Baseball Facts: The earliest known mention of baseball in the United States was a 1792 Pittsfield, Massachusetts ordinance banning the playing of the game within 80 yards (73 m) of the town meeting house. In 2008 a diary by William Bray was discovered by local historian Tricia St John Barry in Surrey County Council. The diary describes how a teenager is playing baseball in Guilford. The entry in the diary dates back to Easter Monday 31 March 1755. This is the earliest known reference of the word "Baseball".