The Bookworm Sez: 'Origins of Sports' a home run

The Bookworm Sez: ‘Origins of Sports’ a home run

The rules are very simple: don’t, don’t, and don’t.

Don’t swing the bat too late. Don’t hug the ball while running down the court. Don’t get tackled. And whatever you do, don’t let the other guy win.

Rules are rules and in sports, you have to follow them. But why are games played like that, with different balls and a field of certain size? “On the Origins of Sports” by Gary Belsky & Neil Fine (c.2016, Artisan, $19.95, 256 pages), explains those head-scratchers.

Get three sports fans together, and you’re all going to argue. Who’s the greatest dunker? Why are softballs bigger than baseballs? Are football helmets good enough? Wars, as Belsky & Fine point out, have been fought over lesser questions so they took a look at the origins of our most popular games and sports.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

Mythology says that Abner Doubleday created baseball, for instance, but the authors say that “forms of baseball were played on farms in New England ” long before Doubleday’s day. Original baseball rules said that the first team to score 21 “aces” was the winner and, until 1952, only one or two umps were mandatory for regular season play.

Basketball was “pretty much created in a couple of weeks” by one man who was looking for an indoor game. James Naismith couldn’t find what he wanted so he made something up, including a rule that said a soccer ball was good enough for play. And did you ever wonder why basketball shorts are long?

There are many games called “football” but the American one, say the authors, is “unquestionably the most violent.” Maybe that’s why papier-mâché helmets were once banned. Also once banned: more than five people walking on the sidelines.

Hockey was created in Canada by British soldiers inspired by a Gaelic game. Golf and bowling were both outlawed by kings. Soccer resembles a game played by the Chinese in 4 B.C. No one’s ever bowled a perfect score in candlepin. Killing your opponent was once an acceptable way to win a wrestling match. And you’ll be surprised at which game is more popular than basketball…

Since even before you could walk, you’ve known that there were rules to live by. You’ve also come to understand that rules can change.

Confirmation is inside “On the Origins of Sports.”

Imagine baseball without gloves, football with thin leather helmets, and monks playing tennis. Authors Gary Belsky & Neil Fine don’t have to imagine: they’ve pulled together the original rules for twenty-one specific sports and facts about dozens of others, in order to show how our favorite pastimes have become the games we know.

But pro sports aren’t all you’ll find here: Belsky & Fine also include rock-paper-scissors, Poker, kickball, wiffleball, and more. We see where the games likely started, how other countries play “our” games, and how equipment differs between sports.

That’s almost as fun as playing the sports themselves, making this the perfect book for game-players and trivia fans ages 15-to-adult.

“On the Origins of Sports” knocks it outta the park. Don’t miss it.

The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer bookwormsez@yahoo.com.

More in Life

Forever Dance Alaska performers deliver a routine while walking with the 67th Annual Soldotna Progress Days Parade on Marydale Avenue in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, July 27, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
68th Annual Progress Days events to take place this weekend

The celebration includes events around town from Wednesday through Sunday.

Artist Ingrid McKinstry stands next to her current mixed media exhibit and her work available year-round at Fireweed Gallery in Homer, Alaska. Photo provided by Ingrid McKinstry
An exploration of curiosity

Homer artist showcases new and previously completed mixed media pieces.

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Attendees dance at Salmonfest in Ninilchik<ins>, Alaska,</ins> on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024.
Salmonfest to return for 15th year of fish, love and music

This year’s festival will take place from Aug. 1-3 at the Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds in Ninilchik.

Virginia Walters (Courtesy photo)
Life in the Pedestrian Lane: AI or not?

AI is here to stay, for better or worse, and we have to recognize that there are limitations to its usefulness.

Gluten-free baked goods are often dry and unsatisfying, but these cakes are moist and sweet. (Photo by Tressa Dale/Peninsula Clarion)
Goodness without gluten

These cakes are moist, sweet, and honestly the best gluten-free cake I have ever made.

Homer Public Library Director Dave Berry makes an outgoing call on the library’s public phone on Monday, July 7, 2025, in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
Out of the office: Nostalgia is calling

I stopped in at the Homer Public Library and was hailed by a couple of youths who were trying to use the library’s analog public phone.

File
Minister’s Message: Connecting meaningfully with God

What is church, and how is the body of Christ to be lived out?

This is the most famous photograph of Steve Melchior, as a copy of it resides in the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. The Melchior family owns a very similar photograph, with a note in pencil from Steve Melchior on the back. The note, written for family members back in Germany in the late 1920s when Melchior was suffering from rheumatism, says, “That is the only way I can get out because my legs won’t walk anymore. I don’t like driving a car, and the dogs take me wherever I want to go. The one in the front is called Bill (in German, Wilhelm), and the one on the left is called Waldman. The black one on the right is called Nick or Nikolaus. Three good, loyal workers, my bodyguard.”
Steve Melchior: Treasured peninsula pioneer with a sketchy past — Part 2

By at least his early 20s, Steve Melchior had begun to fabricate a past.

David Corenswet is Superman in “Superman.” (Promotional image courtesy DC Studios)
On the Screen: ‘Superman’ a bold vision of hope, kindness

The film dares to say that kindness is “punk rock.”

Most Read