Baseball at Lord's

American servicemen watching baseball at Lord's in 1917 © MCC

On the first occasion, in 1874, 22 players from Boston and Philadelphia came to England on a mission to spread the knowledge of their own game. At Lord's, an exhibition baseball match was sandwiched between a morning and evening's play at cricket between an XVIII of America and XI of MCC.

The second occurrence came during the First World War when, on 28th July 1917, a baseball match was played at Lord's between Canadians and London Americans in aid of a fund for the widows and orphans of Canadians who fell in battle. This match, for which a scorecard still exists, was attended by H.R.H. Princess Louise and raised over £100 - worth approximately £3,000 today - for the fund.