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Baseball's 'real home' celebrates game's 150th anniversary

Broadcast Date: June 6, 1988

Everyone knows the first baseball game was played in 1839 in Cooperstown, New York, right? Wrong! According to some experts, the first documented baseball game actually took place in tiny Beachville, Ont. on June 4, 1838, a year before Cooperstown. Players from Beachville took on neighbouring Zorra Township on a holiday commemorating the overthrow of the Rebellion of 1837 a year earlier. In this clip, Beachville residents get together 150 years later to celebrate baseball's true beginnings.

Baseball's 'real home' celebrates game's 150th anniversary

• People have played stick and ball games for centuries. "Rounders" is an English game developed in the 1700s. Rounders is similar to baseball and many experts believe modern baseball is derived from rounders.
• In parts of the United States, the game was called "town ball," with rules resembling both modern baseball and cricket. • "One old cat," "two old cat," "striking out" and "feeder" are variants on town ball played when only three or four players are available.


• The Cooperstown, New York, game was organized by a local businessman named Abner Doubleday. For this reason, Cooperstown is home to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
• The Beachville game of 1838 was later documented in a letter by Dr. Adam E. Ford to Sporting Life magazine.
• The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is located in nearby St. Mary's, Ont.


• Several other towns, including Hoboken, New Jersey, also claim to be the birthplace of baseball.
Also on June 6:
• 1895: The Canadian Golf Association is founded in Ottawa. It became the Royal Canadian Golf Association the following year by royal decree.
• 1944: American, British and Canadian military forces launch Operation Overlord on the beaches of Normandy, France, during the Second World War. This event came to be known as D-Day.

• 1966: Leaders of the Presbyterian Church in Canada approve the ordination of women as elders and ministers. Two years later, Shirley Jeffery becomes the church's first female minister.

Baseball's 'real home' celebrates game's 150th anniversary

Medium: Television

Program: Midday

Broadcast Date: June 6, 1988

Guest(s): Robert Barney, Tom Hietz

Host: Valerie Pringle, Terry Seguin

Duration: 5:44

Last updated:
March 20, 2008