British baseball
[3][4] The National Rounders Association were based in Merseyside, England, where in April 1886 they were one of a number of locally based sporting institutions with elected representation onto the directorate of the Liverpool Athletic Grounds Company Ltd.[5] Calls were made to follow the success of other working class sports such as football, on Merseyside, and rugby in Wales to adopt a distinct set of rules and bureaucracy.
[8] In a June 1888 edition of the South Wales Daily News, the now codified rules of this new sport were discussed and it was noted that "the National Rounders Association is the authority".
[16] By the end of the 1892 season, baseball teams from Liverpool and Lancashire were invited to play matches at Cardiff Arms Park with the express purpose of popularising "the improved version of the old-fashioned game of rounders".
[20] By 1894 the Liverpool and District Baseball League was established and the game was flourishing on Merseyside and parts of Lancashire and South Wales.
[21] In April 1899, at the annual meeting of the English Baseball Association in Liverpool, it was resolved that the rules of the game would be changed, to speed up play and tackle the “waiting tactics adopted by batsmen”.
[27] In August 1918 the English Baseball Association organised an international fixture, whereby England took on Canada at the Police Athletic Ground in the Fairfield area of Liverpool.
The new body quickly made a visit to Liverpool and noted that “the closer link formed between the English and Welsh baseball authorities would materially help to attain the standard of a national pastime”.
[31] Welsh baseball was by now notable for its female participation, which had begun during the First World War among the young women working in factories.
[35] By 1927 the English Baseball Association had three divisions, with a total of 23 clubs across Merseyside and attendances were outstripping those at greyhound racing stadiums.
[39] In October 1934 the English Baseball Association signed an agreement to travel to Edinburgh in 1935, to begin the process of introducing the game into Scotland, though a number of well known Scottish players such as Billy Lamont, Charlie Moore and Donald MacKinlay were already playing in leagues in Liverpool.
Although British baseball would survive, the American league had a detrimental effect throughout the decade, with players, crowds and backers leaving the sport for a professional career in a game gaining support throughout England.
This pride and belief was evident when the annual internationals resumed in 1948 at Cardiff's Castle Grounds, with a record 16,000 spectators in attendance and Welsh legend Ted Peterson leading Wales to victory.
In addition to the now established clubs, churches, stores, factories, and bars would form teams, and the game became the heart of social activities for many, especially in Cardiff.
The sport was also enjoying popularity In England, with a number of Exhibition games played in London and teams established in Bristol and Coventry.
The 1964 International saw Hennessey (as captain) demolish his rivals' batting line up for a record six runs in 30 balls and just nine minutes in front of a crowd of 6,000 at the Maindy Stadium.
This record is notable as it would not be surpassed for 50 years, when Wales international Matthew Hopkins managed the same feat for the loss of just one run in the 2014 fixture at Whiteheads Ground, Newport.
[46] The sport gained a new audience in Wales as live coverage of the international fixture and some club matches became a feature of Welsh television in the 1970s and 1980s, but the last decades of the century were generally characterised by a continued decline in attendances and participation.
In 1989 reserves of the long used worsted made Webber ball were exhausted, following the manufacturer Jaques of London, ceasing production.
The prospect of watching Wales' star rugby players play the game also ended in 1995 with the introduction of professional contracts, ceasing their unsanctioned participation in other sports.
[48] By 2006 participation levels in England had slumped considerably to a point where only four clubs remained active: All Saints, Anfield, Breckside and Townsend.
The match was the 83rd international played between the two nations, and was Wales' 61st victory; England had won 20 and two games were declared draws due to inclement weather (1957 and 1998).
By 2017, the Welsh men's league and cup fixtures were abandoned mid-season due to a lack of players at some member clubs.
[52] Subsequent years have seen the Welsh Baseball Union working with local councils to reintroduce the sport into high schools.
This has seen the sport played beyond its traditional areas (especially the South Wales Valleys), as the game allows for mixed gender participation, is easy to understand, and can be adapted to accommodate a high number of players.
[53] Among those who achieved fame through their baseball exploits were Ted Peterson, whose international appearances stretched from the 1930s to 1960s, and Paddy Hennessey, renowned for his fast bowling.
