Baseball in the United Kingdom

It is argued that modern ‘American baseball’ can trace its roots to 18th century Britain,[7][8][9] with the earliest known mention and illustration of the game appearing in John Newbery's A Little Pretty Pocket-Book in 1744. The earliest known rules were printed in 1796, in Germany, as "Das Englische Base-ball". For a fuller context of the origins of baseball games in Britain see British baseball.

Although early varieties of baseball may have originated in Britain, modern baseball, as Americans would understand it, started to be played in Britain as early as the 1870s and it was fully developed by 1890, when the National Baseball League of Great Britain and Ireland was established. Professional baseball was especially popular in Britain during the 1930s and it enjoyed a heyday before the Second World War, but the outbreak of war led to a decline. Since the 1870’s exhibition matches between American teams have been staged in Britain,[10] culminating in the MLB London Series in 2019, which sold out 120,000 tickets in less than an hour.[11] As a result a number of MLB teams have small but dedicated fan clubs in the United Kingdom.

In the 1870s, baseball teams from the United States, including the Boston Red Stockings and Philadelphia Athletics, toured the United Kingdom, in an effort to popularise the sport,[12] but with limited success. At that time, John Wisden and Co. were the most famous supplier of essential baseball equipment, "as used by the baseball clubs now in England in all their matches", which shows that organised clubs did exist in England in some form as early as the 1870s.[13] Wisden remains a prominent name in international cricket today.

In 1888 the President of St. Louis, on returning to the United States from their European tour, remarked that "England is now educated up to American sports", and encouraged other American baseball club presidents to continue promoting the game in England.[14] Later in 1888, John Barnes, of the Western League St. Paul club, discussed his plans to travel to England to establish a "baseball syndicate" in London, Birmingham and other large cities.[15]

In 1889 the wealthy Albert Goodwill Spalding used his position as a former star player and as a leading sporting goods supplier to arrange yet another tour of the United Kingdom by American baseball stars including the Chicago White Stockings,[16] building on the earlier tours in the past decades. As with previous tours the cricket establishment of England was used to promote baseball, with the Prince of Wales one of the "very large number of spectators" to witness the game at the Oval,[17] and over 8,000 attended a game at Lords.[18] On arriving at Bristol, Spalding paid tribute to the English cricket star W G Grace,[19] "the best known Englishman in the world".

Derby Baseball Club were one of Britain's leading baseball teams in the 1890s

This tour led to a number of new baseball clubs springing up, such as York Baseball Club, formed at Stotts Refreshment Rooms in Parliament Street as early as March 1889.[20] The most notable of these new clubs was formed 1890, in Derby, as Ley’s Recreation Club, by Francis Ley, a local man who had experienced the game on a trip to the United States. Following their first ever game (as Ley’s Recreation Club) Ley began to appeal for "professionals aged 20 to 25" and "cricketers who can field smartly" to attend Ley's Recreation Centre to form a club, in March 1890[21] and Ley’s Recreation Club became Derby Baseball Club. Despite evidence showing clubs such as York were formed slightly earlier than or at the same time as Derby, Ley erroneously claimed “we were really the first club formed in Great Britain” when discussing Derby in 1890.[22]

Ley, who certainly had “introduced baseball amongst his employees”[23] and was instrumental in providing superb facilities at Derby, was not in attendance in October 1889, when noted supporters of a new National League of Baseball of Great Britain met at the Criterion, London, to formally establish the new baseball association, though he was elected as a provisional officer. Representatives of Preston North End, Gloucester County Cricket Club, Essex County Cricket Club, Staffordshire County Cricket Club, Aston Villa and the National Rounders Association all were represented and elected as officers to the association, with Newton Crane elected to the chair.[23]

The new association quickly moved to establish a headquarters at 38 Holborn Viaduct, London, from where it would agree on and promote a set of rules by which the new National League would be played.[24] By July 1890 it was estimated that there were over 90 baseball clubs in England alone, with Derby Baseball Club being widely believed to be the best professional club in England.[25] Yorkshire proved to be a surprising hotbed of baseball by 1890 when it was reported that “there are more baseball clubs in Yorkshire than in any other county in England.”[26] It was not totally unexpected when the Secretary of Essex County Cricket Club, Mr Betts, resigned his position to take up the role of Secretary of the newly formed Baseball Association of Great Britain, in July 1890.[27]

Aston Villa, now known exclusively as a football club, won the only professional baseball championship in 1890. The competition was hindered by poor weather and disappointing crowds and made a loss for its investors.[28] Aston Villa's win was not without controversy, however, with both Aston Villa and Preston North End being found guilty of cheating during the season.[29] For much of the season Derby Baseball Club did lead the championship, however, pressure from other teams in the league over the number of American players on the Derby team and low attendances led to Derby being expelled before the end of the season, though at the time the club insisted they had ‘retired’ as champions,[30] despite evidence to the contrary.

In response to the accusations against Derby of employing too many talented American baseball players, Ley wrote letters to editors of newspapers to state “Derby Baseball Club is the only one of the four League clubs to have not imported professional players from America” and went to lengths to point out the lack of support Spalding provided to Derby compared to the other clubs, which he was a major shareholder in.[22] Ironically, given the finger pointing at Ley for employing too many talented Americans, of the various American baseball players sent across to coach and play baseball in England, in the 1890 season, the most prominent was arguably Preston North End captain Leech Maskrey, who had played Major League Baseball. In August 1890 the Preston club organised a presentation for their captain, who was returning to the United States.[31] Meanwhile, Spalding turned his attention to establishing collegiate baseball in the United Kingdom[32] with very little success.

In March 1890 Edinburgh Northern Baseball Club began to meet for practice[33] and Spalding’s influence was obvious when The Spalding Baseball Club of Aberdeen sprung to life in July 1890, their headquarters being at 59 Princes Street.[34] By August 1890 the financial backing of Spalding resulted in two local rivals emerging in Aberdeen, the Spalding Baseball Club and Aberdeen Baseball Club, who played at The Links. The two competed for the Spalding 50 guinea Challenge Cup[35] and the right to take on the University Baseball Club of Edinburgh, evidence of Spalding’s desire to establish collegiate baseball in the United Kingdom. Wales, possibly due to the continued popularity of British or Welsh Baseball, was slower to adopt the American game. In April 1893 The Cardiff Central were formed, and claimed to organise “the first game of American baseball played in South Wales.” They were based at Grangetown.[36]

Baseball's peak popularity in Britain was in the years immediately preceding World War II. Professional baseball teams often shared grounds with football clubs and the game was run at a professional standard with up to 10,000 spectators per game. In 1933, in response to a challenge from Major League Baseball’s National League President, John Haydler, the wealthy British gambling tycoon, Sir John Moores, established the National Baseball Association and continued to fund the establishment of amateur and professional leagues in England.

With the golden age, British baseball achieved a major milestone in 1938, with the victory of Great Britain over the United States, in the 1938 Amateur World Series, considered the first World Cup of Baseball. The series was created by Sir John Moores, with the 1939 Amateur World Series competition initially being named the John Moore's Cup.

With the backing of Sir John Moores an England baseball team was given financial support to compete in the 1939 series, in Havana, presumably as defending champions Great Britain. In doing so they would have become the first national representative team to compete outside the United Kingdom[37] but the outbreak of the Second World War interrupted the development of British baseball, the team withdrew and the sport entered into decline. Following the war, in July 1951, Wolsley Athletic (Birmingham) became the first British baseball team to play in continental Europe, in an official game, in Belgium.[38]