Codes and Chronology: Mapping Diamond Lives
Codes
Throughout the Diamond Lives series, you will see me refer to ‘American baseball’ or ‘baseball under the American code’ on the one hand, and ‘English baseball’ or ‘baseball under the English code’ (aka ‘Welsh baseball’/‘British baseball’), on the other. This is because, for much of the past 150 years of baseball in Britain, the game, at different times and places, has been played under two different sets of rules: those of the familiar American game and those of an indigenous variant that was developed in parallel with rather than being an offshoot of the American game (albeit informed by the existence of the American game and knowledge of its rules). Critically—at least in the minds of adherents of the American game—the English variant was known for the first 20 or so years of its existence (roughly 1874–1892) as ‘rounders’, only adopting the name ‘English baseball’ after the American game arrived on these shores to both set itself apart from the American game and to escape the perceived stigma of being a ‘child’s game’.
My Diamond Lives story is concerned primarily with the stories of men and women involved in trying to popularise the American game in Britain; however, for a full understanding of the progress of the American game in Britain, it is important, in my view, to also understand the story of the English game, not least because players moved between the two codes, and at times, the survival of one code in Britain relied on the survival of the other. The origins of the English code and the key differences between it and the American code are detailed in Intolerance. Parts II and III of the Health, Friendship, and Baseball series chronicle the golden age of the English game in one of its heartlands: South Wales (Cardiff and Newport). Finally, Versions describes one, particularly large debt that the American game in Britain owes to the English game.
The English game is now, to the best of my knowledge, little if ever played; however, it still has its enthusiasts, and they would welcome its revival. It is a living history.
Chronology
In the Diamond Lives series, I am concerned primarily with telling the stories of some of the men and women, players and gamemakers, involved in baseball in Britain from the 1870s until the start of the Second World War, rather than a strict chronological ordering of events.
However, for those interested in the chronology of attempts to popularise the American game in Britain in this period, I have created a Baseball in Britain family tree. Meanwhile, for those interested in reading the Diamond Lives series in chronological order, I would suggest:
Health, Friendship, and Baseball, Part I (1900–1912)
Health, Friendship, and Baseball, Part II (1907–1918)
Health, Friendship, and Baseball, Part III (1918–1939)
Typists, Factory Girls, and Clerks (1929–1939)
Health, Friendship, and Baseball, Part IV (1934–1939)
Wearing the Flag and articles therein (1934–1939)
Washington Makes His Bow (1928–1938)
By Kind Permission of Colonel J.A. Killian (1942–1944)
There are, in addition, two articles that survey specific elements of the game in Britain from the 1880s until the start of the Second World War, namely the contribution of players of colour from North America (Behind the Mask) and Japan (Nichiei Yakyu); and two pieces that discuss other items of interest: British baseball silverware (Chasing Silver), and my approach to researching the subject (Words and Music).
Jamie Barras, October 2025.