{"id":69348,"date":"2025-07-17T07:48:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T07:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/69348\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T07:48:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T07:48:11","slug":"this-san-diego-area-mission-stands-as-the-birthplace-of-baseball-in-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/69348\/","title":{"rendered":"This San Diego-area mission stands as the birthplace of baseball in California"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the Mexican-American War, the United States did not have a military presence in California.<\/p>\n

The Mormon Battalion was a volunteer unit of more than 500 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints commanded by United States Army officers. They marched almost 2,000 miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Diego. It was the longest march in U.S. military history.<\/p>\n

The battalion arrived in San Diego on Jan. 29, 1847 \u2014 two weeks after the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed, effectively ending military conflict in California.<\/p>\n

Against this background, how can a seemingly innocuous sentence in a young soldier\u2019s diary have a historic impact?<\/p>\n

Pvt. Azariah Smith wrote about baseball, the earliest evidence of the game being played in California.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaturday March the 6th we drilled as before and through the day we play ball and amuse ourselves the best way we can,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s very cool weather and clothing scarce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith, 18, was a member of the Mormon Battalion Company B that bivouacked at Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside. Smith was born in upstate New York, where he probably learned an early version of the \u201ctown ball\u201d game that was a precursor to baseball.<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s diary is recognized by Major League Baseball\u2019s official historian, John Thorn.<\/p>\n

\"AA baseball with Azariah Smith\u2019s March 6, 1847 diary entry. (Bill Swank)<\/p>\n

There is also an account of a New York Volunteer Regiment occupying Santa Barbara a month later in April 1847. \u201cLargely because of the baseball games, the Spanish-speaking people of Santa Barbara came to look upon the New Yorkers as loudmouthed, uncouth hoodlums,\u201d it read.<\/p>\n

There are no references to baseball again in California until the early 1850s, although Alexander Cartwright was credited with introducing the sport to California during the 1849 Gold Rush.<\/p>\n

This claim, like many made by Cartwright, is pyrite. At the time, California was mad for gold and not baseball.<\/p>\n

The first previously known baseball in San Diego County was played May 6, 1871 at Horton Plaza. The results are lost to the ages.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an obvious connection between baseball\u2019s origins and the modern-day game in San Diego. If baseball was being played at Mission San Luis Rey, it\u2019s possible that brown-robed Franciscan friars \u2014 padres \u2014 were playing the game 178 years ago.<\/p>\n

\"SeanSean Englert, Gwyn Grimes, Helena Hazelton at Mission San Luis Rey. (Bill Swank)<\/p>\n

Gwyn Grimes, executive director at Mission San Luis Rey, was excited to hear of the church\u2019s role in sports history.<\/p>\n

\u201cWow! I was surprised and excited to find out that baseball was first played in California at Mission San Luis Rey,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019d be thrilled to have a plaque to honor this part of our history. As a Padres fan, it makes it all even more special.\u201d<\/p>\n

E Clampus Vitus is a colorful organization dedicated to preserving the history and heritage of the West, especially the California Gold Rush. Sean Englert, the grand noble historian of the local Squibob Chapter, said his organization would look into recognizing the history made at the mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Office of Historic Preservation in Sacramento would strongly consider this for designation as a California State Historical Landmark,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is due to the fact that it is documented as being the birthplace of baseball in California by the staff at Mission San Luis Rey along with Major League Baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s story doesn\u2019t end with baseball. After mustering out of the Army, Smith and others worked their way north and east to Utah, where other LDS members had settled. On Jan. 24, 1848, they were at Sutter\u2019s Creek in Coloma working for James Marshall when he discovered gold.<\/p>\n

Marshall allowed Smith and others \u201cthe privilege of picking up gold odd spells and Sundays, and I have gathered up considerable,\u201d Smith wrote.<\/p>\n

It is unknown if Smith ever played baseball again. But modern baseball scouts continue to scour the Golden State for prized nuggets on the diamond.<\/p>\n

Bill Swank has authored and co-authored six books on San Diego baseball.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: July 16, 2025 at 3:00 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During the Mexican-American War, the United States did not have a military presence in California. The Mormon Battalion…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":69349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,1370,3549,7264,62,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-69348","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-san-diego","13":"tag-sandiego","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-stories-sdut","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114867477335608685","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}