History of cricket in the united states - part 1
Cricket was well known in the eastern part of what is now the United States as early as 1747. It was brought here by the early British settlers. Many of the earliest baseball players in the United States previously were cricketers. Harry Wright, organizer and manager of the first professional baseball club-the Cincinnati Red Stockings-had been a professional cricketer. The pioneer terms used in baseball were those used in cricket. Even the first uniforms worn by the American ball players were almost exact copies of those used by Englishmen in cricket play. And the same applied to the wearing apparel of the early American lawn tennis players.
From the 1840's to the 1860's cricket seemed certain to be adopted by Americans with the same enthusiasm shown in England. But the game lapsed in favor of the faster and more immediately-concluded game that became American baseball. Only in a few sections of the United States, notably in New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California, are organized competitions staged annually on a scale comparable to that of former years.
