Collections Item Detail

DescriptionBlack-and-white photos, two, of the Knickerbocker Ball Club Gamebook No. 1, pages 1 and 2, October 6, 1845. Two 8" x 10" wide copy prints. Spalding Collection, Special Collections Office, Manuscripts & Archives Section. Three adhesive labels on back of each. Pages 1 and 2 of the first printed scoring book for the team, pages are titled "Knickerbocker Ball Club." It was used for one of the earliest games of baseball (or base ball) played under modern rules. The game was played at Elysian Fields, Hoboken and preceded by over eight months, the June 19, 1846 game at Elysian Fields which has been commemorated as the first match game played under the modern rules. Each print has two large adhesive labels on back regarding New York Library source and citation. Back has third adhesive label with handwritten text: [red ink] Jersey Game #4a (or 4b) [blue china marker] 4A (or 4B) This text refers to the book: The Jersey Game. The History of Modern Baseball from its Birth to the Big Leagues in the Garden State. By James M. DiClerico & Barry J. Pavelec. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, [1991]. Apparently these prints were gathered by the authors of this work for research and reproduction use in the 1970s or early 1980s. These images are reproduced on pages [12] and [13] in that book. Credit there is stated as: Spalding Collection, Rare Books and Manuscripts Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. ---- [A more complete citation would be: The A. G. Spalding Baseball Collection.] ---- New York Knickerbockers.