Uncommon
Origins of baseball
The question of the origins of baseball has been the subject of debate and controversy for more than a century. Baseball and the other modern bat, ball, and running games – stoolball, cricket and rounders – were developed from folk games in early Great Britain, Ireland, and Continental Europe, some of which may date to the Late Middle Ages. These early predecessors to baseball had a number of names, including "base ball", "goal ball", "round ball", "fetch-catch", "stool ball", and, simply, "base". In at least one version of the game, teams pitched to themselves, runners went around the bases in the opposite direction of today's game, much like in the Nordic brännboll, and players could be put out by being hit with the ball. Just as now, in some versions a batter was called out after three strikes. The first written attestations of an established game called "baseball" involving striking a pitched ball and then running a circuit of bases date to the mid-18th century in Southern England...
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