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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.

The remarkable Newhall family of Philadelphia, which at one time could muster a full cricket eleven among the male members of three generations, was chiefly responsible for the development of the game in that city and raising it, nationally and internationally, to a high level. No other city has attained similar distinction. It was mainly due to the Newhalls' efforts, supported by the social circles in which they moved, that the great country clubs, like the Germantown and Merion Cricket Clubs, were organized, and focused upon the Quaker City the attention of the British cricketing world. These two influential clubs continue to exist, retaining the original names but, sad to relate, golf and tennis have moved in, crowding cricket out.