Today in Baseball: The First Ever Indoor Baseball Game.

Many think that the exhibition game that was played at the Astro Dome on April 9, 1965, was the first ever baseball game to be played indoors. Wrong. On Christmas Day 1888, 2,000 spectators watched the first ever indoor baseball game.

On this day 132 years ago, 2,000 fans gathered at the state fairgrounds in a large building in the city of Philadelphia. The game was played between the Downtowners and the Uptowners.  The Uptowners won the game 6-1.

With a ball that was larger than usual, a crude bat and the absence of gloves, indoor baseball was pretty much like what we now call 16-inch or “Chicago” softball.