If a Minnesota sports fan hears the words town and ball together, they are apt to think of Minnesota Town Ball, which is a state association of amateur baseball teams with a history which dates back nearly 100 years.

There is now another game being played and it is called Twenty-First Century Townball.

“It is a bat-and-ball game based upon the version of base ball played in Massachusetts before the Civil War,” Daniel Jones, one of the inventors of Twenty-First Century Townball, says. “We took the original rules of The Massachusetts Game and extrapolated them to what we believe the game would have become if the Massachusetts-style of play had won out over that of New York as America’s National Pastime.”

Jones, who now teaches debate style mathematics at Genesis Classical Academy, has formed a Recess League at the school in Winnebago. He has also helped form a team, the Genesis Griffins, who will be traveling to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a game of Twenty-First Century Townball on April 11. The age range on the Griffins’ team is 14-50 years old.

Jones went on to say that at one time, every region in the United States had their own version of baseball that they played according to local rules.

“Not only this, but the game of bat-and-ball was referred to in each region by a different name,” Jones explains. “For example, even though Massachusetts and New York had very different versions of the game, the name of their respective games were both referred to as “base ball.” Similarly, although Ohio and Philadelphia had very different games, their respective games were both referred to as “town ball.” Thus base ball, town ball, and round ball are really synonymous terms for any version of ball that was being played in this country in the nineteenth century.”

Jones went on to say that once The New York Game began to dominate as the National Game in this country, the term “baseball” was soon thereafter adopted to refer to only The New York version of the game. All the other versions of bat-and-ball were then retroactively dubbed “town ball.”

“Thus, since Twenty-First Century Townball is not “baseball,” it must therefore for historical reasons be a version of “town ball” And since this game has been reinvented in this century, it is therefore a twenty-first century version of town ball,” Jones comments. “Hence the name, “Twenty-First Century Townball. The reason we chose the one-word spelling was to distinguish the sport from the myriad of versions of town ball that were played in the United States in the 19th century.”

Jones was born in Wisconsin but was raised in Taiwan where his parents were missionaries.

“Baseball is very popular in Taiwan,” he says. “I actually started at Bethel College and was going to try out for their baseball team. But I injured one of my fingers right before tryouts.”

He ended up at Fresno State University in Fresno, California which is now known as California State University – Fresno where he obtained his degree in mathematics. Later, he taught at University High School on the campus of the college.

“Cricket is very popular there, especially in the spring,” Jones comments. “But, there was a desire to have a sport for the fall season.”

Jones had been teaching a class called “The Origins of America’s Pastime.”

“That is where I learned about Massachusetts Baseball,” he shares. “Even back then there was a rivalry between Massachusetts Baseball and New York Baseball. Simply put, New York won out and New York Baseball evolved into that game we know as our country’s National Pastime.

So Jones and some of his students began asking the question, “Is there something better than baseball that is more fun?”

Jones, who had been playing cricket for about 10 years, envisioned a game that had the freedom of cricket but incorporated the base-running of baseball.

“Eighty percent of Twenty First Century Townball remains intact with the Massachusetts game,” Jones says. “We added about 20 percent.”

His students at University High School enjoyed playing the Massachusetts Game but the rules were scarce with only 21 written rules.

Jones also points out the game of baseball and Twenty First Century Townball have strong mathematics roots.

“In baseball there are three strikes, three outs, nine players, nine innings and 90 foot baselines,” Jones shares. “Our game is based on what is known as the Fibonacci Sequence.”

The Fibonacci Sequence is found by adding two consecutive terms of the sequence to find the next term, starting with 0 and 1. The first 13 terms of the Fibonacci Sequence are 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144.

“There is one ball, one field and one out per inning, there are two teams, three strikes, and five stakes (bases) on the field. A team must be leading by five runs to win and the batter stands in a five foot by eight foot box when batting and a team must score at least eight runs to win,” Jones explains. “There are 13 players on a team and there is a run cap at 13 runs to win. The batter must run 21 feet to the first stake and twice 34 feet to the second.”

That is just part of how the game follows the Fibonacci Sequence.

Some of the distinctions which make Townball different from baseball are:

• Each team shall consist of 13 players who play in the field.

• Each inning consists of one out per side.

• There are five stakes (bases).

• There are no foul balls.

• If at any point at the end of an inning, one of the teams is leading the other by at least five runs after having scored at least eight, or has scored a total of at least 13 runs, then that team shall be considered the winner. In the case that both teams have exceeded 13 runs in the same inning, then the team with the higher score at the end of that inning wins. In the case that there is a tie at the end of that inning, then the game will continue one inning at a time until there is no longer a tie at the end of an inning. The team with the higher score at the end of that inning wins.

The ball used for Townball is slightly larger and softer than a traditional baseball. It is smaller than a softball.

Jones admits the game can sound confusing at first but people catch on very fast.

“There are four or five states where Twenty First Century Townball is regularly played,” Jones comments. “The game has been played in at least nine states.”

“Townball was designed to be exciting by making it easier to get on base but more difficult to score,” Jones says. “It was developed within the context of intramural sports so both males and females can play.”

Anyone interested in playing Twenty First Century Townball or learning more about the game may contact Jones at his email address which is daniel.jones@genesisclassical.com.