[M]ost of this new-company excused them selves and said it wente against their consciences to work on ye day. So ye Govr tould them that if they made it mater of conscience, he would spare them till they were informed. So he ... left them; but ... at noon ... he found them in ye street at play, openly; some at pitching ye barr, and some at stoole-ball and shuch like sport.... Since which time nothing hath been attempted that way, at least openly.On Christmas Day, 1621, the game of stoolball was played at Plymouth Plantation. The better informed Plymouth Pilgrims2 regarded Christmas not as a holiday but as just another day of work. Newcomers could mark Christmas according to their consciences, but when Bradford discovered that stoolball had broken out, he promptly confiscated the implements. In England, for centuries, stoolball had thrown the sexes together, often at Easter, with open flirtation and further personal liberties a predictable result. Such revels were not to be tolerated at Plymouth.From evidence in hand, English stoolball as played in Pilgrim times bore slender resemblance to what would emerge in about 240 years as America's national pastime. Stoolball certainly involved fielding (including, probably, the use of the fly rule), throwing, and innings; much less certain is the use of pitching, hitting, or baserunning.3 And the game never enjoyed the popularity here that it had in England; in fact, very few subsequent U.S. references to stoolball play have been found.The Plymouth stoolball game is the earliest known reference to an English ballgame being played in America. The number and variety of subsequent baserunning games, many also imported from England, is greater than most baseball followers realize. Past baseball histories have pointed to a New England-style baserunning game, to town ball, and to English rounders as early American ballgames. However, recent research points to a score of distinct games, summarized below. More variants will likely come to light, if researchers continue to seek them out.American CricketThere is a single reference to American cricket, a game introduced in Chicago in 1870 as a new hybrid of English cricket and baseball.4 The only reported features taken from base were a third running base and foul territory, which one assumes was defined in relation to the triangular infield.Bandy WicketIn July 1779, an American soldier in Pennsylvania reported playing wicket.5 Bandy wicket was old-fashioned cricket played with a bandy (a thick, curved club) rather than with the flat cricket introduced into English cricket during the 1760s.6 In America, the term wicket was seen in the Mid-Atlantic region until the mid- 19th century.Barn BallSee the Altherr essay in this issue (Item 1841.12). A batter-runner tries to run to a nearby barn and back before his opponent/ pitcher could retrieve the and return.Bat-and-BallSee Turner essay (Item 1755.6). Bat-and-ball has now been identified as a distinct game played along the New England coast from Boston through Maine in the late 18th to early 19th centuries.Bat-BallA game banned near public buildings in Pittsfield, Mass., and Northampton, Mass., in 1791.7 Pilka Palantowa, a Polish game reportedly played at Jamestown in 1609,8 translates as bat or hit ball. So, too, German Schlagball translates as bat or hit ball. The latter involved pitching, batting and running to a base, as well as taking players captive.9 An 1834 reference likened American bat ball to English bandy, a game resembling field hockey.10 Whether it was a safe-haven game or a hockey-style game, produced broken windows, hence those 1791 bans.Base, or Base Ball (sometimes called goal ball)A game long played in much of the U.S. Northeast, akin to English base-ball-see Block essay (Item 1744.2)-possibly under rules that varied regionally in ways yet to be discovered. …