1791: Banned—But They Played On

The first documented mention of baseball being played in a specific place is a 1791 Pittsfield, Massachusetts by-law found in the Berkshire Athenaeum and City Hall.

Baseballs and windows have a magical attraction. The magic may have begun in 1791 when the costly windows of Pittsfield's new meeting house seemed precariously close to the bat and ball games on the Park Square green. On September 5, 1791, the town meeting banned baseball and all bat and ball games within 80 yards of the Bullfinch designed meeting house. No crack of bat, hitting ball or barefoot run from base to base was to be allowed in the shade of the Old Elm. But Pittsfield kept on playing ball. In time, the game spread and evolved into what we today call America's national pastime—BASEBALL!