Blimey! In news that has thrown me bum-over-noggin, it looks like some English dude named William Bray mentions Base Ball in a 1755 diary entry.

"Julian Pooley, the manager of the Surrey History Centre in England, said Thursday he has authenticated a reference to baseball in a diary by English lawyer William Bray dating back to 1755 - about 50 years before what was previously believed to have been the first reference to what became the American pastime.

The notion that the national pastime may have originated overseas just doesn't sit well. It certainly makes this ditty a little less appealing.

What do you think? Big deal or small deal?