History of the Game Series: “Base-Ball”

Time for another installment of our History of the Game series:

In 1744, the word “Base-Ball” first appeared in print!

For those unaccustomed to Early Modern English spellings (the “ſ” above is an archaic form of the lower case letter “s”), here’s the verse modernized:

The Ball once struck off,
Away flies the Boy
To the next destined Post,
And then Home with Joy.
Moral.
Thus Britons for Lucre (Money)
Fly over the Main (are focused); But, with Pleasure transported,
Return back again (to their youth playing baseball)

Thus, it’s a verse about the beauty of baseball/softball to transport us away from our daily concerns and remember both childhood and all of the human greatness that has been found on the diamond.