Baseball
Early History
The first recorded game of baseball in Canada was in Beachville, southwestern Ontario, on 4 June 1838. It was played similarly to "New York" (or “Knickerbocker”) rules, established in 1845, which are the rules on which modern baseball is played today. Four infield bases, in addition to a home base, were used. Foul lines were also marked, indicating that a ball could be 'out of play.' Cricket, from which baseball grew, had no foul lines. In southwestern Ontario, baseball was played in the villages, and was typically associated with the working-class.
In Saint John, New Brunswick, baseball had been played informally in the 1840s, but it was not until 1853 that the city formed its first baseball club, the Saint John Baseball Club. For fifteen years, impromptu games were played in Saint John, using a mixture of New York and Massachusetts rules, the latter of which were based heavily on the game of rounders. By the early 1870s, New York rules became the standard for teams across the Maritimes and New England.
Baseball, when it was brought into the Maritimes, was played by young middle-class men, as it was in New England during the 1850s. It enabled middle-class youth, who were about to enter adulthood and the workforce, an opportunity to bond and socialize while engaging in ‘gentlemanly’ competition.
After 1870, baseball was played more frequently by the lower class in large urban centres such as Saint John and Moncton, and soon outdistanced cricket in terms of widespread popularity. Smaller mining and shipping communities like Springhill, Amherst and Truro, meanwhile, continued to regard baseball as an elitist sport, and did not play it with much regularity until the turn of the century. Cricket, in these smaller communities, remained the most popular organized team sport.
Mount Allison Academy baseball team, 1892-93
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