After the ceremony Professor George Grella of the University of Rochester wrote an account of the occasion and a tribute to Seymour that appeared in The National Pastime , a SABR publication. The game of hopscotch has a history, too. Scholars believe it has ancient roots linked to initiation ceremonies for youth. Players toss an object into a pattern chalked on a sidewalk or traced in dirt, then hop into, through, and out of the pattern without touching the lines. The pattern is formed from a series of squares or circles, which are often numbered.
Danish children use heavy glass markers to throw into the pattern.
Scholars believe the game may be a thousand years old, suggesting that the pattern derives from the figure of the labyrinth, a motif found as far back as the iron age, one through which youth were required to walk during an initiation ceremony. Your local library probably has a copy of this important new encyclopedia. News Story Interview SABR 2001 Patrician Publications. All Rights Reserved.