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Earliest baseball song every written?
Earliest baseball song every written?
Item # 675188
November 08, 1856
PORTER'S SPIRIT OF THE TIMES, New York, Nov. 8, 1856 A rather famous sporting newspaper, with a sporting-themed masthead, calling itself: "A Chronicle of the Turf, Field Sports, Literature and the Stage". This is the vol. 1 number 10 issue.
Inside under "Base Ball" are the results from two games played at the "Red House". Also a nice summary of a "match" between the Putnam and Excelsior clubs mentioning that: "...An important improvement in the fielding of this match, was shown by several fine catches being made on the fly, instead of the child's play,'from the bound'. This reform is not only more manly, it...".
After the game there was a gathering of both clubs for "refreshments" at which event there were many toasts, and: "...The health of Mr. Tallman, 'Knickerbocker', being proposed & raptuously received...who concluded at the request of the President of the Putnams, by singing the following Base Ball song, which was received with great applause:.." and what follows is what may well be the very first baseball song ever written.
We were not able to confirm this being the first. Perhaps those more expert in the history of baseball might acknowledge (see note below).
Sixteen pages, 11 by 16 inches, damp staining to an upper corner, generally good condition.
Note: A collecting friend who is an expert in this area sent the following: "First baseball song? Maybe. See: 'Ball Days - 1858', and note especially: "Charles A. Peverelly, in his classic 1866 Book of American Pastimes, revealed that Davis had composed the ballad for another such feast, four years earlier … by which is meant 1854."
Category: Pre-Civil War
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