John Newbery Needs A Card Too

If TRISTAR brings Obak back next year I have another historical figure they could add to their list of Game Changers, John Newbery.  Newbery started the entire children’s literature genre back in 1744 with is publication A Pretty Little Pocket-Book.  What makes this book so fascinating to sports collectors is the fact that it contains the first reference to the word baseball historians have ever found.  One of the main differences in the picture is that the colonial figures are using wooden posts instead of bases.  Can you imagine the historical significance if someone were to uncover a post or something that was used in one of these early games?  Its almost impossible to happen though.

During the late 1800’s, Henry Chadwick (The Father of Baseball) developed the modern box score.  He was the guy to think of using the letter “K” to symbol a strike out.  He used a “K” because it was the last letter in the word “struck”.  I find it interesting that at the top of the page from the 1744 book it reads “The little k Play.”