title: Ruby slippers

text: According to the revisionist version of the Oz history chronicled in Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel "", the slippers were given to Nessarose, the future Wicked Witch of the East, by her father. They were constructed with handmade glass beads and reflected many different colors in the lighting, giving them an almost chameleon effect. After being enchanted by Elphaba's old best friend and roommate Glinda (the Good Witch of the North), they become items of power that allow the armless and handicapped Nessarose to magically stand and walk independently and without any additional support. In the musical adaptation, "Wicked", it is Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, who enchants the shoes, giving crippled Nessarose the ability to walk without a wheelchair.


title: Ruby slippers

text: The progressive band Electric Light Orchestra used a frame from the 1939 film on the cover of their fourth studio album "Eldorado", released in 1974. The cover was laid out by Sharon Osbourne (then known as Sharon Arden) and the picture was printed in reverse: the shoes point left in the film.


title: Ruby slippers

text: In "Wizard101", the slippers are a wearable item given after completing the sidequest "Not in Kansas Anymore". Once worn, they give +1 resistance to damage from Death spells.


title: Ruby slippers

text: In "World of Warcraft", they are a pair of level 70 epic cloth shoes dropped by the Wizard of Oz-themed "opera event" in the Karazhan raid instance. The shoes function similarly to the hearthstone that all characters start out with, allowing them to teleport from their current location to the inn where the hearthstone is set. The caption under the statistic lines is "There's no place like home."


title: Ruby slippers

text: The slippers are part of the twelve "Foundation Elements" in the 2015 toys-to-life video game "LEGO Dimensions".


title: Grace Helbig

text: Grace Anne Helbig is an American comedian, actress, and internet personality. She is the co-creator and co-host of the podcast "This Might Get Weird" (2018–present) alongside frequent collaborator Mamrie Hart and is the voice of Cindy Bear in the HBO Max animated series "Jellystone!" (2021–present)


title: Grace Helbig

text: Helbig created and hosted the My Damn Channel web series "DailyGrace" (2008–2013). She was a correspondent on the G4 network tech series "Attack of the Show!" (2011–2012), played Idol on the Fine Brothers' web series "MyMusic" (2012–2013), and co-produced and starred in the feature films "Camp Takota" (2014), "Electra Woman and Dyna Girl" (2016) and "Dirty 30" (2016). She created and hosted the comedy/talk show on the E! television network "The Grace Helbig Show" (2015).


title: Grace Helbig

text: She has authored two comedic handbooks for Millennials: "Grace's Guide: The Art of Pretending to Be a Grown-up" (2014) and "Grace & Style: The Art of Pretending You Have It" (2016).


title: Grace Helbig

text: Helbig was born in the Philadelphia suburb of Woodbury, New Jersey, to John and Theresa. She has an older brother, John, and a younger brother, Tim. She attended Gateway Regional High School in Woodbury Heights, New Jersey. She was a successful track star and medal-winning pole-vaulter.


title: Grace Helbig

text: In 2003, Helbig began studying at Ramapo College in Mahwah, New Jersey, and graduated "summa cum laude" with a Bachelor of Arts in digital filmmaking from Ramapo's School of Contemporary Arts. It was there that she formed a sketch comedy group called Baked Goods with her best friend, Michelle Akin. She took improv classes at the Peoples Improv Theater in New York City. In 2005, she entered the Miss New Jersey USA pageant competition, reaching the semi-finals.


title: Grace Helbig

text: In November 2007, Helbig house-sat for a family in South Orange, New Jersey. To alleviate boredom and keep herself entertained, she began a daily vlog of her house sitting experience on her personal YouTube channel "GracieHInABox". Beginning March 2008, Helbig and her college roommate Michelle Akin (née Vargas) created the "Grace n' Michelle" YouTube channel. The most recent video on this channel was uploaded on October 25, 2013, when Helbig visited Akin in Brooklyn.


title: Grace Helbig

text: In early 2008, Helbig narrated the short-lived animated web series, "Bedtime Stories" on My Damn Channel, which consisted of R-rated parodies of classic fairy tales. My Damn Channel founder and CEO Rob Barnett discovered her personal vlogs through her profile and offered her the opportunity to host her own video blog web series on the My Damn Channel website. This became "DailyGrace", which premiered on April 14, 2008, with new episodes published every weekday. On October 11, 2010, "DailyGrace" was launched as its own YouTube channel. By the end of December 2013, the channel had amassed over 2.4 million subscribers and over 211 million video views on YouTube. From the series' inception in April 2008 through December 2013, Helbig created over 830 "DailyGrace" episodes for the "DailyGrace" YouTube channel—in addition to the 690 "DailyGrace" episodes that had been published exclusively on the My Damn Channel website (i.e., all episodes up to October 8, 2010, as well as additional extra videos after that date).


title: Grace Helbig

text: From March 2012 through January 2013, Helbig hosted "My Damn Channel LIVE" once a week from the company's New York City studio (the remaining weekday episodes were hosted by Beth Hoyt). In November 2013, the series was revived in a weekly format as "My Damn Channel LIVE: Hangout", with Helbig making a few appearances via video chat from the Los Angeles studio.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On September 13, 2013, Helbig premiered her weekly web series "Grace's Faces" on beauty guru Bobbi Brown's newly created YouTube channel "I love makeup". The series lasted twenty-four episodes and ended March 7, 2014.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On November 4, 2013, Helbig premiered a weekly supplemental "DailyGrace" series exclusive to the My Damn Channel website entitled "One Thing You Didn't Know About Me From Last Week". The series lasted five episodes and ended December 2, 2013.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On December 27, 2013, Helbig uploaded her final "DailyGrace" episode to the "DailyGrace" YouTube channel. Four days later, My Damn Channel released a statement announcing that Helbig had chosen not to renew her multi-year contract with the network, and that going forward, no new content would be created by Helbig for the "DailyGrace" YouTube channel. My Damn Channel indicated that the "DailyGrace" YouTube channel would remain active solely as an archive, with plans for the network to upload the early "DailyGrace" episodes and other Helbig content that had formerly been exclusive to the My Damn Channel website.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On January 6, 2014, Helbig relaunched her personally owned, formerly secondary channel "it'sGrace" (renamed from "GracieHinABox") as her main YouTube channel. News of Helbig's departure from My Damn Channel and the shift back to her own independent channel contributed to a dramatic increase in "it'sGrace" subscribers, from just under 87,000 in the last week of 2013 to over a half million by the first week of 2014. On January 22, 2014, just two and a half weeks after the channel's relaunch, "it'sGrace" passed 1 million subscribers. On April 30, 2014, it was announced via press release that Helbig had partnered with multi-channel network Fullscreen. On December 30, 2014, just one week shy of the one-year anniversary of the channel's relaunch, "it'sGrace" passed 2 million subscribers. On August 22, 2016, "it'sGrace" passed 3 million subscribers, surpassing her "DailyGrace" channel peak. As of August 2021, Helbig's YouTube channel has 2.65 million subscribers and over 331 million video views.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On July 1, 2014, Helbig and co-host Mamrie Hart premiered preview footage of their summer travel-themed web series "#HeyUSA" on the "Astronauts Wanted" YouTube channel. Eight full-length episodes premiered on Conde Nast Entertainment's digital video platform "The Scene" on October 15, 2014. A second season of "#HeyUSA" premiered on "The Scene" on April 16, 2015, albeit without Helbig as Hart's travel partner. Instead, Helbig introduced each episode and announced the location she chose for Hart and guest travel companions Kingsley, Tyler Oakley, Jenna Marbles, Colleen Ballinger, and Flula Borg.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On March 31, 2016, in conjunction with AT&T Hello Lab, Helbig premiered a new series "Writing With Grace" on her YouTube channel, in which she instructed viewers to collaborate with her via Wattpad to co-write a novella called "Freak Week". Helbig, along with other fellow YouTube personalities, held a live reading of the completed novella at VidCon on June 24, 2016.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On November 15, 2017, it was announced via press release that Helbig had left Fullscreen and partnered with multi-channel network Studio71.


title: Grace Helbig

text: Starting on March 5, 2018, Helbig and Mamrie Hart began hosting a new YouTube show together called "This Might Get..." on a dedicated channel of the same name. Each episode had a different title, with the premiere being called "This Might Get Started", and focuses on a different topic, meme, or pop culture event. It is executive produced by Michael Goldfine, who worked with the on-screen duo on "Camp Takota" and "Dirty 30". Hart and Helbig published their 100th episode of "This Might Get..." on July 20, 2018, entitled "Making Slime Fail!". The series announced its beginnings on October 12, 2018.


title: Grace Helbig

text: Beginning October 22, 2019, Helbig hosted Studio71's eight episode Facebook Watch web series "Ladies First".


title: Grace Helbig

text: In 2009, Helbig appeared as the character of Barbie in the music video "Barbie Eat a Sandwich" by the band Care Bears on Fire.


title: Grace Helbig

text: In 2012, during the inaugural IAWTV Awards, Helbig met with the Fine Brothers. The two still needed to cast someone to play the role of Idol for their new web series "MyMusic" and during their meeting, they offered her the role. Helbig flew out to Los Angeles the next week to shoot the first season. Helbig subsequently appeared in the first seven episodes of the series' second season.


title: Grace Helbig

text: In July 2013, in the last three episodes of Season 2 Part 2 of the hit web series "The Most Popular Girls in School", Helbig voiced Jeannie Halverstad, the abrasive show host of Cheer Nationals. In March 2014, Helbig voiced a different character, Pamela Darabond, in three Season 3 episodes.


title: Grace Helbig

text: In May and June 2014, Helbig appeared as Anna in two episodes of the second season of the musical web series "Side Effects" on the AwesomenessTV YouTube channel.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On November 17, 2014, Helbig and Hannah Hart appeared as Juliet and Bonnie Parker respectively in the "Epic Rap Battles of History" Season 4 episode "Romeo and Juliet vs. Bonnie and Clyde".


title: Grace Helbig

text: On February 26, 2015, it was announced via various media outlets that Helbig would be co-starring with Hannah Hart in a reboot of the 1970s Sid and Marty Krofft live action science fiction television series "Electra Woman and Dyna Girl". The reboot, directed by Chris Marrs Piliero, was shot in Vancouver during February and March 2015. The official trailer was released on March 29, 2016. The reboot was released on April 26, 2016, as an 8-episode web series on Fullscreen's subscription platform. It was released as a full-length feature film via various digital media outlets on June 7, 2016.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On August 6, 2015, Helbig was featured in a series of online commercials for Marriott Hotels & Resorts for the company's "It Pays to Book Direct" ad campaign.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On October 6, 2015, Helbig appeared in the fourth episode of PJ Liguori's web series "Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures" where she portrays the anthropomorphic hermit crab called Hermit. The six-episode series launched exclusively on Vimeo's on-demand service.


title: Grace Helbig

text: Beginning September 21, 2019, Helbig appeared as animal expert Annalise in the eight episode Comedy Central Facebook Watch web series "Beast to Beauty".


title: Grace Helbig

text: Helbig has appeared in numerous commercials, as well as appeared as herself on various television shows and talk shows. She was first featured as Green Girl in a series of public service announcements for The N's The Big Green Help environmental awareness campaign from 2008 to 2009.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On January 5, 2015, it was announced via press release that Helbig would star in a hybrid comedy/talk show for E!, titled "The Grace Helbig Show". In preparation for the show, Helbig was interviewed live via satellite on multiple local television news broadcasts across the United States on March 27, 2015. "The Grace Helbig Show" premiered on April 3, 2015. The series lasted eight episodes and ended June 7, 2015.


title: Grace Helbig

text: Helbig has appeared in several films as herself in collaborations with other YouTubers, including director Dan Dobi's 2012 YouTube documentary "Please Subscribe" and Corey Vidal and Shay Carl's "Vlogumentary".


title: Grace Helbig

text: Her first film "Camp Takota" stars Helbig as a young woman who is forced to leave her big city job and head back to her old summer camp where she is reunited with old friends played by Hannah Hart and Mamrie Hart. The film, directed by Chris & Nick Riedell, began shooting in California on August 12, 2013. The film's official trailer was released on December 24, 2013, on Helbig's, Hannah's and Mamrie's respective main YouTube channels, as well as on the film's official website. On February 5, 2014, an extended trailer was released on Helbig's "it'sGrace" channel and on the "Camp Takota" website. "Camp Takota" was released via digital download on February 14, 2014. The film was made available on streaming media service Netflix on December 1, 2014.


title: Grace Helbig

text: Helbig appears in Alex Winter's "", starring Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox, alongside fellow YouTubers Jenna Marbles, Markiplier, Harley Morenstein and others. The film's trailer (featuring Helbig) premiered on the "Smosh" YouTube channel on June 12, 2015. The film was released via various online outlets on July 24, 2015.


title: Grace Helbig

text: Helbig co-starred with Hannah Hart in a reboot of the 1970s Sid and Marty Krofft live action science fiction television series "Electra Woman and Dyna Girl". The reboot, directed by Chris Marrs Piliero, was shot in Vancouver during February and March 2015. The official trailer was released on March 29, 2016. The reboot was released on April 26, 2016, as an 8-episode web series on Fullscreen's subscription platform. It was released as a full-length feature film via various digital media outlets on June 7, 2016.


title: Grace Helbig

text: Helbig and her "Camp Takota" co-stars Hannah Hart and Mamrie Hart appeared in a feature film titled "Dirty 30". The film, directed by Andrew Bush, began shooting in California on November 9, 2015. It was released digitally and in select theaters on September 23, 2016.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On May 30, 2018, it was reported via various press outlets that Helbig had joined the cast of the upcoming film "The Wedding Year".


title: Grace Helbig

text: On September 1, 2014, Helbig premiered her audio-video podcast "Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig". New full-length episodes are made available each Monday on SoundCloud and iTunes, with video footage featured on Helbig's YouTube channel. Podcast episodes are produced by Melisa D. Monts.


title: Grace Helbig

text: Most "season one" episodes were recorded at the YouTube Space Los Angeles (unless otherwise noted), most "season two" episodes were recorded at Helbig's Los Angeles home (unless otherwise noted), most "season three" episodes are recorded at Helbig's Los Angeles office space (unless otherwise noted), and most "season four" episodes are recorded at Fullscreen's studios (unless otherwise noted).


title: Grace Helbig

text: Most "season one" challenges are variations of pre-existing YouTube challenges, whereas most "season two" challenges pre-exist on YouTube. Beginning "season three" and continuing with "season four", challenges have been phased out in favor of video highlights of the interviews.


title: Grace Helbig

text: Beginning September 12, 2016, "Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig" began broadcasting for the first time in full-length video format on Fullscreen's subscription service, with episodes being filmed at Fullscreen's studios. Audio-only of the prior week's video episode available on iTunes and Soundcloud the following week.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On November 13, 2017, it was announced across various media outlets that Fullscreen would be shutting down its subscription service. The final full-length video episode of "Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig" was released the same day as the announcement. The podcast continued to air new audio-only episodes every Monday via iTunes and Soundcloud.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On October 8, 2018, the podcast once again began broadcasting in both audio and video form, with full-length video being uploaded to Helbig's YouTube channel.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On October 12, 2018, after announcing the cancellation of their YouTube series "This Might Get...", Helbig and co-host Mamrie Hart announced the premiere of their new podcast "This Might Get Weird", with new episodes to be released every Wednesday on iTunes and Soundcloud.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On May 29, 2019, the podcast joined Rooster Teeth's podcast network "The Roost". On February 11, 2021, Rooster Teeth announced that Helbig and Hart would host a supplemental 10-episode podcast under the "This Might Get Weird" umbrella beginning March 5, 2021, entitled "How Ya Been?", in which the two interview other veteran YouTube personalities.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On March 29, 2020, Helbig premiered this audio-video podcast alongside co-host Elliott Morgan, in which they review reality television. New audio episodes are released every week on iTunes and Soundcloud, with full video on Morgan's YouTube channel. The most recent episode was released on September 6, 2020.


title: Grace Helbig

text: In addition to her web and television content, Helbig has performed live on stage in various formats throughout the United States, Canada, England, Ireland and Australia, including the following:


title: Grace Helbig

text: In 2011, Helbig co-hosted the monthly live late night stage show "Morning Show" with Jacob "Hobart" Brown.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On January 15, 2013, Helbig participated on stage as part of "An Evening of Awesome" with John and Hank Green, Neil Gaiman, Hannah Hart, Ashley Clements and Daniel Vincent Gordh.


title: Grace Helbig

text: During May, June and December 2013, August, October and November 2014, and May and June 2015, Helbig (along with Hannah Hart and Mamrie Hart) embarked on a live comedy show across America titled #NoFilterShow. Their show ventured overseas to London and Dublin in May 2014 and to Australia in December 2015. They encouraged people to film and document the show and incorporated the use of social media by using internet comments and Twitter mentions in crowd games.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On March 15, 2014, Helbig and Mamrie Hart performed a one-off live comedy show, "This Might Get Weird, Y'all" in Boston. In November and December 2014, Helbig and Hart took the show on the road, performing in five US cities in support of Helbig's newly published book "Grace's Guide". Helbig and Hart performed their show at Stream Con NYC on October 30, 2015. Helbig and Hart took their show overseas to London and Dublin in late November 2016.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On July 25, 2014, Helbig performed along with comedians Steve Agee and Brian Posehn at San Diego's Comic Con as a part of Comedy Central presents "@midnight".


title: Grace Helbig

text: On September 17, 2015, Helbig hosted the Streamy Awards for the second year in a row, this time with Tyler Oakley as her co-host. The Streamys aired for the first time on television, on VH1.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On September 26, 2015, Helbig recorded an episode of her Not Too Deep podcast (with guest Harley Morenstein) in front of a live audience in Toronto as part of the JFL42 comedy festival.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On October 22, 2015, Helbig told a story in front of a live audience at the NerdMelt Showroom for the "Risk!" podcast.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On February 4, 2016, Helbig read excerpts from her book "Grace & Style: The Art of Pretending You Have It" and was interviewed in front of a live audience as part of New Hampshire Public Radio's series "Writers on a New England Stage" at The Music Hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On June 24, 2016, Helbig performed in a live stage reading at VIDCON for Writing with Grace. There was a 2,500 person live audience for the event with co stars Michael Buckley, Hank Green, Hannah Hart, Mamrie Hart and Harley Morenstein. The live show was directed by Rachel Myers and Kelly Landry. The live show won the 2016 Streamy Award for Best Brand Campaign.


title: Grace Helbig

text: Helbig began a relationship with fellow YouTube personality Elliott Morgan in January 2019. On February 28, 2021, Helbig announced via Instagram that she and Morgan are engaged. The couple married on October 1, 2022 in Las Vegas and announced it via Instagram the next day.


title: Grace Helbig

text: Helbig has received various accolades in recognition of her web videos and comedic content, including the following:


title: Grace Helbig

text: In October 2014, Helbig's self-penned comedic self-help handbook for Millennials, "Grace's Guide: The Art of Pretending to Be a Grown-up", was published by Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. The book debuted at number one on the "New York Times" Best Seller Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous list.


title: Grace Helbig

text: On February 2, 2016, Helbig's second book, "Grace & Style: The Art of Pretending You Have It", was published by Touchstone. The book debuted at number seven on the "New York Times" Best Seller Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous list.


title: Footman

text: Originally in the 14th century a footman denoted a soldier or any pedestrian, later it indicated a foot servant. A running footman delivered messages. He might run beside or behind the carriages of aristocrats, running alongside the coach to make sure it was not overturned by such obstacles as ditches or tree roots. A footman might also run ahead to the destination to prepare for his lord's arrival.


title: Footman

text: The name was applied to a household servant who waited at table and attended, rode on, his employer's coach or carriage in case of untoward incidents.


title: Footman

text: The "first footman" was the designation given to the highest-ranking servant of this class in a given household. The first footman would serve as deputy butler and act as butler in the latter's absence, although some larger houses also had an under-butler above the first footman.


title: Footman

text: In a larger household, various footmen might be assigned specific duties (for which there might be a traditional sequence), such as the silver specialist. Usually the footmen performed a range of duties which included serving meals, opening and closing doors, carrying heavy items, or moving furniture for the housemaid to clean behind. The footmen might also double as valets, especially for visiting guests.


title: Footman

text: Male servants were paid more than female servants (because some were expected to support a wife and children) and footmen were something of a luxury and therefore a status symbol even among the servant-employing classes. They performed a less essential role than the cook, maid or even butler, and were employed only by the grandest households. Since a footman was for show as much as for work, his good looks were highly prized, including a tall stature and well-turned legs, shown off by the traditional footman's dress of stockings below knee breeches. Footmen were expected to be unmarried and tended to be relatively young; they might, however, progress to other posts, notably that of butler. One 19th-century footman, William Tayler, kept a diary which has been published. He was, in fact, married, but he kept it secret from his employers and visited his family only on his days off.


title: Footman

text: Once a common position in great houses, the footman became much rarer after World War I as fewer households could afford large retinues. The role is now virtually a historic one, although servants with this designation are still employed in the British Royal Household, wearing a distinctive scarlet livery on state occasions.


title: Murder of Robert Eric Wone

text: Robert Eric Wone, aged 32, was an American lawyer who was murdered in Washington, D.C., in August 2006 in the home of a college friend, Joe Price. Wone was living in suburban Oakton, Virginia, but had been working as general counsel at Radio Free Asia in downtown Washington. He had stayed the night at the home of friends located about one mile from his office. According to police affidavits, Wone was believed to have been "restrained, incapacitated, and sexually assaulted" before his death. The residents of the home Price, Victor Zaborsky, and Dylan Ward contended that the murder was committed by an intruder unknown to them; the trial judge found this unbelievable.


title: Murder of Robert Eric Wone

text: Within days of the murder, Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC) alleged that the crime scene had been tampered with, but no charges were filed for over two years. In late 2008, police charged Price, Zaborsky, and Ward with obstruction of justice and conspiracy related to alleged tampering with the crime scene. The men were acquitted of the charges in June 2010. No one has been charged with Wone's killing. In November 2008, Wone's widow, Katherine Wone, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Price, Zaborsky, and Ward; the suit was settled on August 3, 2011, for an undisclosed sum and agreement.


title: Murder of Robert Eric Wone

text: Robert Eric Wone (June 1, 1974 August 3, 2006) was 32 years old when he was killed. He was a fourth generation Chinese American, born in Manhattan and raised in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from Xaverian High School as valedictorian of his class, he attended W&M as a James Monroe Scholar. There, Wone met Joseph Price, then a senior, in the 199293 academic year. Wone and Price shared several activities, including an honor society and student government leadership positions, before Price graduated in 1993. In September 1993, the "Richmond Times-Dispatch" published an opinion piece co-written by Wone, criticizing a prior "Times-Dispatch" article on W&M faculty. Wone graduated from W&M in 1996, and then received his Juris Doctor degree with honors from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1999. He subsequently served as law clerk to Judge Raymond A. Jackson of the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Wone later worked in commercial real estate law for six years as an attorney with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Covington & Burling. As part of his public service responsibilities with the law firm, Wone served as general counsel for the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA).


title: Murder of Robert Eric Wone

text: On June 7, 2003, Wone married Katherine Ellen Yu, and the couple lived in Fairfax County, Virginia. On June 30, 2006, about two months before he was killed, Wone left Covington & Burling and was hired as general counsel for Radio Free Asia. Wone was very active within the Asian American community, supporting organizations such as OCA and the Museum of Chinese in America. At the time of his death, he was president-elect of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association.


title: Murder of Robert Eric Wone

text: Late on August 2, 2006, Robert Eric Wone was fatally stabbed while staying overnight at a Swann Street, NW rowhouse in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C., owned by Joseph Price (aka Joseph Anderson) and his domestic partner Victor Zaborsky, where they lived with Dylan Ward (aka Dylan Thomas) in a polyamorous relationship as a family. Wone had gone to Price's residence at approximately 10:30 PM after working late, as had been arranged days before. Neighbors reported hearing a scream, later identified as Zaborsky's, during the 11:00pm newscast (i.e., before 11:35 PM). Zaborsky made a 9-1-1 call at 11:49 PM, and paramedics arrived five minutes later, followed by the officers of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC). Price phoned Wone's wife, and Wone was pronounced dead at George Washington University Hospital at 12:24 AM on August 3.


title: Murder of Robert Eric Wone

text: Price, Zaborsky, and Ward all initially spoke with the police without attorneys, and video recordings of those interviews were shown at the subsequent conspiracy trial. The three men denied any involvement in Wone's death and speculated that an intruder had killed him. The three also denied any sexual relationship with Wone, and Wone's family have described him as both "straight and happily married". All three men attended Wone's funeral, where Price served as a pallbearer. Future U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who at that time worked at Wone's former employer Covington & Burling, called Wone "a kind and gentle man" who was "killed in the most horrible of ways".


title: Murder of Robert Eric Wone

text: Paramedics responding to the emergency call "found the three residents’ calm behavior unusual; none were screaming or even helping direct the paramedics". According to Ward's attorney, detectives who interrogated the three housemates on the night of the murder informed them that they were the main suspects in the case, and asked many sexually charged, accusatory questions. Three days after the murder, the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit of the MPDC were called in, but unit head Sgt. Brett Parson declined to discuss the unit's involvement. Within two weeks of the murder, police publicly alleged that the crime scene had been tampered with. Investigators spent more than three weeks examining the rowhouse in detail, "removing flooring, pieces of walls, a chunk of staircase, the washing machine, even sink traps". Allegations that the area around Wone's body had been cleaned were revealed in an affidavit in support of a search warrant for Price's offices at the D.C. law firm of Arent Fox.


title: Murder of Robert Eric Wone

text: Three months after Wone's death, Price's brother Michael and an accomplice named Phelps Collins burgled the Swann Street residence; they took more than $7,000 of electronic equipment. Two individuals, including Price's brother, were charged with the burglary, but those charges were later dropped. In 2007, the MPDC revealed that they had been preparing to make an arrest in the Wone murder case in 2006, but that the burglary had derailed those plans. Police have not revealed the name of the arrest target, nor the charge(s) that would have been filed.


title: Murder of Robert Eric Wone

text: In August 2007, "The Washington Post" reported the frustration of Wone's widow, Katherine Wone, with the FBI crime lab: "It has been trying at times as we continue to wait for the FBI to complete their analysis of all the samples that were taken." Over one year, the case had been transferred to three separate prosecutors, earning it "vagabond status" in the U.S. Attorneys' office. Katherine retained the services of attorney Eric Holder to peruse the case. On the first anniversary of Wone's death, Katherine held a press conference to appeal for public assistance in finding the killer, her first public comment on the case. During the press conference, Holder publicly pleaded with Price, Zaborsky, and Ward to provide additional information, saying, "You need to ask yourself, 'Have I provided police with all the information I know?'" Interested parties, such as the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), used the first anniversary of Wone's death to criticize what they deemed police inaction in the investigation. In contrast to the first anniversary of Wone's murder, there was no press conference on the second anniversary, and neither the Wone family nor police made any statements to the press.


title: Murder of Robert Eric Wone

text: In October 2008, an obstruction of justice charge was filed against housemate Dylan Ward, who had since moved to Miami-Dade County, Florida, and was living in a home owned by Price. In November 2008, Price and Zaborsky were arrested and also charged with obstruction of justice. All three men were later released pending trial, but subject to electronic monitoring and curfews. On December 19, 2008, additional charges of conspiracy were filed against all three men. During the same hearing, the electronic monitoring and curfew restrictions for the three defendants were ended and prosecutors announced the possibility that charges related to tampering with evidence could be filed in the future.


title: Murder of Robert Eric Wone

text: The affidavit filed by authorities supporting the arrest warrant for Ward showed that investigators had concluded the men were not telling the truth about what happened. The report states, "The evidence demonstrates that Robert Wone was restrained, incapacitated, sexually assaulted, and murdered inside 1509 Swann Street", and there exists "overwhelming evidence, far in excess of probable cause" that Price, Zaborsky, and Ward had "obstructed justice by altering and orchestrating the crime scene, planting evidence, delaying the reporting of the murder to the authorities, and lying to the police about the true circumstances of the murder". Lawyers for the three accused men have called the affidavit "speculation, innuendo, assumptions, and irrelevant inflammatory comments" and maintain their clients' innocence. Price and Zaborsky were domestic partners, and the affidavit alleges that Price had previously had a sexual relationship with Ward. Washington attorney Dale Sanders opined that the release of the extensively detailed affidavit was intended to turn one of the housemates, presumably Ward, against the others, and hypothesized that it indicated prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence to charge any of the housemates with additional crimes without the cooperation of a witness.


title: Murder of Robert Eric Wone

text: Officials believe that a knife from the kitchen had been smeared with blood and placed near the body, while a duplicate of the knife that was missing from a set found in Ward's bedroom would have been more consistent with the wounds to Wone's body. The autopsy revealed evidence of some degree of suffocation, perhaps by a pillow, and puncture marks on his neck, chest, foot, and hand. Though no toxins were found in his blood, a lack of evidence of struggle led investigators to suspect Wone had been injected with a paralytic agent. Cadaver dogs found a blood residue in a dryer lint trap and the patio drain, which detectives believe may be evidence that someone washed themselves in the back patio area, and dried wet clothes in the dryer. "Washington City Paper" columnist Jason Cherkis reported unattributed criticism of the medical examiner's failure to test for exotic drugs and to keep a sample of Wone's blood for later testing, as well as detectives' failure to follow up on a lint trap that had attracted a cadaver dog's attention.


title: Murder of Robert Eric Wone

text: Price's lawyer challenged the timing of the indictments, saying that a contemporaneous civil suit brought by Wone's family "looked unseemly" and questioned whether the prosecutors and Wone family attorneys were acting in concert.


title: Murder of Robert Eric Wone

text: In April 2009, prosecutors disclosed that two emails had been drafted on Wone's BlackBerry "at a time when prosecutors believed Wone dead.” An independent criminal law attorney noted, "The defense will argue that this is consistent with their claim that the murder happened quickly by an intruder and it was not a long, drawn-out effort to sexually assault Wone before he was killed, as the government is alleging." Previously, a court filing indicated that the government intended to release a personal profile that Price allegedly used on ALT.com, "a sexually oriented web site specializing in S&M practices.”


title: Murder of Robert Eric Wone

text: Formal defense in the conspiracy case began on June 17, 2010, and concluded without any of the defendants testifying. On June 29, Judge Lynn Leibovitz found each of the three men not guilty of charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and tampering with evidence. Leibovitz, in explaining her ruling for almost an hour from the bench, stated that she personally believed that the men knew who killed Wone, but was not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that they committed the offenses with which they were charged.


title: Murder of Robert Eric Wone

text: On November 25, 2008, Wone's widow Katherine filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Price, Zaborsky, and Ward, largely based on the police affidavit. The lawsuit alleged "defendants' negligent failure to rescue Robert Wone after he was injured, defendants' destruction of evidence of Robert Wone's murder, and defendants' conspiracy to destroy evidence and obstruct the police investigation into Robert Wone's murder". The suit was settled August 3, 2011, for an undisclosed sum and agreement. Prior to his nomination as Attorney General, Eric Holder advised Wone's widow on a "pro bono" basis.


title: Murder of Robert Eric Wone

text: Wone's death has proven to be one of the most mysterious homicide cases in Washington, D.C., history. The "Washington Examiner" listed the Wone case, in light of the arrests, as one of eight top crime stories in D.C. for 2008. The "Washington Blade" stated that the case "has captured the interest of the gay community because it occurred inside the home of a prominent gay male couple". A March 2009 WTTG Fox DC story on the crime highlighted a website cataloging the investigative efforts of "four amateur sleuths who live in the neighborhood".


title: Murder of Robert Eric Wone

text: Since Wone's death, multiple organizations have established scholarships and other memorials in his name, including the Virginia Department of Social Services "Robert E. Wone Award for Exemplary Service;" the annual "Robert E. Wone Judicial Clerkship & Internship Conference," which rotates among the D.C. area law schools, including the Georgetown University Law Center, the American University Washington College of Law, and the Howard University School of Law; a workroom at OCA headquarters; the "Robert E. Wone Fellowship" of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association Educational Fund; the "Robert E. Wone Scholarship" of OCA's New Jersey Chapter; the "Robert E. Wone Memorial Trust," administered by the Community Foundation of the National Capital Region; and the "Robert E. Wone Clinical Fellowship" at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, including a room in the law school's Civil Practice Clinic. On October 22, 2011, family and friends gathered at Barksdale Field at the College of William & Mary (W&M) to dedicate two benches and two Chinese pistache trees in Wone's memory. The plaques on the benches read "Rest awhile and enjoy the wonderful world around you," a reference to one of Wone's favorite songs by Louis Armstrong, "What a Wonderful World."


title: Lady Sovereign

text: Louise Amanda Harman (born 19 December 1985), better known by the stage name Lady Sovereign, is a British rapper, best known for the songs "9 to 5" and "Love Me or Hate Me".


title: Lady Sovereign

text: Lady Sovereign grew up in Chalkhill Estate in Wembley Park, London. In 2010, she said "When I heard Ms. Dynamite's track 'Boooo!' in 2001 it inspired me. I hadn't heard a female MC before that. She's real. Her presence, her image, the way she does everything... she opened so many doors for us girls, MCs are real, they write their own stuff, they rap about what they know, the stuff around them."


title: Lady Sovereign

text: Lady Sovereign began uploading some of her songs and a picture to various music web sites when she was 15. She told "Newsweek" in 2006 that comments initially ran along the lines of, "You're white. You're a girl. You're British. You're crap."


title: Lady Sovereign

text: Lady Sovereign signed with Universal in 2004. She released a number of solo records and opened for Basement Jaxx, the Streets, Dizzee Rascal, D12 and Obie Trice.


title: Lady Sovereign

text: Her mother, Nicola, was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour and died on 14 March (Mothering Sunday in the UK) 2010.


title: Lady Sovereign

text: "The Battle" began a string of singles that would push Lady Sovereign into the spotlight. While "A Little Bit of Shhh!", "9 to 5", and "Sad Arse Stripah" were selling well, free Internet-only freestyles like "Tango" and "Cheeky" were becoming just as popular. On 15 November 2005, Chocolate Industries released the "Vertically Challenged" EP, which collected most of her singles recorded to date. In April 2006 she released her second EP, "Blah Blah" in the UK. She released yet another EP, but was limited for US radios; "Size Don't Matter!"


title: Lady Sovereign

text: Aside from her own records, 2005 saw Lady Sovereign appear as a guest or contributor on several projects. She began 2005 by appearing on the grime compilation "Run the Road", both as a solo artist and with The Streets. When The Ordinary Boys released the single "Boys Will Be Boys", Lady Sovereign came back with a reply remix, featuring the music and chorus of the original, but with mostly her own vocals to the tune of "girls will be girls". In May 2006, she was featured on the Ordinary Boys single, "Nine2Five", a remixed version of her own "9 to 5", credited as "The Ordinary Boys vs Lady Sovereign." "Nine2Five" entered the UK top 40 singles at number 39 on downloads only, and jumped to number 6 upon availability as a CD and 7" vinyl single during the week commencing 22 May 2005. This is her highest chart position to date.


title: Lady Sovereign

text: Lady Sovereign capped off 2005 by meeting with the American hip hop artist and CEO of the labels Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records, Jay-Z. This marked her foray into the American music scene. With Usher and L.A. Reid seated next to him, Jay-Z asked for one on-the-spot freestyle from Sovereign before offering her a contract with Def Jam. With the single "Hoodie", Lady Sovereign released her full-length debut, "Public Warning", on Def Jam in 2006. Lady Sovereign is the first non-American female to ever be signed to Def Jam Record Label.


title: Lady Sovereign

text: On 31 October 2006, her debut album, "Public Warning", was released, featuring "Random", "9 to 5", "Hoodie" and single, "Love Me or Hate Me", which was also released on the same day. The music video for the single features Lady Sovereign mocking stereotypical ideals of femininity by satirizing popular dress and mannerisms. Some of the lyrics include "I'm fat, I need a diet/No, in fact I'm just here lyin'/I ain't got the biggest breast-ises,/but I write all the best disses/I've got hairy armpits/But I don't walk around like this/I wear a big baggy t-shirt that hides that nasty shit." With the lyrics continuing in this satirical nature, Lady Sovereign continues to comment on and express her dissonance with female lifestyles in popular culture.


title: Lady Sovereign

text: On 17 October 2006 "Love Me or Hate Me" became the first video by a British artist to reach number 1 on the United States (and original) version of MTV's "Total Request Live". "Love Me or Hate Me" was released in the UK on 29 January 2007, with the album following on 5 February 2007.


title: Lady Sovereign

text: Lady Sovereign released a second album in spring 2009. She also went on tour. After a final dispute with Island Records, it was revealed on her official website that she would release the album through her independent record label, Midget Records, and that it was fully written and some songs were already recorded. She also said the album was going to be released in the United States and United Kingdom on 7 April 2009. On Monday, 8 December 2008, Lady Sovereign restated that "Jigsaw" would be released on 6 April 2009. She also released a free single titled "I Got You Dancing", making it available on her MySpace and official website. During her "Jigsaw" tour she teamed up with DJ Annalyze as her tour DJ.


title: Lady Sovereign

text: Lady Sovereign has appeared on "Soccer AM" several times. She has appeared in a feature story on Cartoon Network and in an educational movie called "X-ED".


title: Lady Sovereign

text: In late 2006, "Love Me Or Hate Me" was played in a Verizon Wireless advertisement. It also appears on the soundtrack of the video game "", and is the theme music for the show "The Bad Girls Club". "9 to 5" also appears on "The Bad Girls Club", as well as on the soundtrack of the Xbox 360's version of EA Sports' "FIFA World Cup 2006" video game, on the "Ugly Betty" soundtrack and features in the 2007 film "St Trinian's", "Random" appears on the soundtrack, and features on an episode of Malcolm in The Middle, "I Got You Dancing" was featured in "", "Hoodie" was used for a "Mario Party" Nintendo DS commercial.


title: Lady Sovereign

text: Some of Lady Sovereign's such as "9 to 5" and "So Human" were also used on the BBC 1 show "Waterloo Road" in 2009/10. Bizarre Creation's "Project Gotham Racing 4" video game on the Xbox 360 features the song "Blah Blah" by Lady Sovereign, EA's "Fight Night Round 4" video game features Lady Sovereign's "Bang Bang" track, "So Human" appears in season 2 episode 1 of the television series '90210', "Jigsaw" was featured in the second episode of the fifth season of MTV-show "The Hills", called 'Everything Happens For A Reason'.


title: Lady Sovereign

text: On 23 October 2006, Sovereign made an appearance on American talk show the "Late Show with David Letterman". During her performance of "Love Me Or Hate Me" the lyrics "If you hate me, then fuck you" were changed to "if you hate me, then I hate you". Lady Sovereign served as the host and spokesperson for Adult Swim and Chocolate Industries' "Chocolate Swim". In January 2010 Bally Total Fitness selected Lady Sovereign and her song "I Got You Dancing" for the featured artist section on their website, the song is also being used in their television commercials.


title: Lady Sovereign

text: On 22 January 2010, Sovereign was due to appear on "This Week", a BBC political review show, to discuss the laws regarding self-defence for householders. Early in the programme, she was shown backstage waving to camera in anticipation of her appearance. However, when the segment began, presenter Andrew Neil apologised to viewers and explained the rapper had "done a runner." Neil instead discussed the topic with regular contributors Michael Portillo and Diane Abbott and concluded by joking "Who needs Lady Sovereign? Who "is" Lady Sovereign?" Abbott laughed and responded "I don't know." In an interview with "The Guardian"'s Rich Pelley on 30 January, Lady Sovereign said of the incident: "I had a panic attack! My hands went stiff and I started hyperventilating. I didn't want to do it hours before but I went anyway, then I just changed my mind at the last minute, I guess."


title: Lady Sovereign

text: Lady Sovereign appeared on British game show "Total Wipeout"'s eighth celebrity special. She made it to the second round by default but failed to advance any further. She was the third evicted housemate from the seventh series of "Celebrity Big Brother". She was nominated for both the first and second evictions. Having survived the first double eviction, she was evicted the second time around with 69.5% of the vote.


title: Lady Sovereign

text: In September 2009, while in Brisbane, Australia for the Parklife Festival, Lady Sovereign was arrested for assault and drunk and disorderly behaviour after spitting on a nightclub bouncer. She had only been in the country seven hours before the assault occurred. She was ordered to pay a fine of $400 AUD, and $200 AUD in compensation to the bouncer.


title: Lady Sovereign

text: In a 2010 interview with "Diva" magazine, Lady Sovereign said she came out as a lesbian in the house during "Celebrity Big Brother" but that her declaration did not end up in the broadcast show.


title: Lady Sovereign

text: Lady Sovereign has not released any music since 2009. She has alluded to medical issues halting her career, but has never clarified an exact illness.


title: Origins of baseball

text: The question of the origins of baseball has been the subject of debate and controversy for more than a century. Baseball and the other modern bat, ball, and running games — stoolball, cricket and rounders — were developed from folk games in early Britain, Ireland, and Continental Europe (such as France and Germany). Early forms of baseball had a number of names, including "base ball", "goal ball", "round ball", "fetch-catch", "stool ball", and, simply, "base". In at least one version of the game, teams pitched to themselves, runners went around the bases in the opposite direction of today's game, much like in the Nordic brännboll, and players could be put out by being hit with the ball. Just as now, in some versions a batter was called out after three strikes.


title: Origins of baseball

text: Although much is unclear, as one would expect of children's games of long ago, this much is known: by the mid-18th century a game had appeared in the south of England which involved striking a pitched ball and then running a circuit of bases. Rounders is referenced in 1744 in the children's book "A Little Pretty Pocket-Book" where it was called Base-Ball. English colonists took this game to North America with their other pastimes, and in the early 1800s variants were being played on both sides of the ocean under many appellations. However, the game was very significantly altered by amateur men's ball clubs in and around New York City in the middle of the 19th century, and it was this heavily revised sport that became modern baseball.


title: Origins of baseball

text: A number of folk games in early Britain and continental Europe had characteristics that can be seen in modern baseball (as well as in cricket and rounders). Many of these early games involved a ball that was thrown at a target while an opposing player defended the target by attempting to hit the ball away. If the batter successfully hit the ball, he could attempt to score points by running between bases while fielders would attempt to catch or retrieve the ball and put the runner out.


title: Origins of baseball

text: Folk games differed over time, place, and culture, resulting in similar yet variant forms. These games had no standard documented rules and instead were played according to historical customs. These games tended to be played by working classes, peasants, and children. Early folk games were often associated with earlier religious ceremonies and worship rituals. These games became discouraged and even altogether prohibited by subsequent governing states and religious authorities.


title: Origins of baseball

text: Aside from obvious differences in terminology, the games differed in the equipment used (ball, bat, club, target, etc., which were usually just whatever was available), the way in which the ball was thrown, the method of scoring, the method of making outs, the layout of the field and the number of players involved. Very broadly speaking, these games can be roughly divided into forms of "longball", where the batter ran out to a single point or line and back, as in cricket, and "roundball", where there was a circuit of multiple bases. There were also games (e.g. stool-ball, trap-ball) which involved no running at all.


title: Origins of baseball

text: The name "oină" was originally "hoina", and is derived from the Cuman word "oyn" "game" (a cognate of Turkish "oyun").


title: Origins of baseball

text: In 1899, Spiru Haret, the minister of education decided that oină was to be played in schools in physical education classes. He organized the first annual oină competitions.


title: Origins of baseball

text: The Romanian Oină Federation (""Federaţia Română de Oină"") was founded in 1932, and was reactivated at the beginning of the 1950s, after a brief period when it was dissolved.


title: Origins of baseball

text: Today, there are two oină federations: one in Bucharest, Romania and another one in Chişinău, Moldova.


title: Origins of baseball

text: In an 1802 book entitled "The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England", Joseph Strutt claimed to have shown that baseball-like games can be traced back to the 14th century, in particular an English game called stoolball. The earliest known reference to stoolball is in a 1330 poem by William Pagula, who recommended to priests that the game be forbidden within churchyards.


title: Origins of baseball

text: In stoolball, one player throws the ball at a target while another player defends the target. Originally, the target was defended with a bare hand. Later, a bat of some kind was used (in modern stoolball, a bat like a very heavy table tennis paddle is used). "Stob-ball" and "stow-ball" were regional games similar to stoolball. What the target originally was in stoolball is not certain; it was possibly a tree stump, since ""stob"" and ""stow"" all mean "stump" in some local dialects. (""Stow"" could also refer to a type of frame used in mining). It is notable that in cricket to this day, the uprights of the wicket are called "stumps". Of course, the target could well have been whatever was convenient, perhaps even a gravestone (hence Pagula's objection to churchyard play). A 17th-century book on games specifies a stool.


title: Origins of baseball

text: According to one legend, milkmaids played stoolball while waiting for their husbands to return from the fields. Another theory is that stoolball developed as a game played after attending church services, in which case the target was probably a church stool. An 18th-century poem depicts men and women playing together (the women using their aprons to catch batted balls), and it and other references associate the game especially with the Easter season.


title: Origins of baseball

text: There were several versions of stoolball. In the earliest versions, the object was primarily to defend the stool. Successfully defending the stool counted for one point, and the batter was out if the ball hit the stool. There was no running involved. Another version of stoolball involved running between two stools, and scoring was similar to the scoring in cricket. In perhaps yet another version there were several stools, and points were scored by running around them as in baseball.


title: Origins of baseball

text: When Englishmen came to America, they brought stoolball with them. William Bradford in his diary for Christmas Day, 1621, noted (with disapproval) how the men of Plymouth were "frolicking in þe street, at play openly; some pitching þe barre, some at stoole-ball and shuch-like sport". Because of the different versions of stoolball, and because it was played not only in England, but also in colonial America, stoolball is considered by many to have been the common ancestor of cricket, baseball and rounders.


title: Origins of baseball

text: Another early folk game was "dog and cat" (or "cat and dog"), which probably originated in Scotland. In cat and dog an oblong piece of wood called a "cat" is thrown at a hole in the ground while another player defends the hole with a stick (a "dog"). In some cases there were two holes and, after hitting the cat, the batter would run between them while fielders would try to get the runner out by putting the cat in the hole before the runner got to it. Dog and cat thus resembled cricket.


title: Origins of baseball

text: This game, otherwise unknown, was described in Francis Willughby's Book of Games (ca. 1670), which included rules for over 130 pastimes including stool-ball and stow-ball. It is significant in that it involved both a bat and base-running, although it was played with a wooden cat rather than a ball and the multiple "bases" were holes in the ground: the batter reached safety by putting the end of his bat in a hole before the fielders could put the cat in it. This has echoes in cricket's manner of scoring runs by touching the bat to the ground across the crease before the fielders can hit the nearby wicket with the ball.


title: Origins of baseball

text: In trap ball, played in England since the 14th century, a ball was thrown in the air, to be hit by a batsman and fielded. In some variants a member of the fielding team threw the ball in the air; in some, the batter tossed it himself as in fungo; in others, the batsman caused the ball to be tossed in the air by a simple lever mechanism: versions of this, called bat and trap and Knurr and spell, are still played in some English pubs. In trap-ball there was no running, instead the fielders attempted to throw the ball back to within a certain distance of the batter's station. Trap-ball may be the origin of the concept of foul lines; in most variants the ball had to be hit between two posts to count.


title: Origins of baseball

text: A related game was tip-cat; in this, the "cat" was an oblong piece of wood (as in dog-and-cat); it tapered toward each end, rather like a rugby ball or American football, so that striking one end would flip it into the air much like the trap in trap-ball so that it could be struck with a stick or bat.


title: Origins of baseball

text: An old English game called ""base"" or ""prisoners' base"", described by George Ewing at Valley Forge, was apparently not much like baseball. There was no bat and no ball involved. The game was more like a fancy game of team "tag", although it did share the concept of places of safety, bases, with baseball.


title: Origins of baseball

text: The history of cricket prior to 1650 is something of a mystery. Games believed to have been similar to cricket had developed by the 13th century. There was a game called "creag", and another game, "Handyn and Handoute" (Hands In and Hands Out), which was made illegal in 1477 by King Edward IV, who considered the game childish, and a distraction from compulsory archery practice.


title: Origins of baseball

text: References to a game actually called ""cricket"" appeared around 1550. It is believed that the word "cricket" is based either on the word "cric", meaning a crooked stick (cognate with English "crook"): early forms of cricket used a curved bat somewhat like a hockey stick; or on a Middle Dutch phrase for hockey, "met de (krik ket)sen" ("with the stick chase"), or on the Flemish word ""krickstoel"", which refers to a stool upon which one kneels in church and which the early long, low wicket resembled. The word is etymologically related to French "croquet"- early forms of which were also played with a curved stick rather than a mallet.


title: Origins of baseball

text: The earliest known mention of baseball, as a children's game, dates from the same year (1744) in which the Artillery Ground Laws formalised the rules of what was already a first-class, professional sport sponsored by nobility and upon which vast wagers were laid.


title: Origins of baseball

text: English colonists played cricket along with their other games from home, and it is mentioned many times in 18th-century American sources. As an organized sport, the Toronto Cricket Club was established in that city by 1827 and the St George's Cricket Club was formed in 1838 in New York City (membership restricted to British-born men). Teams from the two clubs faced off in the first international cricket game in 1844 which Toronto won by 23 runs. Many of the early New York club baseball players were also cricketers, and the earliest recorded inter-club baseball game was played on the Union Star Cricket Grounds in Brooklyn.


title: Origins of baseball

text: The British game most similar to baseball, and most mentioned as its ancestor or nearest relation, is rounders. Like baseball, the object is to strike a pitched ball with a bat and then run a circuit of four bases to score. The batter must strike at a good ball and run in an anti-clockwise direction around the first, second, and third base and home to the fourth, though they may stay at any of the first three. A batter is out if the ball is caught; if the base to which they are running to is touched with the ball; or if, while running, they are touched with the ball by a fielder. Nine players constitute a team, with the fielding side consisting of the bowler, the backstop (catcher), a player on each of the four bases, and three deep fielders. Popular among British and Irish school children, and especially among girls, as of 2015 rounders is played by seven million children in the UK.


title: Origins of baseball

text: In 1828, William Clarke in London published the second edition of "The Boy's Own Book", which included the rules of rounders (in fact the earliest known use of that name), and the first printed description in English of a bat and ball base-running game played on a diamond. The following year, the book was published in Boston, Massachusetts. The exact same rules were reprinted verbatim in Robin Carver's "The Book of Sports" (Boston, 1834), except they were headed not "Rounders" but "Base, or Goal-ball."


title: Origins of baseball

text: A unique British sport, known as British baseball, is still played in parts of Wales and England. Although confined mainly to the cities of Cardiff, Newport and Liverpool, the sport boasts an annual international game between representative teams from the two countries. British "baseball", however, is much more akin to rounders, as it was in fact called until 1892, and represents a rounders variant somewhat hybridized under the influence of 19th-century American touring teams; it is in fact the last survival in Great Britain of the once-widespread adult club rounders.


title: Origins of baseball

text: According to many sources, the earliest appearance of the word "baseball" dates from 1700, when Anglican bishop Thomas Wilson expressed his disapproval of "Morris-dancing, cudgel-playing, baseball and cricket" occurring on Sundays. However, David Block, in "Baseball Before We Knew It" (2005), reports that the original source has "stoolball" for "baseball". Block also reports the reference appears to date to 1672, rather than 1700.


title: Origins of baseball

text: A 1744 book in England by children's publisher John Newbery called "A Little Pretty Pocket-Book" includes a woodcut of a game similar to three-base stoolball or rounders and a rhyme entitled "Base-Ball". This is the first known instance of the word baseball in print.


title: Origins of baseball

text: In 1755, a book entitled "The Card" by John Kidgell, in volume 1 on page 9, mentions baseball: "the younger Part of the Family, perceiving Papa not inclined to enlarge upon the matter, retired to an interrupted Party at Base-Ball (an infant Game, which as it advances in its teens, improved into Fives)." Although "A Little Pretty Pocket-Book" first appeared eleven years earlier, no copies of the first or other early editions have surfaced to date, only the tenth and later editions from 1760 forward. Therefore, "The Card" was the oldest surviving reference to baseball until the Bray diary was discovered in 2008.


title: Origins of baseball

text: The earliest recorded game of base-ball involved none other than the family of the Prince of Wales, played indoors in London in November 1748. The Prince is reported as playing "Bass-Ball" again in September 1749 in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, against Lord Middlesex. The English lawyer William Bray wrote in his diary that he had played a game of baseball on Easter Monday 1755 in Guildford, also in Surrey.


title: Origins of baseball

text: By 1796, the rules of this English game were well enough established to earn a mention in the German Johann Gutsmuths' book on popular pastimes. In it he described "" ('Ball with safe places, or the English base-ball') as a contest between two teams in which "the batter has three attempts to hit the ball while at the home plate"; only one out was required to retire a side. Gutsmuth included a diagram of the field which was very similar to that of town ball. Notably, Gutsmuths is the earliest author to explicitly mention the use of a bat, although in this case it was a flat wooden paddle about 18 inches long, swung one-handed.


title: Origins of baseball

text: The French book is the second known book to contain printed rules of a batting/base/running game. It was printed in Paris in 1810 and lays out the rules for ("poisoned ball"), in which there were two teams of eight to ten players, four bases (one called home), a pitcher, a batter, "soaking" and flyball outs; however, the ball apparently was struck by the hand.


title: Origins of baseball

text: Another early print reference is Jane Austen's novel "Northanger Abbey", originally written 1798–1799. In the first chapter the young English heroine Catherine Morland is described as preferring "cricket, base ball, riding on horseback and running about the country to books". About the same time, Austen's cousin Cassandra Cooke mentioned baseball in her novel "Battleridge".


title: Origins of baseball

text: In 1828, William Clarke of London published the second edition of "The Boy's Own Book", which included the earliest known mention of a game called "rounders," and contains under that heading the first printed description in English of a bat and ball base-running game played on a diamond. The following year, the book was published in Boston, Massachusetts. Similar rules were published in Boston in "The Book of Sports", written by Robin Carver in 1834, except Carver called the game "Base or Goal ball". Clarke's "rounders" description would be reprinted many times on both sides of the Atlantic in ensuing decades, under various names.


title: Origins of baseball

text: Charting the evolution of the game that became modern baseball is difficult before 1845. The Knickerbocker Rules describe a game that they had been playing for some time. But how long is uncertain and so is how the game had developed. Shane Foster was the first to come up with suspicions of how the origin came into effect.


title: Origins of baseball

text: There were once two camps. One, mostly English, asserted that baseball evolved from a game of English origin (probably rounders); the other, almost entirely American, said that baseball was an American invention (perhaps derived from the game of one-ol'-cat). Apparently they saw their positions as mutually exclusive. Some of their points seem more national loyalty than evidence: Americans tended to reject any suggestion that baseball evolved from an English game, while some English observers concluded that baseball was little more than their rounders without the round. One English author went so far as to declare that the Knickerbocker Club comprised English expatriates who introduced "their" game to America for the first time in 1845. The Mills Commission, at the other extreme, created an "official" and entirely fictional All-American version attributing the game's invention to Abner Doubleday in 1839 at Cooperstown, New York (current site of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum).


title: Origins of baseball

text: Both were entirely wrong, since this much is clear: baseball, or a game called "base ball", had been played in America for many years by then. The earliest explicit reference to the game in America is from March 1786 in the diary of a student at Princeton, John Rhea Smith: "A fine day, play baste ball in the campus but am beaten for I miss both catching and striking the ball." There is a possible reference a generation older, from Harvard; describing the campus buttery in the 1760s, Sidney Willard wrote "Besides eatables, everything necessary for a student was there sold, and articles used in the playgrounds, such as bats, balls etc. ... Here it was that we wrestled and ran, played at quoits and cricket, and various games of bat and ball."


title: Origins of baseball

text: A 1791 bylaw in Pittsfield, Massachusetts banned the playing of "any game of wicket, cricket, baseball, batball, football, cats, fives, or any other game played with ball" within 80 yards of the town meeting house to prevent damage to its windows. Worcester, Massachusetts outlawed playing baseball "in the streets" in 1816.


title: Origins of baseball

text: There are other mentions of baseball during the early 19th century. An advertisement for Kensington House in the New York Evening Post dated June 6, 1821, said "The grounds of Kensington House are spacious, and well adapted to the playing the noble game of cricket, base, trap-ball, quoits and other amusements, and all the apparatus necessary for the above games will be furnished to clubs and parties."


title: Origins of baseball

text: Two years later the following notice appeared in the July 13, 1825 edition of the Delhi (New York) "Gazette": "The undersigned, all residents of the new town of Hamden, with the exception of Asa Howland, who has recently removed into Delhi, challenge an equal number of persons of any town in the County of Delaware, to meet them at any time at the house of Edward B. Chace, in said town, to play the game of Bass-Ball, for the sum of one dollar each per game."


title: Origins of baseball

text: The first recorded game of baseball under the later codified rules was played in New York on September 23, 1845, between the New York Baseball Club and the Knickerbocker Baseball Club. American baseball was allegedly played in Beachville, Ontario in 1838. However, there is no consensus as to the rules that were used or whether it can be considered the first "baseball" game. A firsthand account and the rules of the game were recalled by Dr. Adam E. Ford, who had witnessed the game as a six-year-old boy, in an 1886 issue of "The Sporting Life" magazine in Denver, Colorado; he described the game in remarkable detail, including the precise distances between the irregular bases and how the ball was constructed. However, some historians, such as David Block, have expressed doubts as to the veracity and rather incredible specificity of Ford's memory, and indeed compared it to Abner Graves' very similar yarn about Abner Doubleday.


title: Origins of baseball

text: In that letter, Ford refers to 'old grayhairs' at the time, who had played this game as children, suggesting that the origins of baseball in Canada go back into the 18th century. Very similar instances were recorded by John Montgomery Ward in his 1888 book "Base-Ball: How to Become a Player, with the Origins, History and Explanation of the Game", in which he recounts several elderly men recalling having played as boys, covering a span from the 1790s to the 1830s; among others, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. recalled playing at Harvard, from which he graduated in 1829.


title: Origins of baseball

text: That baseball is based on older English games such as stool-ball, trap-ball and tip-cat with possible influences from cricket is difficult to dispute. On the other hand, baseball as played in the New World has many elements that are uniquely American. The earliest published author to muse on the origin of baseball, John Montgomery Ward, was suspicious of the often-parroted claim that rounders is the direct ancestor of baseball, as both were formalized in the same time period. He concluded, with some amount of patriotism, that baseball evolved separately from town-ball (i.e. rounders), out of children's "safe haven" ball games.


title: Origins of baseball

text: Games played with bat-and-ball together may all be distant cousins; the same goes for base-and-ball games. Bat, base, and ball games for two teams that alternate in and out, such as baseball, cricket, and rounders, are likely to be close cousins. They all involve throwing a ball to a batsman who attempts to "bat" it away and run safely to a base, while the opponent tries to put the batter-runner out when liable ("liable [to be put out]" is the baseball term for unsafe). Certainly, baseball is "related" to cricket and rounders, but exactly how, or how closely, has not been established. The only certain thing is that cricket is much older than baseball, and that cricket was very popular in colonial America and the early United States, fading only with the explosive popularity of New York baseball after the Civil War. Baseball owes to cricket some adopted terminology, such as "outs", "innings", "runs" and "umpires". There was also, "wicket", a countrified form of cricket once very popular in New England, which retained the old-fashioned wide, low two-stump wicket, and in which the large ball was rolled along the ground.


title: Origins of baseball

text: The likelihood is that "base ball" and "rounders" (along with "feeder," "squares" and other names) were regional appellations for the same boys' game played with varying rules in many parts of England from the early 1700s onward. Along with its relatives stool-ball and the cat games it crossed the ocean with English colonists, and eventually followed its own independent evolutionary path, at the same time that back in England what was now generally called "rounders" was developing separately.


title: Origins of baseball

text: The game of "cat" (or ""cat-ball"") had many variations but usually there was a pitcher, a catcher, a batter and fielders, but there were no sides (and often no bases to run). Often, as in English tip-cat, there was no pitcher and the "cat" was not a ball but an oblong wooden object, roughly football-shaped, which could be flipped into the air by striking one end, or simply a short stick which could be placed over a hole or stone and similarly flipped up. In other variants the batter himself tossed the ball into the air with his free hand, as in fungo. A feature of some versions of cat that would later become a feature of baseball was that a batter would be out if he swung and missed three times.


title: Origins of baseball

text: Another game that was popular in early America was "one ol' cat", the name of which was possibly originally a contraction of "one hole catapult". In one ol' cat, when a batter is put out, the catcher goes to bat, the pitcher catches, a fielder becomes the pitcher, and other fielders move up in rotation. One ol' cat was often played when there weren't enough players to choose up sides and play townball. Sometimes running to a base and back was involved. "Two ol' cat" was the same game as one ol' cat, except that there were two batters; a diagram preserved in the New York Public Library is labeled "Four Old Cat" and depicts a square field like a baseball diamond and four batters, one at each corner.


title: Origins of baseball

text: There are numerous 18th and early 19th-century references in England and especially America to "bat and ball". Unfortunately,there is no knowledge and information about the game besides the name, nor whether it was an alternate term for baseball or something else such as trap-ball, cat or even cricket. It might merely be a generic phrase for any game played with bat and ball. However, in 1859, Alfred Elwyn recalled of his childhood in New Hampshire in the 1810s:


title: Origins of baseball

text: This "bat and ball," at least, appears very clearly to be a form of early baseball/roundball/townball.


title: Origins of baseball

text: Baseball, as it was before the rise to dominance of its altered New York variant in the 1850s and 60s, was known variously as base ball, town ball, round ball, round town, goal ball, field-base, three-corner cat, the New England game, or Massachusetts baseball. Generally speaking, "round-ball" was the most usual name in New England, "base-ball" in New York, and "town-ball" in Pennsylvania and the South. A diagram posted in the baseball collection on the New York Public Library's Digital Gallery website identifies a game played, "Eight Boys with a ball & four bats playing [F]our Old Cat" This game was apparently played on a square of 40 feet on each side, but the diagram does not make clear the rules or how to play the game. The same sheet of paper shows a diagram of a square – 60 feet per side with the base side having in its middle the "Home Goal", "Catcher", and "Striker", and with the corners marked as "1st Goal", "2nd Goal", "3rd Goal", and "4th Goal" as you travel counter-clockwise around the square. The note accompanying this diagram says, "Thirty or more players (15 or more on each side) with a bat and ball playing Town Ball, some times called Round Ball, and subsequently the so-called Massachusetts game of Base Ball".


title: Origins of baseball

text: Early baseball or town-ball had many, many variants, as would be expected of an informal boys' game, and most differed in several particulars from the game which developed in New York in the 1840s. Besides usually (but not always) being played on a 'rectangle' rather than a 'diamond,' with the batter positioned between fourth and first base (there were also variants with three and five bases), it was played by various numbers of players from six to over thirty a side, in most but not all versions there was no foul territory and every batted ball was in play, innings were determined on the basis of either "all out/all out" as in cricket or "one out/all out", in many all out/all out versions there was an opportunity for the last batter to earn another inning by some prodigious feat of hitting, pitching was overhand (underhand pitching was mandatory in "New York" baseball until the 1880s), and, perhaps most significantly, a baserunner was put out by "soaking" or hitting him with a thrown ball, just as in French poison-ball and Gutsmuth's .


title: Origins of baseball

text: As mentioned above, in 1829 "The Boy's Own Book" was reprinted in Boston, including the rules of rounders, and Robin Carver's 1834 "The Book of Sports" copied the same rules almost verbatim but changed "Rounders" to "Base or Goal ball" because, as the preface states, those "are the names generally adopted in this country" – which also implies that the game was "generally" known and played. In 1833 the Olympic Ball Club of Philadelphia was organized, and by 1837 the Gotham Base Ball Club would be formed in Manhattan, which would later split to form the Knickerbocker Club.


title: Origins of baseball

text: 1835 saw the publication of "Boy's Book of Sports" which, confusingly, has chapters for both "Base ball" and "Base, or Goal-ball", which seem to be little if at all different; both were "all out, all out" townball with soaking and a three-strike rule. Of more interest is the fact that here appears the earliest use of the terms "innings" and "diamond".


title: Origins of baseball

text: The early 1840s saw the formation of at least three more clubs in Manhattan, the New York, the Eagle and the Magnolia; another in Philadelphia, the Athletic; and even a club in Cincinnati. By 1851 the game of baseball was well-established enough that a newspaper report of a game played by a group of teamsters on Christmas Day referred to the game as "a good old-fashioned game of base ball", and the 1858 report of the National Association of Base Ball Players declared that "The game of base-ball has long been a favorite and popular recreation in this country, but it is only within the last fifteen years that any attempt has been made to systematize and regulate the game."


title: Origins of baseball

text: The older game was recognized as being very different in character from the new "Knickerbocker" style. The New York "Clipper" of October 10, 1857, reported on a match between the Liberty Club of New Jersey and "a party of Old Fogies who were in the habit of playing the old fashioned base ball, which as nearly everyone knows, is entirely different from the base ball as now played." When, in 1860, the Olympic Ball Club of Philadelphia voted to change over to the "New York game", several traditionalist members resigned in protest. That same year the rival Athletic Club traveled to Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania for a challenge match in which they competed against the local club in both town ball (the home team prevailed 45–43), and "New York" baseball (Athletic won easily, 34–2).


title: Origins of baseball

text: Round-ball persisted in New England longer than in other regions and during the period of overlap was sometimes distinguished as the "New England game" or "Massachusetts baseball"; in 1858 a set of rules was drawn up by the Massachusetts Association of Base Ball Players at the Phoenix Hotel in Dedham. This game was played by teams of ten to fourteen players with four bases 60 feet apart and no foul territory. The ball was considerably smaller and lighter than a modern baseball, and runners were still put out by "soaking".


title: Origins of baseball

text: The myth that Abner Doubleday invented baseball in 1839 was once widely promoted and widely believed. There is no evidence for this claim except for the testimony of one unreliable man decades later, and there is persuasive counter-evidence. Doubleday himself never made such a claim; he left many letters and papers, but they contain no description of baseball or any suggestion that he considered himself prominent in the game's history. His "New York Times" obituary makes no mention of baseball, nor does a 1911 Encyclopædia article about Doubleday. The story was attacked by baseball writers almost as soon as it came out, but it had the weight of Major League Baseball and the Spalding publishing empire behind it. Contrary to popular belief, Doubleday was never inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, although a large oil portrait of him was on display at the Hall of Fame building for many years.


title: Origins of baseball

text: Doubleday's invention of baseball was the finding of a panel appointed by Albert Spalding, a former star pitcher and club executive, who had become the leading American sporting goods entrepreneur and sports publisher. Debate on baseball's origins had raged for decades, heating up in the first years of the 20th century, due in part to a 1903 essay baseball historian Henry Chadwick wrote in Spalding's "Official Baseball Guide" stating that baseball gradually evolved from English game of “rounders”. To end argument, speculation, and innuendo, Spalding organized the Mills Commission in 1905. The members were baseball figures, not historians: Spalding's friend Abraham G. Mills, a former National League president; two United States Senators, former NL president Morgan Bulkeley and former Washington club president Arthur Gorman; former NL president and lifelong secretary-treasurer Nick Young; two other star players turned sporting goods entrepreneurs (George Wright and Alfred Reach); and AAU president James E. Sullivan.


title: Origins of baseball

text: The final report, published on December 30, 1907, included three sections: a summary of the panel's findings written by Mills, a letter by John Montgomery Ward supporting the panel, and a dissenting opinion by Henry Chadwick. The research methods were, at best, dubious. Mills was a close friend of Doubleday, and upon Doubleday's death in 1893 Mills orchestrated his memorial service and burial. Doubleday had been a prominent member of the spiritualist Theosophical Society, in which Spalding's wife was deeply involved and in whose compound in San Diego Spalding was residing at the time. Wright and Reach were effectively Spalding's employees, as he had secretly bought out their sporting-goods businesses some years before. AAU president and Commission secretary Sullivan was Spalding's personal factotum. Several other members had personal reasons to declare baseball as an "American" game, such as Spalding's strong American imperialist views. The Commission found an appealing story: baseball was invented in a quaint rural town without foreigners or industry, by a young man who later graduated from West Point and served heroically in the Mexican–American War, Civil War, and U.S. wars against Indians.


title: Origins of baseball

text: The Mills Commission concluded that Doubleday had invented baseball in Cooperstown, New York in 1839; that Doubleday had invented the word "baseball", designed the diamond, indicated fielders' positions, and written the rules. No written records in the decade between 1839 and 1849 have ever been found to corroborate these claims, nor could Doubleday be interviewed (he died in 1893). The principal source for the story was one letter from elderly Abner Graves, who was a five-year-old resident of Cooperstown in 1839. Graves never mentioned a diamond, positions or the writing of rules. What's more, his reliability as a witness was challenged because he spent his final days in an asylum for the criminally insane. Doubleday was not in Cooperstown in 1839 and may never have visited the town. He was enrolled at West Point at the time, and there is no record of any leave time. Mills, a lifelong friend of Doubleday, never heard him mention baseball, nor is there any mention of the game in Doubleday's autobiography. In character, Doubleday was bookish and sedentary, with no observable interest in athletics of any sort.


title: Origins of baseball

text: Versions of baseball rules and descriptions of similar games have been found in publications that significantly predate his alleged invention in 1839. Despite this, the ballpark built in 1939 only a few blocks down from the Hall of Fame still bears the name "Doubleday Field". However, aside from the artificial intrusion of the person of Doubleday and the village of Cooperstown, the Mills report was not entirely incorrect in its broad outline: a game related to English rounders was played in America from early times; it was supplanted by a variant form which originated in New York circa 1840. But this development happened in urban New York City, not pastoral Cooperstown, and the men involved were neither farm boys nor West Point cadets.


title: Origins of baseball

text: The earliest known published rules of baseball in the United States were written in 1845 for a New York City "base ball" club called the Knickerbockers. The purported organizer of the club, Alexander Cartwright, is one person commonly known as "the father of baseball". The rules themselves were written by the two-man Committee on By-Laws, Vice-president William R. Wheaton and Secretary William H. Tucker. One important rule, the 13th, outlawed "soaking" or "plugging", putting a runner out by hitting him with a thrown ball, introducing instead the concept of the tag; this reflected the use of a farther-traveling and potentially injurious hard ball. Another significant rule, the 15th, specified three outs to an inning for the first time instead of "one out, all out" or "all out, all out." The 10th rule prescribed foul lines and foul balls and the 18th forbade runners advancing on a foul, unlike the "Massachusetts game" in which all batted balls were in play. The Knickerbockers also enlarged the diamond well beyond that of town ball, "possibly" to modern size depending on how "paces" is interpreted.


title: Origins of baseball

text: Evolution from the so-called "Knickerbocker Rules" to the current rules is fairly well documented. The most significant differences were that overhand pitching was illegal, strikes were only counted if the batter swung and missed, "wides" or balls were not counted at all, a batted ball caught on the first bounce was an out, and a game was played to 21 "aces" or runs rather than for a set number of innings.


title: Origins of baseball

text: It is noteworthy, however, that the Knickerbocker Rules did not cover a number of basic elements of the game. For example, there was no mention of positions or the number of players on a side, the pitching distance was unspecified, the direction of base-running was left open, and it was never stated, though implied, that an "ace" was scored by crossing home plate. In all likelihood, all of these matters except the first were considered so intrinsic to baseball by this time that they were assumed; the number of players on a side, however, remained a matter of debate among clubs until fixed at nine in 1857, the Knickerbockers arguing unsuccessfully for seven-man teams.


title: Origins of baseball

text: On June 3, 1953, Congress officially credited Cartwright with inventing the modern game of baseball. He was already a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 1938 for various other contributions to baseball. However, the role of Cartwright himself in the game's invention has been disputed. According to Major League Baseball's official historian, John Thorn, "Cartwright's plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame declares he set the bases 90 feet apart and established nine innings as a game and nine players as a team. He did none of these things, and every other word of substance on his plaque is false." His authorship may have been exaggerated in a modern attempt to identify a single inventor of the game, and heavily advanced by a relentless public-relations campaign by his grandson. The 1845 Rules themselves are signed by the "Committee on By-Laws", William R. Wheaton and William H. Tucker. There is evidence that these rules had been experimented with and used by New York ball clubs for some time; Cartwright, in his 1848 capacity as club secretary (and a bookseller), was merely the first to have them printed up.


title: Origins of baseball

text: If Wheaton's account, given in 1887, was correct, then most of the innovations credited to Cartwright were, in fact, the work of the Gothams before the Knickerbockers were formed, including a set of written rules. John Thorn, MLB's official historian, argued in his book "Baseball in the Garden of Eden" that four members of the Knickerbockers, namely Wheaton, Louis F. Wadsworth, Daniel "Doc" Adams and William H. Tucker, have stronger claims than Cartwright as "inventors" of modern baseball.


title: Origins of baseball

text: Legend holds that Cartwright also introduced the game in most of the towns where he stopped on his trek west to California to find gold, a sort of Johnny Appleseed of baseball. This story, however, arose from forged entries in Cartwright's diary which were inserted after his death.


title: Origins of baseball

text: It is however certain that Cartwright, a New York bookseller who later caught gold fever, umpired a game in Hoboken, New Jersey on June 19, 1846. The game ended, and the Knickerbockers' opponents (the New York nine) won, 23–1. This was long believed to be the first recorded U.S. baseball game between organized clubs. However, at least three earlier reported games have since been discovered: on October 10, 1845, a game was played between the New York Ball Club and an unnamed club from Brooklyn, at the Union Star Cricket Grounds in Brooklyn; the New Yorks lost 22 to 1. The game was reported in the "New York Morning News" and "True Sun", making it the first ever published baseball result. The New Yorks and Brooklyns played two more games on October 21 and 24, with the first on the New Yorks' home diamond at Elysian Fields and the rematch at the Star Cricket Grounds again.


title: Origins of baseball

text: One point undisputed by historians is that the modern professional major leagues that began in the 1870s developed directly from the amateur urban clubs of the 1840s and 1850s, not from the pastures of small towns such as Cooperstown.


title: Origins of baseball

text: In 1845, the Knickerbocker Club began using Elysian Fields in Hoboken to play baseball, following the New York and Magnolia Ball Clubs which had begun playing there in 1843.


title: Origins of baseball

text: At a preliminary meeting [of the Knickerbockers], it was suggested that as it was apparent they would soon be driven from Murray Hill, some suitable place should be obtained in New Jersey, where their stay could be permanent; accordingly, a day or two afterwards, enough to make a game assembled at Barclay street ferry, crossed over, marched up the road, prospecting for ground on each side, until they reached the Elysian Fields, where they "settled."


title: Origins of baseball

text: On October 21, 1845, the New York Ball Club played the second of their three games against a Brooklyn team there, the series being the first known inter-club baseball games. In June 1846 the Knickerbockers played the "New York nine" (probably the same New York Ball Club) in the first baseball game played between clubs according to codified rules. A plaque and baseball diamond street pavings at 11th and Washington Streets commemorate the event. By the 1850s, several Manhattan-based members of the National Association of Base Ball Players were using the grounds as their home field.


title: Origins of baseball

text: In 1865 the grounds hosted a championship match between the Mutual Club of New York and the Atlantic Club of Brooklyn that was attended by an estimated 20,000 fans and captured in the Currier & Ives lithograph "The American National Game of Base Ball".


title: Origins of baseball

text: With the construction of two significant baseball parks enclosed by fences in Brooklyn, enabling promoters there to charge admission to games; the prominence of Elysian Fields began to diminish. In 1868 the leading Manhattan club, Mutual, shifted its home games to the Union Grounds in Brooklyn. In 1880, the founders of the professional National League's New York club and the Metropolitan Club of the American Association finally succeeded in siting a ballpark in Manhattan at the former Polo Grounds on 110th Street.


title: Origins of baseball

text: The Knickerbockers published their rulebook in 1848, including one significant change: the introduction of the force-out, but only at first base. In 1852, the Eagle Club published their rules, and two years later the Knickerbockers, Eagles and Gothams met and agreed to a uniform set of rules to govern all three clubs, at least in match play, which for the first time set the pitching distance (15 paces). A preliminary meeting in 1855 between seven other clubs, five from New York and one each from Brooklyn and New Jersey, represented the first effort to form an organized league, although it came to nothing. However, in 1857 sixteen clubs from New York and environs sent delegates to a convention that standardized the rules, essentially by agreeing to the unified Knickerbocker-Gotham-Eagle rules with certain revisions: rather than playing to a set number of runs, games would consist of nine innings, and force-outs could now occur at any base. The convention also defined the distance between the bases unambiguously as 90 feet, and specified nine-man teams. The following year, twenty-five clubs including one from New Jersey established an ongoing governing body with officers, constitution and by-laws, but the National Association of Base Ball Players is conventionally dated from the first meeting in 1857. It governed through 1870 but it scheduled and sanctioned no games.


title: Origins of baseball

text: In 1858, clubs from the association played a cross-town, all-star series pitting Brooklyn clubs against clubs from New York and Hoboken. On July 20, 1858, an estimated crowd of about 4,000 spectators watched New York and Hoboken defeat Brooklyn by a score of 22–18. The New York team included players from the Union, Empire, Eagle, Knickerbocker and Gotham clubs. The Brooklyn team included players from the clubs Excelsior, Eckford, Atlantic and Putnam. This was the first baseball game played before a paying crowd, with tickets priced at ten cents; the surplus receipts after costs were donated to charity. In a return match held August 17, 1858, and played at the Fashion Course in the Corona neighborhood of Queens, a slightly smaller crowd cheered Brooklyn to a win over New York and Hoboken by a score of 29–8. New York won a third game in the series, also played at the Fashion Course, on September 10, 1858.


title: Origins of baseball

text: By 1862 some NABBP member clubs offered games to the general public in enclosed ballparks with admission fees.


title: Origins of baseball

text: During and after the American Civil War (1861–1865), the movements of soldiers and exchanges of prisoners helped spread the game. As of the December 1865 meeting, the year the war ended, there were isolated Association clubs in Fort Leavenworth, St. Louis, Louisville, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, along with about 90 member clubs north and east of Washington, D.C. The game that was spread, however, was overwhelmingly the Knickerbocker version to the detriment of the older forms; as one periodical stated in 1865,


title: Origins of baseball

text: All of these clubs were nominally amateur, although by the late 1860s the strongest clubs' best players were being paid under the table. For the 1869 season the NABBP, in an effort to take the corrupting money out of the amateur game, permitted the formation of professional teams. This move, however, backfired, as the pro game exploded in popularity and amateur club baseball quickly died out. By far the most successful of the new professional clubs, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, recruited nationally and effectively toured nationally, and no one beat them until June 1870. Their success led to the founding of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players in 1871 and its successor, the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs in 1876, the elder of baseball's two Major Leagues and the oldest professional sports league in the world.


title: Origins of baseball

text: Already in the 19th century, the "old game" was invoked for special exhibitions such as reunions and anniversariesand for making moral points. Today hundreds of clubs in the U.S. play "vintage base ball" according to the 1845, 1858, or later rules (up to about 1887), usually in vintage uniforms. Some of them have supporting casts that recreate period dress and manner, especially those associated with living history museums.


title: Origins of baseball

text: The origins of baseball were summarized in a documentary produced by Major League Baseball in 2009 titled "Base Ball Discovered".


title: Hearing

text: Hearing, or auditory perception, is the ability to perceive sounds through an organ, such as an ear, by detecting vibrations as periodic changes in the pressure of a surrounding medium. The academic field concerned with hearing is auditory science.