Baseball at the 1912 Summer Olympics
Baseball had its first appearance at the 1912 Summer Olympics as an exhibition sport. A game was played between the United States, the nation where the game was developed, and Sweden, the host nation. The game was held on Monday, 15 July 1912 and started at 10 a.m. on the Ostermalm Athletic Grounds in Stockholm.
The Americans were represented by various members of the American Olympic track and field athletics delegation, while the Swedish team was the Vesterås Baseball Club, which had been formed in 1910 as the first baseball club in Sweden. Four of the Americans played for Sweden, as the Swedish pitchers and catchers were inexperienced. One Swede eventually relieved Adams and Nelson, the American pitchers.
Six innings were played, with the Americans not batting in the sixth and allowing the Swedes to have six outs in their half of the inning.
The game was umpired by George Wright, a retired American National League baseball player.
Game result
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | x | 13 | 10 | 2 |
| Sweden | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 5 |
Box score
| US East "Olympics" | Pos. | AB | R | H | PO | A | E | vs. | US West "Finland" | Pos. | AB | R | H | PO | A | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Adams | CF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Richard Byrd | P/RF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Platt Adams | P | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | J. Ira Courtney | SS | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| George Bonhag | 1B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1 | Ira Davenport | LF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Charles Brickley | C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 0 | Carroll Haff | LB | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | |
| Howard Drew | RF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | George Horine | CF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Harlan Holden | LF | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Frank Irons | 2B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | |
| John Paul Jones | 2B | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Fred Kelly | 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Abel Kiviat | SS | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Edward Lindberg | C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 1 | |
| Eugene Mercer | 3B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Walter McClure | RF/P | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wesley Oler | CF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Jim Thorpe | RF | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| US East "Olympics" | 33 | 6 | 7 | 27 | 8 | 4 | Total | US West "Finland" | 33 | 3 | 7 | 27 | 10 | 6 | ||
Second match
On the next day Tuesday, 16 July 1912 in the evening, two American teams played a second exhibition match.
Baseball At The 1912 Summer Olympics Media
Sweden bats against the U.S. team
Jim Thorpe, pictured in 1913 with the New York Giants, played in the second exhibition game.
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