Women's Baseball Game, Peterboro, New York (1868)

In 1868 in Peterboro, New York, two women's clubs played one of the first recorded baseball games between female teams. Peterboro was a small upstate village about 75 miles from Seneca Falls, where the women's suffrage movement was gaining momentum. The illustration above appeared soon after the game in a New York newspaper called It's The Day's Doings, and is now reproduced on the cover of the Play Ball! baseball scorebook. It's The Day's Doings in 1868 also published a quaint (and unfortunately sexist) account of that early game, which read as follows:

THE LAST ILLUSTRATION OF WOMAN'S RIGHTS--
A Female Base-Ball Club at Peterboro, N.Y.

We hear on all sides of woman-- of her rights and of her wrongs-- we hear of her from our pulpits, we read of her in our novels and essays, we see her occasionally on the lecture-- a speaker or at the meetings of politicians, we find her demanding her rights as a representative-- and lately, some of the more favored portion of our rural districts have beheld her as a practical advocate of muscular Christianity and a player of base-ball. In the latter capacity, at least, she deserves our unqualified attention and commendation. Physical exercise is one of the needs of American men, especially of American women. The Grecian Bend, and other kindred absurdities, have had their day, (so let us devoutly trust) and in their stead attention is being directed to physical sports of a bracing and healthful character. Every well-wisher of woman-- (and what man with a wife, sweetheart, sister or daughter is not such a well-wisher)-- will wish our female base-ball clubs, and similar organizations, all success, and only wish that there were more of them.

The last success in female base-ball, occurred at Peterboro, a thriving little village in New York State, and is thus recorded by the local paper:

The young women of Peterboro, N.Y., jealous of the popular sports enjoyed by the more muscular portion of mankind, have organized a baseball club, and have already arrived at a creditable degree of proficiency in play. There are about fifty members belonging to it, from which a playing nine has been chosen, headed by Miss Ninnie Miller as captain. The nine have played several games outside the town and away from the gaze of the curious. Having thus perfected themselves, this nine lately played a public game in the town of Peterboro, as may well be supposed, before a multitude of spectators.