The Civil War and the Battle Between Baseball and Cricket

USS ALASKA

Captain
Joined
Mar 16, 2016
The Battle Between Baseball and Cricket for American Sporting Supremacy

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/cricket-baseball-american-sport

"Unfortunately, such plans soon fell victim to the whims of history. Initially, St. George’s had eyed dates in 1861 as reasonable options for a return visit. “The Civil War made this impossible,” Thorn says, “not only for logistical reasons, but also because it enflamed anti-England sentiment.” New Yorkers, like many northerners, resented Great Britain for continuing to buy Southern cotton during the war.

By the end of the conflict, interest in cricket had waned. While the sport remained respectable, it was too foreign, too British, to appeal to a divided populace desperately searching for a new national identity. As the reunited states pieced themselves back together in subsequent years, it became clear there was only one game perfectly suited for American sensibilities."


Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
1864 Rules Game tomorrow -

The Brandywine Base Ball Club of West Chester will host a doubleheader of vintage base ball matches on Saturday, August 11th, 2018 at East Goshen Park. We will welcome our good friends of the Liberty Base Ball Club of New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Vintage Base Ball (two words) is played by the rules of 1864. Fielders do not wear gloves as they were not yet used in the game’s infancy. The ballists wear period authentic uniforms and use bats and balls meeting the specifications of 1864.


https://patch.com/pennsylvania/phoe...0180811/390402/vintage-base-ball-doubleheader

Location https://eastgoshen.org/park-and-rec
 
The Battle Between Baseball and Cricket for American Sporting Supremacy

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/cricket-baseball-american-sport

"Unfortunately, such plans soon fell victim to the whims of history. Initially, St. George’s had eyed dates in 1861 as reasonable options for a return visit. “The Civil War made this impossible,” Thorn says, “not only for logistical reasons, but also because it enflamed anti-England sentiment.” New Yorkers, like many northerners, resented Great Britain for continuing to buy Southern cotton during the war.

By the end of the conflict, interest in cricket had waned. While the sport remained respectable, it was too foreign, too British, to appeal to a divided populace desperately searching for a new national identity. As the reunited states pieced themselves back together in subsequent years, it became clear there was only one game perfectly suited for American sensibilities."

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
My research for Major League Baseball and the Society for American Baseball Research shows that baseball surpassed cricket as the "national sport" around 1858. The war helped kill off cricket, but cricket was clearly the number 2 team sport by 1860.
 
My research for Major League Baseball and the Society for American Baseball Research shows that baseball surpassed cricket as the "national sport" around 1858. The war helped kill off cricket, but cricket was clearly the number 2 team sport by 1860.
I would think that reasonable. Even though both "baseball" and "cricket" came from Britain, America was developing it own version of baseball that could be advertised as native. Curiously, golf began to be played again in exclusive clubs in the Northeast after the Civil War. Its a mystery why golf returned at all, and with the English well-to-do trappings, rather than the Scottish commonness.
I have no doubt baseball was spread by the Civil War (by soldiers) as a uniquely American game, as it in fact became.
 
Having sat through an 'exciting' cricket match, I am oh, so thankful that baseball won out with the American public....
 
Having sat through an 'exciting' cricket match, I am oh, so thankful that baseball won out with the American public....

Alas, Cricket is one of those peculiar, almost esoteric British pastimes which defy all logic and reasonable understanding even for most of us Brits!
To be fair, the more modern 20/20 Cricket is a vast improvement on the traditional game, but even so, you either Love Cricket or Hate it. There is no middle way!
 
Alas, Cricket is one of those peculiar, almost esoteric British pastimes which defy all logic and reasonable understanding even for most of us Brits!
To be fair, the more modern 20/20 Cricket is a vast improvement on the traditional game, but even so, you either Love Cricket or Hate it. There is no middle way!
Thanks for your response.
First, like all sports, it is probably a lot more fun to play than to watch.
Second, as an American, I am not geared to watching hours and hours of inconclusive play, even with the fortification of the best adult beverages....
 
Thanks for your response.
First, like all sports, it is probably a lot more fun to play than to watch.
Second, as an American, I am not geared to watching hours and hours of inconclusive play, even with the fortification of the best adult beverages....

Cricket can have its exciting moments, especially when 'Body line Bowling' is concerned, but compared to Rugby or Football (Soccer to you) it is painfully slow. You certainly did better by adopting Baseball! LOL
 
To be fair, the more modern 20/20 Cricket is a vast improvement on the traditional game, but even so, you either Love Cricket or Hate it. There is no middle way!

T20 is an abomination compared to a real five day match. It is like drinking a bottled sugary sweet alcoholic "drink" compared to a full stocked bar: okay when there is nothing else, but never the first choice.

That being said, baseball's speed allowed it to appeal to the masses in a way cricket rarely does.
 
T20 is an abomination compared to a real five day match. It is like drinking a bottled sugary sweet alcoholic "drink" compared to a full stocked bar: okay when there is nothing else, but never the first choice.

That being said, baseball's speed allowed it to appeal to the masses in a way cricket rarely does.

LOL....well, each to their own I guess. I've looked at Baseball and "American" Football and for me they could never replace Football or Rugby, it's a cultural thing I suppose. But Cricket, No!....20/20 or the Traditional game you can keep, I would rather watch paint dry. IMHO
 
I prefer Rugby to gridiron, if only because there is less waiting around for play to begin. A five day cricket match is a thing of beauty. The ebb and flow as a team builds an innings only to collapse. The question of when to declare. The strategies of trying to get a pair of set batsmen out with an aging ball an the new ball only a glimpse on the horizon. The commentators who get bored with the endless stream of dots and singles so they start making fun of the spectators. The British spectators listening to same commentators and acknowledging them. The sheer intensity of one team battling out for a match saving draw and the other scratching for the tenth wicket.

That being said, if a match is a foregone conclusion I quickly lose interest. Especially if the visitor collapses quickly and the home side puts on 400+ runs.
 
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