Category: Native American Ball Games

1868: The Indian Ball Players

4/27/2015

The troupe of Indians at present staying in the city gave another of their ball playing exhibitions yesterday at the St. Louis Base Ball Park. There was quite a large attendance of spectators who were amused and interested. The players are very dexterous and enter into the spirit of the game with great enthusiasm. At times almost an excitement attends the contest which, in its main characteristics, resembles the Irish game of "foot ball" more than anything else, the object of one side being to force the ball to a particular spot and at the other to convey it in an opposite direction. There is much running and wrestling and many diverting collisions. The players use a bat something in the shape of a ladle and catch balls very cleverly with it. The game is odd and is worth seeing.

-Missouri Republican, July 1, 1868

With the use of the "ladle," this sounds a lot like hurling to me but I guess with the rough and tumble nature of the game, a comparison to Gaelic football is fair. In an earlier article, the Republican called this "raquette ball" and I speculated that it was the Native American game of stickball. Who knows for sure? All I know is that I would have loved to have been there and seen the game for myself.

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1868: Raquette Ball

4/8/2015

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Col. Sim Folsom, with forty Indians from the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes, will play their national game of Raquette Ball, on Sunday, the 28th inst., at 4 o'clock P.M., on the grounds of the Base Ball Club, near the Fair Grounds. Admission 50c, children half price.

-Missouri Republican, June 25, 1868

When researching the early history of baseball in the United States, you often come across accounts of Native American ballplaying. While those games do not appear to have had any influence upon the development and evolution of baseball, they are still fascinating and certainly need to be acknowledged when talking about the early history of ball games in America.

As to this particular game, I think we're talking about stickball. Now I'm not sure if that was a common name for the game but it appears to be what we're calling it these days. Obviously, in 1868, we find a reference to it being called raquette ball, which is interesting. It also appears that there was a version of this game that was common among Native American tribes in the southeastern United States, which included the Chickasaw and Choctaw and I would imagine that this is the version that was played in this exhibition.

Now I have no idea how all of this fits in with the history, development, and evolution of Native American ball games. That is a subject that, while it interests me, is simply outside my perview. I don't know enough about the subject to speak intelligently and I'm sure it's all rather complicated. But, as I said, when looking at the early history of baseball, these things always pop up and I think it's good to acknowledge that.

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1868: The Indian Ball Players

1868: Raquette Ball

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