Cricket or baseball?

Quid? That's cheating. You're from the land of the Duke and the willow



As others have said, good for its day. A 17 average might do for a bowler (pitcher), but not a batsman (hitter). Making 100s and 50s (centuries and fifties) is good, but in a single innings, not necessarily a two innings first class match.

His lone mention on my go to site for cricket is that is was the first international cricketer to die in a war. In 1859 he had a truly awful time, scoring one in one innings and a duck (0) in the other. In his second international he scored 11 & 27. The article sites he was known more for his fielding. I can't comment on the state of fielding in 19th Century cricket, but in modern cricket there is a saying: "If you can't bat, bowl. If you can't bat or bowl, keep wicket." There is no room in a modern XI for poor hitting defensive specialist. He did, however, make some decent figures as an 18 year old in local competition.

He was no star, but played in an era where the stars weren't any good by today's standards. At least his U.S. team had the ability to play decent sides. Today's Team USA finished fourth in the tournament played to qualify for the tournament played to qualify for the Cricket World Cup qualifying tournament.
Thanks.
 
Quid? That's cheating. You're from the land of the Duke and the willow



As others have said, good for its day. A 17 average might do for a bowler (pitcher), but not a batsman (hitter). Making 100s and 50s (centuries and fifties) is good, but in a single innings, not necessarily a two innings first class match.

His lone mention on my go to site for cricket is that is was the first international cricketer to die in a war. In 1859 he had a truly awful time, scoring one in one innings and a duck (0) in the other. In his second international he scored 11 & 27. The article sites he was known more for his fielding. I can't comment on the state of fielding in 19th Century cricket, but in modern cricket there is a saying: "If you can't bat, bowl. If you can't bat or bowl, keep wicket." There is no room in a modern XI for poor hitting defensive specialist. He did, however, make some decent figures as an 18 year old in local competition.

He was no star, but played in an era where the stars weren't any good by today's standards. At least his U.S. team had the ability to play decent sides. Today's Team USA finished fourth in the tournament played to qualify for the tournament played to qualify for the Cricket World Cup qualifying tournament.


Where does that leave me ? I was a slow left arm bowler and wicket keeper - couldn't bat to save my life !
 
"Base ball" may have started slowly in Texas, but it caught on quickly after the, um, late unpleasantness. By '68 there were enough teams (and public interest) to have a statewide championship series. Flake's Bulletin, Galveston, Texas, 27 October 1868, p. 5:

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Andy: A baseball team was formed in Houston in April of 1861. "Lightning" Ellsworth, later famous as John Hunt Morgan's telegrapher, was one of the organizers. See my article on antebellum southern baseball in "Base Ball," and my article on baseball in Civil War camps at www.protoball.org.
 
From researching Detroit pre Civil War newspapers it appears baseball and cricket were but played. Canadians from Windsor would often cross the river and play the Detriot clubs.
 
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It appears most major Northern cities had both cricket and baseball teams at the start of the Civil War. I have not read enough to know if most major Southern cities also had both types of sports teams at the start of the Civil War. So my question is did either section favor one sport over the other?

Modern rules baseball started in the mid 1840s and probably had spread across the nation. This does not mean that older style of baseball and or cricket did not remain in many areas up to and even after the Civil War.
 
Take a look at www.protoball.org, a website of the Society of American Baseball Research. I edit the "Origins of Baseball" Newsletter for SABR, and in protoball we/I've entered almost 10,000 early baseball clubs and games, along with "first" cricket in each major city of the U.S. I've also written on baseball in the South pre and post Civil War. Baseball was played in Macon, GA, Louisville and New Orleans in 1858, Norfolk, Nashville and Memphis in 1860, Austin and Augusta in 1859, among other cities. Every major city in the U.S. has an entry for "first" baseball played there.
 
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