Baseball in England

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Baseball in England

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1rocketjk
Editado: Feb 1, 2008, 1:50 pm

Today I spied a book on my baseball shelf that had been there for many years but that I've never read. I pulled it out to look at for the first time since I shelved it after finding it in some thrift store someplace.

It's called Baseball for British Youth. It was published in 1939 by the National Baseball Association, an English group that was working to promote baseball in England. I did a little poking around and found the website of SABR UK, which included a nice essay on the history of baseball in England. Evidently, the game was growing in popularity in the late part of the 19th century, and then again in early part of the 20th century, but fizzled out both times. Another effort to spread the popularity of the sport in the 1930s got snuffed out by the beginning of WW2. So this book would have come out just before the abrupt end of the attempt. I seem to be the only one with this book in their library here, but thought folks in this group might be interested in some of this info. There's that website, by the way: http://www.sabruk.org/index.html

2tom1066
Feb 1, 2008, 1:00 pm

Wow, I had no idea SABR had a UK chapter. I recall that the UK was the first stop on Spalding's world baseball tour in the late 1800s or early 1900s, which was meant to promote the game to other countries. That might have been the origin of its initial popularity in England.

That book you have must be super-rare. It doesn't show up on ABE.com. Did you find that in a U.S. thrift store? It's hard to imagine how it would have found its way to the U.S., but that's one of the great things about books -- they're very portable and can turn up anywhere.

3rocketjk
Feb 1, 2008, 1:48 pm

Tom, I'm with you. I hadn't a clue about SABR UK, either. I think at this point it's mostly U.S. ex-pats or folks living in the UK for work, etc., but I could be wrong about that. I found the site when I did a google search for National Baseball Association England and the link appeared.

But to answer your question, yes, I'm sure I found that book in the U.S., although for the life of me I can't remember where any more. As I said, it's been on my shelf for a while. I haven't been able to find a single reference to the book online, either. I sent an email to the contact address at the SABR UK site, asking if anybody there had ever heard of it. With luck, I'll get some response and I'll let you know what it is.

And I'm with you that this is one of the things I find so fascinating about books, and especially about used books. I love to find old obscure books, whether about fiction or history or anything else. The story of the book to me is almost as interesting as the story the writer of the book is telling. That's why I include any inscription I find in my old books in the "Comments" section of each book I post here.

All the best! Hope Chicago's not too cold right now.

4tom1066
Feb 1, 2008, 5:07 pm

Chicago's miserable right now! This is the first winter after I moved here from Oakland, and I'm still trying to adjust to the wind and snow.

But back to baseball in England -- I remember a book coming out about two years ago from an academic press that made some new claims that baseball originated far earlier than previously thought. In fact, if I remember correctly, the book's cover was a medieval English manuscript illumination showing what looked like a baseball game.

For whatever reason (probably because I was an impoverished law student), I didn't buy the book and haven't seen it since. I wonder if you, rocketjk, or anyone else reading this post knows of this book?

I'm curious about the book because I know there's a frequent claim that baseball was a common game in England prior to 1800, was mentioned in a Jane Austen novel, etc. But a medieval game? I'd like to hear from anyone who may have read it -- what is the author's claim? Is it credible?

5rocketjk
Feb 1, 2008, 7:12 pm

Tom, I have a vague recollection of the book you've mentioned, but nothing specific, and I certainly don't own it.

Here's the link to an article (really a timeline) called Early Bat and Ball Games from the SABR UK site.

http://www.sabruk.org/history/bat.html

There are also some interesting articles on the subject of baseball history in the UK within the index of the organization's publication, the Examiner:

http://www.sabruk.org/examiner/index.html

btw, I just noticed that the most recent edition of that publication is listed as Autumn 2003, which may give us an indication of the organization's current level of activity as well as the likelihood of my getting a response to the email I sent about Baseball for British Youth.

6rocketjk
Feb 4, 2008, 3:04 pm

Well, I've got a little more information on this topic, and new book on order! I'm about halfway through Baseball for British Youth right now, and the author twice mentions a player named Roland Gladu, who he introduces thusly:

"Perhaps the finest batter who has ever played for an English team, and certainly the possessor of as perfect a batting style as anyone in baseball, was Roland Gladu."

An online search turned up this bio: http://www.garybed.co.uk/player_biographies/gladu_roland.htm

Gladu was in fact from Quebec and, as this bio tells us, "In 1936, Gladu accepted a somewhat unusual offer to play baseball in Great Britain. Enticed by L D Wood, owner of the West Ham baseball team in the newly formed London Major Baseball League, Gladu was manager and captain of the Hammers and quickly became known in England as the 'Babe Ruth of Canada.'"

The bio makes note of this book:
British Baseball and the West Ham Club
History of a 1930s Professional Team in East London
Josh Chetwynd and Brian A. Belton

I quickly found this book online here:
http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-2594-5
and just as quickly ordered it. I will let you know when it arrives and, naturally, when I've started reading it.

Cheers!
Jerry

7rocketjk
Mar 3, 2008, 12:01 pm

fyi: On Saturday I received the following email from Martin Hoerchner of the SABR UK, as a reply to the message I sent via the contact email address on the SABR UK website:

I can't add too much to what you wrote; all I can say is that only twice in British baseball history were professional leagues formed; both time it was one particular wealthy person who put his money behind it. In the 1890's it was industrialist Sir Francis Ley, and in the 1930's it was Sir John Moores – he was the founder of the Littlewood's gambling empire, later branching out to sporting goods. His wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_John_Moores doesn't mention baseball. In both instances the leagues were short-lived; no doubt WW2 put the hex on the second one. That's really all I know – most of our research is into the games origins, as opposed to the history of British baseball.

It you want to find out more, I can suggest either Baseball Softball UK (formerly British Baseball Federation) http://www.baseballsoftballuk.com/, or the Association of Sports Historians.

Sorry I don't have more information,

Regards,
Martin Hoerchner

8rocketjk
Editado: Dic 16, 2008, 4:05 pm

Well, this past week I finally read and very much enjoyed British Baseball and the West Ham Club, the book referenced in the posts above. As noted by Mr. Hoerchner, above, and as entertainingly described in this book, there's been baseball on and off in England since the 1890s, with the mid-30s the strongest time for professional baseball. If anyone's interested in this topic, I definitely recommend the book. It's not top flight writing, perhaps, but clearly and enthusiastically presents a very fine history.