Birthplace of Baseball Monument

The monument stands on the site of the former Elysian Fields where the first recorded match between two organized baseball clubs took place in eighteen forty six. On that June afternoon, the New York Nine defeated the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club in four innings. The Knickerbockers lost by a score of twenty three to one, a lopsided result that helped cement the rules established by Alexander Cartwright. Cartwright had formalized the game on these grounds just months earlier, introducing the concepts of foul territory and the three strike rule that define the sport today.