Activity books for children have been a best-seller from the earliest days of print. Since the beginning of time, parents have been locked in a never ending battle against their children’s boredom and new ideas are valuable. The most famous early game book to mention baseball was by John Newbery in 1744 with the incredibly long title, A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, intended for the Amusement of Little Master Tommy and Pretty Miss Polly with Two Letters from Jack the Giant Killer. However, the accompanying illustration more resembles rounders but with what looks like stone posts, and the batter isn't even holding a bat and looks like he’s going to hit with his bare hand. It is really the vaguest of suggestions. Since then, many other Victorian era chapbooks printed variations on the same theme. The 1820 edition of Children's Amusements published by Samuel Wood & Co. in New York, and Samuel Wood & Son, 212 Market Street in Baltimore, contains the very first recognizable illustration of the game of baseball in America, but offers little in rules. Instead, the entry for “Playing Ball” offers a cautionary tale and offers the game of Fives, a version of handball, as the safer alternative.

     "With bat and ball, some boys we find,

      To amuse themselves, are much inclin'd."

“Playing ball is namely practiced by school boys and is an excellent exercise to unbend the mind, and restore that elasticity and spring which the close application to elementary employment in their studies within doors has a tendency to clog, dull or blunt. But when practiced with the common method with a club or bat, great care is necessary, as sometimes accidents have happened by its slipping from the hand, or hitting some of their fellows. We would therefore recommend Fives as a safer play, in which the club is not used and which is equally good for exercise. The writer of this, besides other hurts which he has been witness of in the use of clubs, know of a youth who had his skull broken badly with one and it nearly cost him his life.”

Chalkboard promotional item (1888? no artist listed) with a depiction of Baltimore's Newington Park. The reverse side contains a Little Rascalsesque mish-mash of odd spellings and confusing information. Hugh Daily never played for the Lords. Alphonsus T. Houck owned and managed the ballpark but not the team. I've always questioned the authenticity of these two pieces BUT the clubhouse in the upper right does somewhat match period descriptions. If it is real, it'd date from at least 1888 when the Orioles were playing at Oriole Park #1 (Huntingdon Avenue). The last pic is the only depiction of Newington from around 1870 right before the Lord Baltimore's started playing there. Strange thing is... The 1882 Baltimore Base Ball Club played at Newington, BUT they were NOT the Orioles. The 1882 team was scuttled at the end of the season because they were terrible and financially unstable and replaced with a new team for 1883 that was owned by Billy Barnie and A.T. Houck. From 1881-1883 Baltimore hosted the Oriole Celebration (a big Mardi Gras) and Houck rented Newington out for it and then named his new team the Orioles. The Orioles never actually played at Newington, so why are they depicted as such? Real or fake - what do you think?

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