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Friday, April 30, 2021

Hartford


These men are the 1876 Hartford Dark Blues.

 

2 comments:

  1. Some years ago during my research I learnt to my surprise that the English/Irish game of "rounders" was originally called "base-ball" and dates in the British Isles to Tudor (16th century) times. "Base-ball" found its way to Massachusetts in the mid-18th century and the American rules variant of the game took hold. Rounders is largely a child's game this side of the Atlantic but remains very popular. Here we see in that the team strip has hardly changed in over a century, although the materials used will have, along with what is worn underneath.

    My school had a number of oddballs, one being a boy called Stewart and who claimed that he was a cousin of the Queen - which could have been true: 12th cousin, three times removed. He affected that accent with strangulated vowels common among some aristocrats. We were having an impromptu game of rounders on Pertwood Plot when in strode a new boy, the son of an American general, stationed with Nato forces on neighbouring Salisbury Plain. Stewart went up to him in all friendliness and asked him to join "our game of rinders". (Pronounced as in "rind", "bind" and "kind".) The poor kid stared at him in total incomprehension and then took a look. He took the bat, played by American rules, and beat the opposing team flat. He later said, "I can't understand a word that guy says," to which we replied, "Don't worry, neither can we..."

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    1. Great story! Most Americans don't know that baseball is derived from rounders.

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