Up the coast in Boston, cricket was also played by English immigrants, notably those who considered themselves as gentry.
But Boston had begun quite early on to acquire both a plebean and an Irish flavor. The game of rounders, an earlier form of cricket which seems to have been favored by the Irish, as well as by English children in the 16th century, became the game of choice among the youth.
The Boston cricketers of the time encouraged "rounders" as a secondary diversion, and even allowed it to be played in their cricket fields by those who preferred an alternative to the more formal sport of cricket.
So "early baseball", i.e. " US rounders", grew up in the USA under cricket's benign umbrella, and stayed that way for about the first hundred years of its existence.
New terminology was soon introduced in Boston and New York to describe the US game. The pitcher was known then as the 'feeder,' the batter was called the 'striker,' and the fielders were referred to as the 'scouts.'
Basically, the 'feeder' threw a slow, underhand pitch from one base to the 'striker' at the other, exactly where he was asked to deliver it. (If the 'feeder' failed to satisfy the 'striker's' requests, the 'striker' could demand that the 'feeder' be replaced!) The 'striker' would hit the ball as far as he could, and this would enable him to run back and forth between his original position and the other stake, each successful run scoring a point.
The scouts or the feeder would field the ball, and try to hit the striker with the ball before he could finish his run and grab the base he was running to (he would be "safe" as long as he was holding the post which served as a base).
**[ In other words, the MAJOR differerence between early rounders and cricket in North America was that the bowler/pitcher had no role in getting the batter out...the batter could only be "run out" or "caught".
The earlier British versions of rounders had often involved several bases...3, 4, even 5. The 2-base version developed in the USA made early US Rounders look a bit more like cricket...perhaps the Boston cricketers of the day had some influence on the early US version of "rounders", since the cricket grounds would have been set up for two-wicket play anyway. DKD.]**
In doing this, US rounders was reverting to some of the earlier forms of the game played in the 16th century....but it was also moving away from 18th-century cricket. . It seems the cricketers of the day had no particular interest in having the number of bases conform to cricket, as in the earlier two-base version of the game---as far as they were concerned, it did not matter. This may have been a fatal error, though whether it could have been avoided is an open question.
With the changes in rules, came a name change as well. Instead of "rounders", the game now began to be called "Townball," i.e. an urban sport unlike cricket, which was a bucolic and leisure-class activity. The stakes which functioned as bases in "Townball" were much closer to each other than the bases in a modern-day baseball diamond---20 yards or less, as opposed to today's 30 yards....no doubt to accomodate urban space constraints! Also, their disposition was "square", not diamond-like---see the diagram in the 1850's Townball Rules (referenced below). The number of bases or stakes could be varied from two to five, but four bases became more and more typical.
In Massachussetts, Townball was played from the early 1800s, but the rules were codified in 1858. Click here, on Rules of Townball in Massachussetts in the 1850's, to get a first-hand look at the emerging rules of baseball.
As the New York Game became established, in 1845 a young surveyor by the name of Alexander Cartwright designed the first baseball diamond, departing from Boston's "Town Square" design. A year later in Hoboken, NJ, 'The New York Game' was played on a field using Cartwright's dimensions. The contest featured the New York Nine vs. the Knickerbocker Club.
Each club had nine players, apparently for no better reason than that New York insisted on that number....and in those days, what New York wanted, New York got. A complete inning where all nine had batted was termed a 'hand', exactly as in early cricket, but batting would rotate between the opposite sides on every 'out'. A complete trip around the bases was called an 'ace.' For the New York Game, the winner was the first team to score 21 aces, i.e. bring 21 runners "home".
A challenge match between teams from nearby communities was often the setting for a local holiday.
As interest in baseball rose, changes were made to ensure the game's continued popularity. For instance,by the early 1800s a round bat was used instead of a flat cricket bat....modern cricket bats are expensive and individualized to suit the tastes of different batters, while baseball bats (which look rather like cricket bats from the 13th century and earlier)can be used by just about anybody who wants to play. All players (including the catcher) started using padded mitts and protective gear when necessary.
Gradually, the rules were also changed to give back the 'feeder' or 'pitcher' more of a role in getting batters out.
First, they were allowed to pitch as they wished, not how the striker wanted him to (as in rounders). Then, the batter was restricted to three "strikes" (i.e. "misses") on accurate pitches, and earned a free base run after four inaccurately thrown pitches (the "four balls" rule)...meaning, a batter was on base for no more than 5 to 10 pitches every time he came in to bat. Even this rule was amended, awarding a "strike" to the pitcher on an inaccurate pitch if he had tempted the batter to swing and miss...giving the pitcher even greater advantages!
Scoring hits were soon restricted to the spaces between the three bases facing the batter. At first, a batter could stay on base and make an unlimited number of hits ("foul tips") outside the scoring zone, but after 1920 this was restricted to the final "strike" pitch only.
Another change: Previously, the batting side would change on every "out", but both sides would keep batting until 21 runners had been brought safely "home". Now, the team bringing more runners "home" for a given number of "outs" was allowed to claim victory.
Finally, allowing each inning to consist of three "outs" effectively split the game into three short batting forays per side... and, by alternating these new "innings", each team got the chance to match or surpass the other's score throughout the course of the game. This increased the suspense of winning or losing, always an important factor in American sport.
Early baseball (i.e. US rounders) was supposed to give batters more opportunities than in cricket, by reducing the role of the pitcher/bowler to that of "feeder". Yet todays' baseball is a pitcher's game....while modern cricket is the sport that really gives batters the major role !
Baseball and cricket, then, came from very similar backgrounds.
They looked a lot like each other, in baseball's early days.
But, after 1850, the two games drifted apart... and each assumed its own character
and identity.
Cricket became a longer and more leisurely game as batters (batsmen) began to dominate the sport, and wanted more time to display their individual skills. Two-, three-, even five- and six-day games became common...only lately has the trend reversed, with one-day and half-day "limited over" matches coming into fashion.
Baseball, on the other hand, became shorter and more abbreviated....pitchers assumed an active rather than passive role, then came to dominate the sport; baseball batters were allowed fewer and fewer options, could spend less time at bat, and the rules were changed to favor shorter games.
By the 1900s, cricket and baseball were looking far more different from each other than in baseball's earlier years.
And by that time, it had become an issue of "cricket OR baseball" in the USA...and everyone knows what happened.