Burt introduced me to baseball. I did know it existed of course, but did not appreciate the beauty of a double play until he explained it at the ballpark.
There are many myths about the origins of the American pastime.
One is that Pittsfield Invented Baseball. It’s a long story and I will present you with a digest of it but Pittsfield did not invent baseball anymore than Abner Doubleday did.
Baseball evolved from Cricket and Rounders. British sports.
What Pittsfield did do was protect the windows of its newly built town hall from balls hurled within 80 yards.
The ordinance banning cricket or baseball or bat ball etc from the grounds of the meeting hall was dated September 5, 1791. Early days in baseball history.
For the record, it appears that baseball was not invented in Cooperstown either. As I said, baseball evolved.
Pittsfield has a baseball stadium and at one time it was home to a Triple A Mets farm team. Burt did take me to see a couple of games there.
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