing to do with baseball).

When I visited Toronto I saw a MLB and was surprised at the number of matches played in a season. Mind you, if you are travelling thousands of miles, you would want to play more than one match.

[E. Q. Taft]

Originally Posted by Andrew of Ware

When I visited Toronto I saw a MLB and was surprised at the number of matches played in a season. Mind you, if you are travelling thousands of miles, you would want to play more than one match.

Baseball is pretty impressive in this respect -- the season is longer and features far more games played than our other major sports. Teams sometimes get only a couple of days of in a month. Of course, the players do spend a fair amount of time basically standing still, or sitting in the dugout waiting their turn at bat; you couldn't do the same thing in football (either ours or yours).

I think it is one reason why the sport remains popular, though -- the high number of games keeps ticket prices relatively low, certainly compared to the NFL or NBA, so a lot of people get to at least the occasional baseball game who never attend other professional sports. (Then, too, the pace of the game makes viewing it a more leisurely, relaxing experience than with football, basketball, or other comparably big sports.)

If the British invented it -- well, it wouldn't be the first thing we got from them and made better. Take the English language.... (I mean, seriously. What's with all those extra u's?)

[Andrew of Ware]

Originally Posted by E. Q. Taft

If the British invented it -- well, it wouldn't be the first thing we got from them and made better. Take the English language.... (I mean, seriously. What's with all those extra u's?)

Are you telling me that the Americans have improved television? John Logie Baird is turning in his grave!