Not sure what is meant by that but they were playing Bball during the Civil War and there were some reports of a news story in a Boston paper back in the 1600's where "ball playing was allowed (or not)" on Boston Common (sticks were used to hit the ball and people ran bases).
The article is from 1926 :-)
“Town ball” was played on Cape Cod in the Revolutionary War era and the local newspapers printed the box scores, remarkably similar to today’s box scores. Same nine positions plus a roving short fielder. There were minor differences as to number of balls needed to walk and strikes to strike out. Three outs per half inning.