Baseball in Central Park in the 1850s

As evidence of the early popularity of baseball in, if not all of the United States, at least the New York City area, here’s an excerpt from a New York Times article of November 11, 1858, talking about progress toward the construction of Central Park: “West of the Cathedral Walk, the cricket and baseball ground, which has very properly been first attended to, as it will be most beneficial to the public, has been leveled and is ready to be laid down in turf. This piece of ground, containing fourteen acres, will be in order next Spring.”