DID YOU KNOW THAT THIS WAS THE SITE OF THE FIRST
INTERCOLLEGIATE BASEBALL GAME PLAYED IN 1859 BETWEEN AMHERST
AND WILLIAMS COLLEGES AM TONIGHT IN OUR SERIES OF AROUND THE
HORN, BASEBALL HISTORY, WRITER DEREK GENTILE TELLS US WHAT THAT
FIRST COLLEGE BASEBALL GAME WAS LIKE.
>> IN 1818, FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS, ELEMENTS OF WILLIAM
COLLEGE, PROFESSOR AND STUDENTS, DECIDED THAT THEY WERE GOING TO
GO EAST, AND THEY RELOCATED TO AMHERST AND STARTED, EVENTUALLY,
FOUNDED AMHERST COLLEGE IN 1821, AND THUS BEGAN, I GUESS, WHAT
YOU WOULD CALL THE ACADEMIC RIVALRY.
AND THEN IN 1859, IT BECAME AN ATHLETIC RIVALRY.
THEY OPTED TO HAVE A BASEBALL GAME, WHICH BASEBALL HAD BEEN
PLAYED IN THIS AREA FOR ABOUT SEVEN YEARS, UP TO THAT POINT.
IT WAS NOT A NEW THING.
IT WAS NEW FOR COLLEGES TO PLAY.
PITTSFIELD WAS A NEUTRAL SITE.
THEY DIDN'T WANT TO HAVE IT AT EITHER ONE OF THE COLLEGES.
AND I THINK THAT IT SPEAKS A LITTLE TO THE HISTORY OF THE
GAME HERE, IS THAT PITTSFIELD WAS ONE OF THE FEW PLACES THAT
HAD A BASEBALL FIELD.
THERE WERE NOT A LOT OF FIELDS IN 1859.
SO, ON JULY 1, 1859, THEY PLAYED A BASEBALL GAME.
BUT, IT IS NOT QUITE THE GAME THAT WE ALL KNOW.
FOR INSTANCE, IT IS NOT A DIAMOND, IT WAS A BOX.
THERE WERE NOT THREE BASES.
THERE WERE FOUR, AND THERE WAS NO FOUL TERRITORIES.
AND SO ANY TIME THE BALL WAS STRUCK, IT WAS IN PLAY, SO THAT
LED TO A LOT OF -- THAT'S ONE OF THE REASONS THAT THERE WAS A LOT
OF RUNS SCORED.
ONE OUT TO AN INNING.
AND THERE WAS NO LIMITATION ON INNINGS.
INSTEAD, THE -- USUALLY THE CAPTAINS OF THE TEAMS WOULD
AGREE ON A TOTAL RUN.
IN THIS CASE, IT WAS 100 TOTAL RUNS, AND AMHERST WON 73-32.
BY THE STANDARDS OF THE DAY, THERE WAS A LARGE CROWD.
SEVERAL HUNDRED PEOPLE.
DON'T FORGET, THIS WAS SOMETHING OF A BIG DEAL.
FIRST IT WAS THE FIRST COLLEGE BASEBALL GAME, AND SECOND, IT
WAS A BASEBALL GAME, AND LIKE IN 2011, IF YOU HAVE A BASEBALL
GAME, A LOT OF PEOPLE LIKE TO COME AND WATCH IT, AND IN 1859,
THE SAME WAS TRUE.
THE RE-ENACTMENT WAS AT THE PARK.
THEY LAID THE GAME OUT IN THE SORT OF A SQUARE BOX.
SO, WILLIAMS WON 1917, AND THE IRONY IS, THAT THEY, ALSO,
PLAYED A REGULAR GAME BETWEEN WILLIAMS AND AMHERST COLLEGE,
AND FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE LEAGUE THAT THEY WERE IN.
IN 1791, A HISTORIAN DISCOVERED A BYLAW, IN THE PITTSFIELD
LIBRARY, PROHIBITING BASEBALL BEING PLAYED NEAR A LOCAL
MUNICIPAL BUILDING, I BELIEVE.
AND THAT'S THE EARLIEST MENTION OF THE GAME OF BASEBALL IN
AMERICA, AND THEN WE HAVE THIS, WHICH IS THE EARLIEST COLLEGIATE
BASEBALL GAME.
YOU KNOW, IT'S LIKE LOOKING AT A FIELD OF DAISIES AND SAYING, OK,
PICK OUT THE FIRST DAISY, YOU KNOW, WHERE WERE THE FIRST
DAISIES?
YOU CAN'T, AND I DON'T THINK YOU WILL BE ABLE TO, BUT I THINK
IT'S ENORMOUSLY SIGNIFICANT, THE FIRST MUNICIPAL BYLAW ABOUT
BASEBALL IS IN PITTSFIELD.
AND THE FIRST COLLEGIATE BASEBALL GAME IS -- WAS PLAYED
IN PITTSFIELD.
DOES IT SIGNIFY THE BIRTH OF BASEBALL?
I DOUBT IT.
BUT, IT SIGNIFIES THAT WE HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT.