Why the Name Townball?

As is mentioned in our article, Origins of the American Pastime, every region in the United States had their own version of base ball that they played according to the local rules.

Not only this, but the game of bat-and-ball was referred to in each region by a different name. For example, even though Massachusetts and New York had very different versions of the game, the name of their respective games were both referred to as “base ball.” Similarly, although Ohio and Philadelphia had very different games, their respective games were both referred to as “town ball.”

Suppose a family from Ohio were to witness a base ball game while traveling through the Massachusetts region. Their conversation might sound something like this:

“Pa, what kind of game are they playing over their yonder?”

“I reckon it must be some version of town ball, son.”

Thus it could be said that to the family from Ohio, any version of bat-and-ball, regardless of where it was being played, would be referred to as “town ball,” and to the family from Massachusetts, any version of bat-and-ball, regardless of where it was being played, would be referred to as “base ball.”

Thus base ball, town ball, and round ball are really synonomous terms for any version of ball that was being played in this country in the nineteenth century.

However, once The New York Game began to dominate as the National Game in this country, the term “baseball” was soon thereafter adopted to refer to only The New York version of the game. All the other versions of bat-and-ball were then retroactively dubbed “town ball.”

Thus since Twenty-First Century Townball is not “baseball,” it must therefore for historical reasons be a version of “town ball.” And since this game has been reinvented in this century, it is therefore a twenty-first century version of town ball. Hence the name, “Twenty-First Century Townball.”