1781 - the Toxophilite Society is founded in Leicester Square, London. It later becomes the Royal Toxophilite Society in 1787 and then the Grand National Archery Society.
1791 - The broken window by-law in Pittsfield, Massachusetts prohibits "baseball" and other ballgames within 80 yards of the new meetinghouse, the earliest known reference to "baseball" in North America
1796 - "Ball mit Freystaten (oder das Englische Base-ball)" covered by German physical education instructor Johann C.F. Gutsmuths as one chapter in Spiele zur Uebung
1825 - "A baseball club, numbering nearly fifty members, met every afternoon during the ball playing season" in Rochester, New York, wrote Thurlow Weed in 1883 (Life of Thurlow Weed, vol. 1)
1833 - Merger of the Olympic and Camden town ball clubs from Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey, constituting the Olympic Ball Club of Philadelphia, often called the "Philadelphia Olympics". The constitution will be revised in 1837 and published in 1838. (Protoball #266)
1843 - Semi-organized "New York Club" begins playing baseball at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey, in place of Madison Square in Manhattan
1845 September 23 - formal organization of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club or New York Knickerbockers, initiated by Alexander Joy Cartwright, including adoption of twenty rules, fourteen of which are the earliest known written rules of for playing baseball
1845 October 22 - New York Morning News publishes the first known box score for a base ball game, played at Elysian Fields in Hoboken
1846 June 19 - First match certainly played by the Knickerbocker rules, at Elysian Fields in Hoboken
1847 - Army of occupation plays baseball in Santa Barbara, California, alienating the local people (Protoball #377)
1848 - First publication of the Knickerbocker rules (Protoball #376)
1790 - Spectators are charged for entry to a boxing match between Daniel Mendoza and Richard Humphries in the earliest recorded charged-entry sporting event
Daniel Mendoza, considered the "Father of scientific boxing", is Champion of England from 1792 to 1795
1183 - First written account of a game resembling cricket, by Joseph of Exeter, but this is generally believed to be a spurious reference
1300 March 10 - The Prince of Wales, age 15 or 16, played the unknown game creag at Newington in Kent[1]
1597 - First known written use of the word kreckett in English, referring to a game "played on a certain plot of land in Guildford around 1550"[1]
1610 - "Teams from the Weald and the Downs" played a game at Chevining in Kent[1]
1611–1637 - Eight various court cases concern cricket[1]
1660 - Start date for first-class cricket and a database of match results, under consideration by the Association of Cricket Statisticians & Historians[2]
1697 July 7 - Foreign Post reports a "A Great Match in Sussex" played for fifty guineas, the first known proclamation of high status for a match and another milestone in first-class cricket.[1]
1709 June 29 - Kent v Surrey, the first match played between teams named for English counties
1721 - Mariners of the "John Company" reported playing at Cambay, India[1]
1744 - First codification of the Laws of Cricket, by the Star and Garter club of Pall Mall (London)
1794 - "The New York Cricket Club was meeting regularly" according to W.R. Wister's reminisces after 1861 (Protoball #135)
1799 - New York Commercial Advertiser, June 18, announcement of the next date for the "members of the Cricket Club" to meet and play. "Wickets will be pitched at 3 o’clock exactly." (Protoball #150)
1820 - "June 16, 1820, eleven expert English players matched eleven New Yorkers at Brooklyn, the contest lasting two days." --Jennie Holliman citing that day's New York Evening Post (Protoball #204)
1828 - The MCC modified Rule 10 to permit the bowler's hand to be raised as high as the elbow
1602 - Richard Carew describes the game of "hurling to goals" played in Eastern Cornwall, in his "Survey of Cornwall". The game has the earliest described rules requiring equal numbers, no playing of the ball on the ground, and banning the forward pass, with similarities to the modern game of Rugby football. [1]
15th century–19th century+ - Native Americans play lacrosse to resolve conflicts, heal the sick, give thanks to the Creator and train for war, in modern day Canada and the United States.
1716 - The first race for the right to wear Doggett's Coat and Badge is held among the professional watermen in London. The course runs four miles and five furlongs (7443 m) from London Bridge to Chelsea, and is established as an annual event continuing into the 21st century.
1818 - Leander Club is founded by the merger of The Star and Arrow boat clubs in London
1848 - Henry Clasper builds the first keelless racing boats and spoon shaped oars, and develops the outrigger.
Notes
^ abcdef Leach (2005a) is a heavily annotated chronology of cricket 1300-1730 and the source for numerous entries here.
^ ACS Match Classification Working Parties have been set up, including one on "classification of pre-1801 matches." Somewhere the society says that CricketArchive is on board. Leach (2005a) concludes on 1660, "it must be so that this was the point of origin of first-class cricket."
^ ab Leach (2005b) explains the crucial role of bowler-entrepreneur Thomas Lord and his White Conduit Club between Hambledon and Marylebone
^ no copy of the 1848 rules has survived, the earliest written version dating from 1856; the 1863 revision of the rules played a significant part in developing the rules that became association football