The following poem appeared in a book called A Little Pretty Pocket Book which was originally published in 1744! Base Ball is believed to be the very first baseball poem ever published.

The Ball once struck off, Away flies the Boy To the next destin'd Post, And the Home with Joy.

Can you recall if this Base Ball poem was published before or after the original set of Knickerbocker Rules? Follow the link to see the answer.

Hard core collectors can only imagine what the value of this poem / or the book itself would be worth at an auction as neither has never been publicly sold.

The copy of the leaflet above the poem is an actual reproduction of the poem produced by the National Archives in Washington, D.C.