October 14, 1888: "Roundhay Garden Scene"

October 14, 1888: The oldest known surviving motion picture is filmed, in the backyard -- or, as the English would call it, the garden -- of a house in the Roundhay section of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is known as Roundhay Garden Scene, is recorded by Frenchman Louis Le Prince, and features his son Adolphe, and his English in-laws, Joseph and Sarah Whitley, who owned the home. It lasts all of 2.11 seconds.

Louis Le Prince

A little over 2 years later, Louis Le Prince disappeared from a Dijon-to-Paris train, and was never seen again. He was 49, and it is suspected that he left the train at some point, and drowned.

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October 14, 1888 was a Sunday. There was no pro football yet. But despite it being late in the year by today's standards, there were regular-season baseball games, all in the American Association, none in the National League, which then banned Sunday baseball:

* The Brooklyn Bridegrooms beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-2 at Washington Park in Brooklyn. The Dodgers-to-be had seen several members get married a couple of off-seasons earlier. Both of these teams would join the National League, but the Orioles went out of business after the 1899 season.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Cleveland Blues, 7-3. Since Pennsylvania forbid Sunday sports until 1933, this game was played at the Gloucester Point Grounds, across the Delaware River in Gloucester City, Camden County (not Gloucester County), New Jersey.

These Athletics folded after the 1890 season, and had no connection to the later American League team of the same name. The Blues became the Cleveland Spiders, joined the NL, and, like the Orioles, failed after the 1899 season.

* A doubleheader was split at League Park in Cincinnati. The St. Louis Browns, who would go on to win the AA Pennant, won the 1st game, 6-1. The Cincinnati Red Stockings won the 2nd game, 10-1. Both teams would join the National League, and are still in it today.

These Red Stockings were founded in 1882, and bear no connection to those of 1869-70. So when the modern Reds call themselves "baseball's oldest professional team," they're lying. The Browns became the Cardinals, and bear no direct connection to the later American League Browns.

* The Louisville Colonels swept a doubleheader from the Kansas City Cowboys, at Eclipse Park in Louisville. The hosts won the 1st game, 2-1; and the 2nd game, 9-1. The Colonels would join the NL, but, like Baltimore and Cleveland, fail after the 1899 season. The Cowboys only lasted through 1889.