# Casey's court, the Brooklyn Handball Club and The Sun's rules (1887-1896)

In: [Learn](https://handball.theperfectship.com/learn.md) > [History](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history.md) > [Eras](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/eras.md) > Casey's court, the Brooklyn Handball Club and The Sun's rules (1887-1896)

Era, United States. 1887-1896. American four-wall.

Status: Machine-reviewed. A person has not yet read this page through.

For nine years the American game had a capital (297 Degraw Street, Brooklyn), a champion (Phil Casey, 'champion of the world' after beating Lawlor in 1887), a club (the Brooklyn Handball Club, Casey president, reorganized 1892) and, from 17 March 1889, a printed code in the newspaper: the Sun's 'set rules of the game', a near-verbatim reprint of the Ed. James 1873 code in its Spalding 1886 state ([Hand Ball Rules (1873)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/james-fourwall-1873.md), [Hand Ball (1886)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/spalding-fourwall-1886.md); JAMES1873-TX), which the paper then reformed (service from the ace line, 1890) and which the clubs adopted by resolution (January 1891). By 1894 Casey could write that no rule but 'The Sun's rules' had governed his court for five years, and in 1896 a Cork convention was expected to adopt 'THE SUN code' as the world standard. A newspaper, not a federation, gave the American game its standard rules; the text it printed was a sporting publisher's code already in print since 1873, and the newspaper's own contribution was the 1890 service reform.

## The take

This is the era the project can document best, and it overturns the received story: the first printed American code was a sporting publisher's (James 1873, Spalding 1886), the Sun made it the standard in 1889 and reformed it in 1890 by club resolution, and the AAU in 1896 did not write rules, it adopted the Sun's. The 'Sun's rules' were a name in public use before the AAU existed in handball.

## Moments in order

- **29 November 1887** (Documented): Casey's court opens in Brooklyn with Casey v Lawlor of Dublin, the night the first international match was decided (Sun, 29 Nov 1890: 'Three years ago to-day'); Casey had had an earlier Brooklyn court in 1875 ([H-90](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-90.md)).
  Source: [The Sun (New York), 29 November 1890, p. 4](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1890-11-29/ed-1/?sp=4)
- **1886** (Documented): Spalding's Hand Book of Sporting Rules and Training (compiled by G. H. Benedict, 1886) prints 'Hand Ball', 23 rules: the James 1873 code with a new rule 4 1/2 on scoring by 'service' or 'return' ([Hand Ball (1886)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/spalding-fourwall-1886.md)). The issuer is the publisher; no club or association is named. This printing, not any sanctioning body, is the kernel of the 'first rules 1886' story ([H-01](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-01.md)).
  Source: [George H. Benedict, Spalding's hand book of sporting rules and training (1886)](https://archive.org/details/spaldingshandboo00bene), p. 45
  Read the rulebook: [Hand Ball](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/spalding-fourwall-1886.md)
- **4 August 1887 to 29 November 1887** (Documented): The international match: ten games at the Grattan Street racquet court, Cork (Lawlor 6-4), then the finish in Brooklyn, where Casey wins the first seven of the New York games and the 'championship of the world'. The Brooklyn Handball Club's new Degraw Street court is 65 x 24 ft with a 35-ft marble-faced front wall.
  Source: [The Sun (New York), 5 August 1887, p. 3](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1887-08-05/ed-1/?sp=3). Also: [The Sun (New York), 30 November 1887, p. 3](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1887-11-30/ed-1/?sp=3); [The Sun (New York), 27 November 1887, p. 11](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1887-11-27/ed-1/?sp=11)
- **17 March 1889** (Documented): The Sun prints 'the set rules of the game': 21 aces, a ball about 2 in and 1 1/3 oz, one ace line in the middle of the court, hinders, a referee chosen by the players ([The set rules of the game (1889)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/sun-fourwall-1889.md); issuer unknown, [H-89](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-89.md); the text is the James 1873 / Spalding 1886 code with the weight added and a few words trimmed, [Hand Ball (1886)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/spalding-fourwall-1886.md)). The club holds a three-class tournament the same month.
  Source: [The Sun (New York), 17 March 1889, p. 7](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1889-03-17/ed-1/?sp=7). Also: [George H. Benedict, Spalding's hand book of sporting rules and training (1886)](https://archive.org/details/spaldingshandboo00bene), p. 45; [The Sun (New York), 12 March 1889, p. 6](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1889-03-12/ed-1/?sp=6)
  Read the rulebooks: [Hand Ball](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/spalding-fourwall-1886.md); [The set rules of the game](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/sun-fourwall-1889.md)
- **27 October 1890 to 4 January 1891** (Documented): The Sun proposes ending hard serving by restricting service to the ace line; by 21 Nov 1890 the Brooklyn courts play under the new rule with Casey's endorsement; on 4 Jan 1891 the Brooklyn Handball Club resolves unanimously to play all games under the Sun's new rules ([H-91](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-91.md)).
  Source: [The Sun (New York), 27 October 1890, p. 4](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1890-10-27/ed-1/?sp=4). Also: [The Sun (New York), 21 November 1890, p. 4](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1890-11-21/ed-1/?sp=4); [The Sun (New York), 5 January 1891, p. 6](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1891-01-05/ed-1/?sp=6)
- **12 July 1890 to 19 August 1890** (Documented): Casey, McQuade, Dunne and others tour Ireland for exhibitions.
  Source: [The Evening World (New York), 12 July 1890, p. 1](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030193/1890-07-12/ed-3/?sp=1)
- **1892** (Documented): The club is reorganized in Casey's parlour (1 Mar 1892) with a committee on the ball; by September service is 'done from the short line': the two-line court is in use.
  Source: [The Sun (New York), 3 March 1892, p. 4](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1892-03-03/ed-1/?sp=4). Also: [The Sun (New York), 10 September 1892, p. 5](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1892-09-10/ed-1/?sp=5)
- **1893** (Documented): Deshong's 'Handball and How to Play It' (Spalding) is announced: the first book, with 'Rules and Explanations' ([Rules and Explanations (1893)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/deshong-fourwall-1893.md)). John Egan opens the Jersey City court at 223 Mercer Street, the next center.
  Source: [The Jersey City News (Jersey City), 31 October 1893, p. 4](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87068097/1893-10-31/ed-1/?sp=4). Also: [Maurice W. Deshong, The Game of Hand Ball and How to Play It (1893)](https://www.loc.gov/item/ca05001384/), p. 12; [The Jersey City News (Jersey City), 29 August 1893, p. 4](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87068097/1893-08-29/ed-1/?sp=4)
  Read the rulebook: [Rules and Explanations](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/deshong-fourwall-1893.md)
- **by 18 January 1894** (Documented): Casey: there has been no rule in his court for five years except 'The Sun's rules', which govern all six courts near him and the leading courts everywhere.
  Source: [The Sun (New York), 18 January 1894, p. 8](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1894-01-18/ed-1/?sp=8)
- **1895-1896** (Documented): Across the Atlantic: a Cork paper proposes a world conference to draw up a code; Fitzgerald of Tralee is 'a convert' to the Sun's system; a July 1896 Cork convention is expected to adopt 'THE SUN code used by the experts in America' ([H-92](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-92.md)). In December the Brooklyn club's ball and committee rules are called the standard 'wherever the game is played'.
  Source: [The Sun (New York), 20 August 1895, p. 5](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1895-08-20/ed-1/?sp=5). Also: [The Sun (New York), 27 January 1896, p. 9](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1896-01-27/ed-1/?sp=9); [The Sun (New York), 5 April 1896, p. 30](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1896-04-05/ed-1/?sp=30); [New-York Tribune (New York), 27 December 1896, p. 21](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030214/1896-12-27/ed-1/?sp=21); [The Sun (New York), 23 September 1895, p. 5](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1895-09-23/ed-1/?sp=5)
- **November 1896** (Documented): The Amateur Athletic Union takes jurisdiction over amateur handball and its Board 'adopted THE SUN's rules of competition' ([H-78](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-78.md)): the club era passes its code to a federation.
  Source: [The Evening Times (Washington, D.C.), 9 November 1896, p. 3](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84024441/1896-11-09/ed-1/?sp=3). Also: [The Sun (New York), 18 November 1896, p. 4](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1896-11-18/ed-1/?sp=4)

## What the sources do not show

- Who put the code in the Sun in 1889 (the club, Casey, or the Sun's handball writer) is unknown ([H-89](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-89.md)), but the text is not the club's own composition: it is the Ed. James 1873 code in its Spalding 1886 state, reprinted near-verbatim with a weight added to rule 1 and a few words trimmed (rules 3, 11, 18, 21 and some commas) (JAMES1873-TX collation; parentEditionRefs on [The set rules of the game (1889)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/sun-fourwall-1889.md)). No club minute book or Brooklyn Daily Eagle page has been read.
- The 1890-91 reformed text was never found in print: the only full printings of the code (Sun 1889, Houston Post 1898) are the pre-reform text ([H-91](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-91.md)).
- Whether the July 1896 Cork convention met, and what it adopted ([H-92](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-92.md)): no Irish newspaper has been read.
- The 1886 'first sanctioned rules' claim ([H-01](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/open-questions/#H-01.md)) is traced (H01-1886 report): its source is Therrell, citing Phillips 1938 ('apparently the first published set of rules'); an 1886 printing exists, Spalding's Hand Book of Sporting Rules and Training ([Hand Ball (1886)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/spalding-fourwall-1886.md)), but it reprints James 1873, so 'first' is refuted and 'widely sanctioned' is unsupported: nothing in 1884-1889 Chronicling America shows any body adopting it; the Brooklyn Eagle 1885-87 is the remaining test.
- The OCR of several key Sun pages is damaged. The 27 Oct 1890 headline and the 10 Sep 1892 'short line' passage have since been read on page images and agree with the OCR; the rest of those pages, and the other damaged Sun pages, are not image-checked.

## Threads that run through this era

- [Hinder: a word that changed meaning](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/threads/hinder-a-word-that-changed-meaning.md)
- [One-wall becomes its own game](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/threads/one-wall-becomes-its-own-game.md)
- [Professionals and amateurs: the world title and the A.A.U.](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/threads/professionals-and-amateurs-the-world-title-and-the-aau.md)
- [The ball: from 'about two inches' to 1 7/8 in and 61 grams](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/threads/the-ball.md)
- [The court shrinks: 60 x 30 in Ireland, 65 x 24 to 20 x 40 in America](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/threads/the-court-shrinks.md)
- [The Irish game abroad and at home](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/threads/the-irish-game-abroad-and-at-home.md)
- [The serve: one ace line, then two lines, then the short line](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/threads/the-serve.md)
- [Who writes the rules: court keeper, newspaper, federation, board](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/threads/who-writes-the-rules.md)

## Neighboring eras in the United States

- [Racket courts and saloon alleys: New York before the clubs (1860s-1887)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/eras/us-racket-courts-and-saloon-alleys.md) (earlier, 1860-1887)
- [The A.A.U. takes the amateur game; the professionals keep the 'world' title (1896-1919)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/eras/us-aau-amateur-championships.md) (later, 1896-1919)

## Rulebooks cited here

- [Hand Ball](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/spalding-fourwall-1886.md)
- [The set rules of the game](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/sun-fourwall-1889.md)
- [Rules and Explanations](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/deshong-fourwall-1893.md)

## Sources

- [George H. Benedict, Spalding's hand book of sporting rules and training (1886)](https://archive.org/details/spaldingshandboo00bene)
- [Maurice W. Deshong, The Game of Hand Ball and How to Play It (1893)](https://www.loc.gov/item/ca05001384/)
- [New-York Tribune (New York), 27 December 1896, p. 21](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030214/1896-12-27/ed-1/?sp=21)
- [The Evening Times (Washington, D.C.), 9 November 1896, p. 3](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84024441/1896-11-09/ed-1/?sp=3)
- [The Evening World (New York), 12 July 1890, p. 1](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030193/1890-07-12/ed-3/?sp=1)
- [The Jersey City News (Jersey City), 29 August 1893, p. 4](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87068097/1893-08-29/ed-1/?sp=4)
- [The Jersey City News (Jersey City), 31 October 1893, p. 4](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87068097/1893-10-31/ed-1/?sp=4)
- [The Sun (New York), 10 September 1892, p. 5](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1892-09-10/ed-1/?sp=5)
- [The Sun (New York), 12 March 1889, p. 6](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1889-03-12/ed-1/?sp=6)
- [The Sun (New York), 17 March 1889, p. 7](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1889-03-17/ed-1/?sp=7)
- [The Sun (New York), 18 January 1894, p. 8](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1894-01-18/ed-1/?sp=8)
- [The Sun (New York), 18 November 1896, p. 4](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1896-11-18/ed-1/?sp=4)
- [The Sun (New York), 20 August 1895, p. 5](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1895-08-20/ed-1/?sp=5)
- [The Sun (New York), 21 November 1890, p. 4](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1890-11-21/ed-1/?sp=4)
- [The Sun (New York), 23 September 1895, p. 5](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1895-09-23/ed-1/?sp=5)
- [The Sun (New York), 27 January 1896, p. 9](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1896-01-27/ed-1/?sp=9)
- [The Sun (New York), 27 November 1887, p. 11](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1887-11-27/ed-1/?sp=11)
- [The Sun (New York), 27 October 1890, p. 4](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1890-10-27/ed-1/?sp=4)
- [The Sun (New York), 29 November 1890, p. 4](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1890-11-29/ed-1/?sp=4)
- [The Sun (New York), 3 March 1892, p. 4](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1892-03-03/ed-1/?sp=4)
- [The Sun (New York), 30 November 1887, p. 3](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1887-11-30/ed-1/?sp=3)
- [The Sun (New York), 5 April 1896, p. 30](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1896-04-05/ed-1/?sp=30)
- [The Sun (New York), 5 August 1887, p. 3](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1887-08-05/ed-1/?sp=3)
- [The Sun (New York), 5 January 1891, p. 6](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1891-01-05/ed-1/?sp=6)

## Corrections

Found a mistake, or a source we missed? Email perfectshipllc@gmail.com with the subject "History correction: Casey's court, the Brooklyn Handball Club and The Sun's rules (1887-1896) (/history/eras/us-casey-brooklyn-and-the-suns-rules/)". Please name the page and, if you can, the source.