How a cricket journalist prevented the growth of the game in USA

Cricket journalist Henry Chadwick wrote baseball’s first rule book

Have you ever wondered why cricket hasn’t got much limelight in the United States of America when compared to the Commonwealth countries? If you think that the US was unfamiliar with the gentleman’s game in the past, then you are wrong. In fact, during the 1860s, cricket was on the verge of taking centre-stage in the nation.

But Henry Chadwick, the UK-born cricket journalist, ensured that baseball become the nation’s premiere sport by simplifying its complex nature.

Before going into the details of that story, here’s a look at some of the famous games to which the United Kingdom has been home:

1. Badminton: This game has its origin in the history of India’s colonial past under British administration.

2. Bowls: The game was prevalent in ancient Britain and its origin can be traced back to as early as 1299 AD.

3. Baseball: The father of baseball – Henry Chadwick – was actually of English origin.

4. Rugby: The game was first played by English clubs in the late 18^th century.

5. Cricket: The origin of the gentlemen’s game can be traced back to as early as the 16th century.

Henry Chadwick: The father of baseball

The elementary form of baseball was brought to the US first by English immigrants, and Chadwick contributed heavily towards making the sport the country’s leading one at that time – a trend which has remained to this date.

Chadwick wrote baseball’s first rule book that paved the way for the game’s continuity for the next few centuries to come. The game is now well-known in other parts of the world as well. It is because of his contribution that the US president Theodore Roosevelt hailed him as the ‘father of baseball’.

Chadwick was highly enthusiastic about cricket in his childhood. He spent most of his early days at Devon in England, but he didn’t get much time to enjoy his adolescence in the UK. He had to move to the US when he was just 12 years old.

Journalism was in the genes of Chadwick and he chose to follow the footsteps of his father who was a journalist too. After completing his education, Chadwick became a cricket journalist with the famous US media house New York Times. Though he kept writing about cricket, his mind was curious about baseball.

Chadwick’s exceptional ability to deal with statistics saw his mercurial rise from a mere cricket writer to a baseball expert within a short span of time. In 1858, Chadwick was appointed to the Rules Committee of the game.

Soon after that, he was entrusted with the responsibility of being the editor for Spalding's official baseball guide, one which he completed successfully. Chadwick made the book an easily accessible read for the common people, which is never an easy thing to do.

Baseball has not looked back since

The rest is history, because Chadwick’s effort not only simplified baseball’s complex rules and statistics for the masses, it also made it a household sport all across the US. It was Chadwick’s strong influence and dedication to baseball that kept cricket from gaining its roots in the US, despite being a prominent sport at that time.

Eventually, Chadwick became the first journalist to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938. Slowly but surely, cricket started taking a backseat in the region, while baseball continued to dominate the world of sports in the US in the next few decades as well.

Since then, cricket has repeatedly failed to compete against baseball in the nation’s collective consciousness.