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 & 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

United States	Pos.	AB	H	2B	3B	SB	R	E	vs.	Sweden	Pos.	AB	H	2B	3B	SB	R	E
Vaughn Blanchard	1B	1	1	0	0	0	0	1		Benjamin Adams (USA)	P	3	1	0	0	0	0	1
George Bonhag	1B	2	0	0	0	0	0	0		C. Axell	CF	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Richard Byrd	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		Harlan Holden (USA)	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ira Courtney	3B	3	2	1	0	0	2	0		E. Johansson	LF	1	1	0	0	1	1	0
Ira Davenport	C	3	2	0	0	2	2	0		Landahl	2B	3	1	0	0	0	0	2
Howard Drew	RF	1	0	0	0	0	1	0		Y. Larson	RF	3	1	0	0	0	1	0
Carroll Haff	P	2	0	0	0	0	0	0		Frank Nelson (USA)	P	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
George Horine	LF	1	0	0	0	0	1	0		Wesley Oler (USA)	C	4	1	0	0	0	0	0
Frank Irons	LF	2	1	0	0	0	0	0		Sapery	SS	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
John Paul Jones	2B	3	1	0	0	2	1	0		Torsleff	LF	2	1	0	0	0	1	0
Fred Kelly	CF	3	1	0	0	0	1	1		Welin	1B	3	0	0	0	0	0	1
Abel Kiviat	SS	4	2	0	1	1	2	0		Wikman	3B	3	1	1	0	0	0	0
Walter McClure	P	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Norman Patterson	CF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Lawrence Whitney	RF	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
United States		27	10	1	1	5	13	2	Total	Sweden		30	7	1	0	1	3	5

Second match

On the next day Tuesday, 16 July 1912 in the evening, two American teams played a second exhibition match.

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		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

References

• Official Report. 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games. 1912.