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Boys sitting under the trees with baseball mitts and bats (circa 1890)
Credit: Courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection, Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia
Kids have so loved baseball that even when there was no open field or green grass, they still found a place to play it. Over time, several variations of the game were adapted to fit available space. The most popular, by far, was stick ball, played with a broom handle and rubber ball.