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Posted By: barrysloate

Corey- I think you are right. If I remember correctly, they started meeting several times a week in Murray Hill around 1842, but I think their activities were largely disorganized. They decided at some point that finding some competitive sport to play would be more worthwhile. So clearly by the time they codified the first set of rules on September 23, 1845, they had to have been already playing baseball for months.

But it was during that trial period that they determined the rules of baseball as they were known to that point were insufficient. My theory, and others too, feel it may have been more of a joint effort and not solely the invention of Alexander Cartwright.