Alexander Joy Cartwright Jr.

Creator of Baseball
By Max Denny

Early Life

Born in New York City April 17, 1820. One of six children to his mother Esther Burlock Cartwright and his father Alexander Joy Cartwright sr. When moved out he met a woman Eliza van Wie

Life with Eliza Van Wie

Married Eliza June 2, 1842

Had three children in York Dewitt was the first of his children Next came a girl Mary
The last child was also a girl who was named Catherine.

His life before the invention of Baseball

Cartwright Started working as a sales clerk when he was 16 years old. Cartwright spent the years after being a clerk as a volunteer firefighter for Oceana Hose Company No.36 July, 1845 a fire burned down the Union Bank where Cartwright was employed Alexander Jr. now needed a to take on a new job. His brother took him in and made Alexander a book salesman.

The invention of Baseball

In the 1600s there was a game invented by the English called Rounders. The object of the game was for players on each team tried to tag the runner by throwing the ball at him or her and hitting them with it. In the 1700s colonists invented their own game that had certain variations from Rounders and they called it town ball

The Creation of Baseball Continued

The colonists town ball was the first to have a bat but the bat was different from the one today it was shaped more like a paddle. Sometimes their would be 25 people on each team and every played had to have a chance to bat. In 1845 Alexander Cartwright Jr. loved playing town ball but, he always felt the game was missing some aspects others did not see. One day Alexander Jr. came to the fields they played ball with a new set of rules and a drawing of a field shaped like a field, he called it baseball.

The Rules Alexander Jr. Baseball

Players used bats that are shaped like the ones common today Instead of posts like in Rounders the game had four flat bases runners could stop at and be safe. But, there was a new rule that made his game more popular now runners would have to be tagged out they could no longer be out by getting the ball thrown at them

Bibliography
http://www.kenkobaseball.com/press/ajc.html http://www.schools.pinellas.k12.fl.us/educators/tec/ mutert2/begbb.html http://bvmpe.wordpress.com/2012/08/24/bvmbaseball-tryouts-scheduled/ http://www.bighornmountainradio.com/home/index.p hp?option=com_content&view=article&id=4324:b uffalo-baseball-today-throughsaturday&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=58