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1860s-70s "Town Ball" Baseball Bat - Huge 37.75"
Terrific Town Ball bat. Handmade. Discovered in New England (dates from 1860s-70s) It's age is told by the thinness and length. At its thickest, the bat barrel is only 7" in circumference, and the vintage bat is 37.75". Before there was baseball there was town ball. Town ball is a bat-and-ball, safe-haven game (as in a home base), similar to rounders and a precursor to baseball. Generally, there was no foul territory and a runner could be put out by hitting him with a thrown ball, called "soaking" or "plugging." As in baseball, there were four bases, one of them "home." "Base tenders" became what we now term infielders and "scouts" roamed outside the infield and became what we now call outfielders. Town ball was very similar to the English game of rounders, and gradually the game morphed into the game that became baseball. Wouldn't it be something to possess a bat from the time before there was baseball?
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