Baseball's origins in stoolball

Baseball fans interested in the origins of their own sport have researched the history of stoolball. The results include the most detailed chronology we know of, and a documentary film produced by Major League Baseball.

Baseball before we knew it

David Block’s fascinating book on the story of baseball is well researched, and has a detailed chapter on the history of stoolball. He names our sport as the most important origin of modern baseball.

Stoolball is alive and well in Sussex

Martin Hoerchner of the Society for American Baseball Research talks about his discovery of stoolball in 1999. He includes a good explanation of stoolball for baseball players, and a report of the Seaford tournament that year.

Stoolball chronology at Project Protoball

The most complete chronology of stoolball history, assembled by Larry McCray at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It’s part of a collaborative project tracing the history of ball games starting from an interest in baseball. You can even join the project and help their research.

Baseball Discovered – a documentary

A team from Major League Baseball in America visited the UK to film stoolball and other sports as part of this documentary on the history of baseball, which won an Award for Baseball Excellence from the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Origins of baseball – Wikipedia

A discussion of the various games which are a part of baseball’s history, in which stoolball is listed as a “folk game”.