# Racket courts and saloon alleys

In: [Learn](https://handball.theperfectship.com/learn.md) > [History](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history.md) > [The Handball Record](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/record.md) > Racket courts and saloon alleys

Chapter 1 of 10. 1860 to 1887. Eras: Racket courts and saloon alleys: New York before the clubs (1860s-1887).

Status: Draft, machine-reviewed. A person has not yet read this chapter through.

On Thursday, 3 September 1874, two men played a rackets match for $500 a side at McQuade's racket and handball court, 404 Madison Street, New York. *The New York Herald*, reporting the score the next morning, called the court "the only place of the kind now in the city, and in fact the only one of any importance in the country." The paper added that a racket court opened some years before in Thirteenth Street had lost its patrons and closed. The court carried the name of Bernard McQuade, a player himself, who would be secretary of a players' committee in 1876 and would play a match at Sweeney's court in 1884 that *the Sun* called a championship.

On 10 April 1860 the front page of the *New-York Daily Tribune* carried an advertisement for *the New York Clipper* whose list of contents included "Hand Ball in Philadelphia." I know that report only from the advertisement's one line. In May 1861 *the Herald* announced a handball match at the Bowery Racket Court, 333 Bowery, admission twenty-five cents. In April 1867 *the Chicago Tribune*, describing the racket court in Thirteenth Street, explained rackets to its readers as handball played with a racket instead of the hand. In October of that year a letter in the *Irish Republic*, a Fenian paper in Chicago, named handball among the games young Irishmen should form clubs for. In December the *Public Ledger* of Memphis announced a Christmas Day game between two pairs at Pendergast alley on South Street. In June 1872 *the Chicago Tribune*, reprinting *the New York Clipper*, announced a championship match for $1,000 between two Brooklyn players, Phil Casey and James Everett, and two from Chicago, James O'Brien and William Foley, with the first five games to be played in Chicago in an alley the Chicago pair would choose.

*The Herald* printed Casey's account of the game on 9 December 1875, calling him the American champion. He spoke from his court in Brooklyn, built mainly of brick and lit from the roof and sides, 65 feet deep, with a gallery seating about two hundred. A game, he said, was "usually 21 points, or aces." The server bounded the ball off the front wall over an ace line about thirty feet out, or about halfway down the court, and three failures to clear it put him out. The regulation ball was two and a quarter inches across, cork wound with rubber and worsted under a cover of kid or calfskin, and a match for a purse ran to the best of several games. Casey then went through the courts he knew. Around Brooklyn he named his own, one in Centre Street that he said had stood for twenty-five years, and a new one at Hunter's Point; in New York, McQuade's and the private courts of a company of gentlemen; five in Philadelphia; four in Chicago, with another at Bridgeport near the city; one in Troy. He cited no printed rule.

In February 1876, on the evening of Washington's Birthday, New York's handball and racket players met at McQuade's court and elected a provisional committee, by *the Herald*'s report of 5 March. James Dunne of Brooklyn took the chair, the surname inferred from a scan that cuts it short, McQuade was secretary, and Casey sat for Brooklyn. The committee invited clubs in the United States, Britain and Canada to an international tournament on Easter Monday, 17 April, and said it hoped within a fortnight to announce "the permanent national organization." *The Herald* later reported the tournament put off to 1 June. I have found no later report of the tournament or of a national body. The papers of the 1880s spell the Brooklyn alderman who partnered Casey both Dunn and Dunne; this record keeps Dunne.

Several of the matches that left reports in the next years were played for stakes. In November 1880 *the Sun* reported a match for $100 a side between Jimmy Burke of Philadelphia and William Courtney of New York. Burke won four of six games in the first series, in Philadelphia; Courtney won the closing series at a handball court in Madison Street. That court was probably McQuade's old court under a new keeper, Patrick Regan: the name on *the Sun*'s damaged page is too damaged to read with certainty and may be Regan's, and later reports put Regan's court in Madison Street. In Chicago on 18 September 1881 two pairs played the first part of a match at Lynch's court, 181 West Harrison Street, for a stake and, in the words of the next day's *Chicago Daily Tribune*, "the amateur championship of the United States."

*The Sun* of 27 October 1880 described Casey as "a well-known handball player who is the Alderman for the Tenth Ward of Brooklyn," arrested the day before on a federal warrant charging that he had registered fraudulently as a voter. On the night of Sunday, 10 June 1883, Patrick Regan was shot dead by a policeman in his liquor store in Madison Street, which *the Sun* of the next morning placed at the same number as the handball and racket court he kept. The next New York matches I found in the papers were set for Sweeney's Murray Hill court, 159 East 35th Street. There, by the notice in a Wilmington paper, the *Society News*, Casey and Jim Dunne of Brooklyn, spelled Dunn in the notice, alderman and former alderman, were to play Courtney and Frank Reynolds on 13 December 1883, and in March 1884 Casey and P. H. Smith of St. Louis played Dunne and Courtney, with Casey billed by *the Sun* as champion of the United States. In October 1884 Dunne played McQuade there for what the same paper called the championship, and Casey, now champion of the world in its columns, beat Dunne in an exhibition.

A printed code was older than the matches of 1874 and after. In 1873 Ed. James, a New York sporting publisher at the New York Clipper Building on Centre Street, printed twenty-three numbered rules for handball in his *Manual of Sporting Rules*. They set a game of twenty-one aces with a ball about two inches in diameter, service from inside an ace line "supposed to be in the centre of the court," a hand out after three short serves in a row, a hinder played over, a minute between games in a match for a prize, and a referee chosen by the players. Spalding's *Hand Book of Sporting Rules* printed the same rules, in the same order and almost word for word, in 1886, with one rule inserted and numbered four and a half. The date of 1886 for the first sanctioned American rules, repeated in a modern encyclopedia, goes back to a 1938 journal article that called the Spalding text only apparently the first; the A.A.U.'s code of 1897 is later still. The correction rests on the book itself, whose two pages of rules have been read from scans of the Library of Congress copy. Who wrote the rules is open: James published from the Clipper's building, and the Clipper may have printed them first, but no earlier printing has been found.

No newspaper report found for these years mentions James's rules. Casey's account of 1875 agrees with the book on the twenty-one aces, the ace line at mid-court and the three failed serves, gives the ball as two and a quarter inches where the book says about two, and does not say where his rules came from. Spalding's preface of 1886 hoped its rules would be "adopted by common consent." In the courts the nearest thing to a governing body seems to have been the keeper whose name the court carried, McQuade, Regan or Sweeney, and a champion, as far as these reports show, was a man the papers called one around a match for money. My reading is that later institutions grew out of the need to settle such matches between players who each brought their own custom to the court.

No issue of *the Clipper*, *the Herald* or the *Brooklyn Daily Eagle* from before 1860 has been read for this record, so the advertisement of April 1860 is the earliest witness found and not a beginning; Casey's word in 1875 that a Brooklyn court had stood for twenty-five years points earlier. The newspapers of the 1870s were searched only in Chronicling America. The *Eagle*, the paper of Casey's own city, has not been read for any year from 1860 to 1885, and no report of what became of the 1876 committee has been found. Each court named outside New York and Brooklyn, from Pendergast alley in Memphis to Lynch's in Chicago, is known from a single report. The *Eagle* for 1874 to 1885 is the next place to look.

In November 1885 the *St. Paul Daily Globe* reported that Casey had beaten Ed W. Carner in Cleveland the week before, by a score of 84 to 33. On Thanksgiving Day, 26 November, *the Sun* reported what it called the annual Thanksgiving Day championship matches at Sweeney's court, Casey and Smith against Dunne and Courtney, the same four surnames as in March 1884. Five years later, on 29 November 1890, the same paper put the opening of Casey's new court in Brooklyn at "three years ago to-day," the night the first international match was decided in it: the court opened on 29 November 1887.

## Where to next

- Next: [Casey's court and the Sun's rules](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/record/02-caseys-court-and-the-suns-rules.md) (Casey opens his Degraw Street court, 29 November 1887)

## What this draws on

### Eras

- [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)

### Threads

- [Who writes the rules: court keeper, newspaper, federation, board](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/threads/who-writes-the-rules.md)

### People

- [Phil Casey](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/phil-casey.md)
- [James Dunne](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/james-dunne.md)
- [James Dunn](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/james-dunn.md)
- [William Courtney](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/william-courtney.md)
- [Bernard McQuade](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/bernard-mcquade.md)
- [Jimmy Burke](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/people/jimmy-burke.md)

### Courts and places

- [Bowery Racket Court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/places/new-york-bowery-racket-court.md)
- [McQuade's Racket and Hand Ball Court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/places/mcquades-404-madison-st.md)
- [Sweeny's Murray Hill Handball and Racket Court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/places/sweeneys-murray-hill-159-e-35th.md)
- [Lynch's court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/places/chicago-lynch-w-harrison.md)
- [Phil Casey's court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/places/phil-caseys-court-brooklyn.md)

### Rulebook editions

- [Hand Ball Rules](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/james-fourwall-1873.md)
- [Hand Ball](https://handball.theperfectship.com/rulebooks/spalding-fourwall-1886.md)

### Dated facts

- 1860: A New-York Daily Tribune advertisement for the New York Clipper lists 'Hand Ball in Philadelphia' (10 April 1860); the Clipper's report itself is not seen
- 1861: Hand ball match announced for the Bowery Racket Court, 333 Bowery, New York, admission 25 cents
- [1867: Announced Christmas Day hand ball game at Pendergast alley, South Street, Memphis (Ryan and Hackett v McGrin and McNamara)](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/years/1867.md)
- [1867: Chicago Fenian paper letter urges young Irishmen to form ball clubs including hand ball and hurly](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/years/1867.md)
- [1867: New York Racket Club, Thirteenth Street: the Chicago Tribune says of the game of rackets that 'It is a modification of hand ball'; Gray v Foulkes rackets match](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/years/1867.md)
- 1872: Hand ball championship match for $1,000, Phil Casey and James Everett of Brooklyn v James O'Brien and William Foley of Chicago, first five games at Chicago on 19 June 1872
- 1874: McQuade's Racket and Hand Ball Court, 404 Madison Street, New York, where a rackets match was played; the Herald called it, as a racket court, 'the only place of the kind now in the city, and in fact the only one of any importance in the country'
- 1875: Phil Casey tells the Herald how handball is played (21 aces, ace line about 30 ft from the front wall, three failed serves count out, ball 2 1/4 in) and lists the courts of Brooklyn, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Troy
- 1876: New York handball and racket players elect a provisional committee (Metropolitan Committee) at McQuade's court to hold an international tournament and form a permanent national organization to supervise the game
- [1880: Courtney (New York) beats Burke (Philadelphia) in the closing series of a $100-a-side handball match, Madison Street, New York](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/years/1880.md)
- [1880: Philip Casey, handball player and Alderman of Brooklyn's Tenth Ward, arrested on a charge of fraudulent voter registration](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/years/1880.md)
- 1881: Chicago doubles stake match billed as the amateur championship of the United States (Cushing & Cullen v Mansfield & Malloy), Lynch's court
- [1883: Notice, not a report: a double-handed match 'will be played' on Thursday 13 Dec 1883 at Sweeny's Murray Hill court, 159 East 35th Street, New York, Alderman Phil Casey and ex-Alderman Jim Dunn of Brooklyn against Wm. Courtney and Frank Reynolds; no report of the match has been found](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/years/1883.md)
- [1883: Patrick Regan, keeper of a hand ball and racquet court in Madison Street, New York, shot dead by a policeman on a Sunday night](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/years/1883.md)
- [1884: 'Championship match' Alderman James Dunne v Bernard McQuade, and exhibition Casey v Dunne, Sweeny's court; return match 16 Oct](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/years/1884.md)
- [1884: Four-handed match at Sweeny's court, 35th St: Casey and P. H. Smith (St Louis) v Dunne and Courtney (Brooklyn), best 3 of 5](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/years/1884.md)
- [1885: Annual Thanksgiving Day championship matches at Sweeny's court, 35th St: Casey and Smith v Dunne and Courtney](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/years/1885.md)
- [1885: Casey, 'champion of the world', v James Smith, 'champion of St. Louis', and Michael Landy at Sweeny's court](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/years/1885.md)
- [1885: Phil Casey of Brooklyn beat Ed W. Carner of Cleveland 84-33 at hand ball in Cleveland](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/years/1885.md)
- 1886: Ex-Alderman Dunne v Sweeny's Spaniard 'for the championship of America', $200 a side, best 5 of 9 games of 21; the Spaniard won
- [1890: The Sun of 29 Nov 1890 notes that Phil Casey's Brooklyn court opened 'three years ago to-day', 29 Nov 1887, the night the first international match (Casey v. Lawlor of Dublin) was decided in it; the earlier games of the match had been played in Dublin on 6 Aug 1887](https://handball.theperfectship.com/history/years/1890.md)

### Open questions it touches

- H-100 (open): Handball was played in New York racket courts and saloon alleys before 1860: the Clipper's April 1860 notice 'Hand Ball in Philadelphia' (A New-York Daily Tribune advertisement for the New York Clipper lists 'Hand Ball in Philadelphia' (10 April 1860); the Clipper's report itself is not seen) is the earliest report found, not the beginning of the game here; Racket courts and saloon alleys: New York before the clubs (1860s-1887) starts at 1860 only as the earliest witness
- H-111 (supported): The four-wall hand-ball code printed as 'Hand Ball Rules' in Ed. James, Manual of Sporting Rules (New York: Ed. James, 88-90 Centre St [New York Clipper Building], 1873, pp.76-77; 23 rules, 21 aces, 2-inch ball, ace line in the centre, foot allowed on a short serve, referee chosen by the players) is the earliest dated printing so far of the American code later reprinted by Chadwick 1884, Spalding/Benedict 1886, the Police Gazette Standard Book of Rules (1887), The Sun 1889, Champlin 1890, Chadwick 1893, Houston Daily Post 1898 and US encyclopedias 1911-12; it is a candidate new edition (e.g. Hand Ball Rules (1873)) and may itself derive from the New York Clipper
- H-01 (refuted): The first widely sanctioned American handball rules were published in 1886. This conflicts with H-02
- H-88 (open): A New York 'Metropolitan Committee' of handball and racket players (chair James Dunn, vice chair Denis Burns, treasurer P. J. Meagher, secretary Bernard McQuade; members incl. Phil Casey) was formed c.22 Feb 1876 at McQuade's court, 404 Madison St, to hold a Centennial international tournament and to create a permanent national organization 'to have the supervision of the game in America'; this is the first American governing-body attempt, ten years before the supposed 1886 rules (H-01), and may have issued rules or an address
- H-98 (open): James Dunn (chair of the Metropolitan Committee, New York, Feb 1876; 'Alderman James Dunn' 1874-76) and James Dunne (ex-Alderman of Brooklyn, Phil Casey's doubles partner 1883-96; 'Dunne Jr' 1896) are the same man. The two spellings are kept as two person records (James Dunn, James Dunne) until positive evidence joins them; R31's ledgers treated them as one.
- H-85 (supported): The Madison Street court in New York named as 'Hogan's/Kogins' in The Sun of 1880-11-24 is Regan's hand ball and racquet court (keeper Patrick Regan, shot dead by a policeman 10 June 1883) described in The Sun of 1883-04-18 and 1883-06-11/12
- H-86 (supported): Phil Casey was already a Brooklyn alderman (Tenth Ward) and a champion handball player in 1880, i.e. the Brooklyn handball scene around Casey and Dunne predates any 1886 rules publication (H-01) by at least six years

## Sources

- [[James E.] Sullivan, Official Sporting Rules (1909)](https://www.loc.gov/item/unk82075824/)
- [Amateur Athletic Union of the United States, Official Athletic Rules (1908 handbook)](https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/public/gdcmassbookdig/officialathletic01amat/officialathletic01amat.pdf)
- Amateur Athletic Union, official athletic rules (Library of Congress digitised volume, 1920)
- [Athletic League of the Young Men's Christian Associations of Canada, Official Handbook (1904)](https://archive.org/details/cihm_85174)
- [Athletic League of the Young Men's Christian Associations of North America, Official Handbook (1915)](https://archive.org/details/officialhandbook06athl)
- [Charles J. O'Connell, How to Play Handball (American Sports Publishing Company, 1931)](https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435007267735)
- [Chicago Daily Tribune (Chicago), 19 September 1881, p. 8](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84031492/1881-09-19/ed-1/?sp=8)
- [Chicago Tribune (Chicago), 14 June 1872, p. 6](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn82014064/1872-06-14/ed-1/?sp=6)
- [Chicago Tribune (Chicago), 26 April 1867, p. 2](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn82014064/1867-04-26/ed-1/?sp=2)
- [Colorado Handball Association, "The Official United States Handball Association Handball Rules" (Wayback snapshot of 19 May 1998)](https://web.archive.org/web/19980519203944/http://www.cohandball.com:80/official_united_states_handball_.htm)
- [eBay listing 178429923015: seller photographs of an A.A.U. handball rules booklet (1962) (seen 30 October 2026)](https://www.ebay.com/itm/178429923015)
- [eBay listing 206605328625: seller photographs of the unified handball playing rules (Y.M.C.A., 1960) (seen 30 October 2026)](https://www.ebay.com/itm/206605328625)
- [eBay listing 286432748460: seller photographs of an A.A.U. handball rules booklet (1960) (seen 30 October 2026)](https://www.ebay.com/itm/286432748460)
- [eBay listing 800810243429: seller photographs of "Handball Official Unified Playing Rules" (A.A.U., J.W.B., Y.M.C.A., 1968) (seen 30 October 2026)](https://www.ebay.com/itm/800810243429)
- [Ed James, Manual of sporting rules (1873)](https://archive.org/details/manualofsporting00jame)
- [GAA Handball Ireland, "History" (seen 28 October 2026)](https://www.gaahandball.ie/about/gaa-handball/history)
- [GAA Handball Playing Rules: 4-Wall, Wallball, 60x30 Softball and Hardball (Wexford GAA copy), file dated 29 May 2025 (seen 28 October 2026)](https://wexfordgaahandball.ie/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Playing-Rules-4-Wall-Wallball-60x30-Softball-Hardball-2025.pdf)
- [George H. Benedict, Spalding's hand book of sporting rules and training (1886)](https://archive.org/details/spaldingshandboo00bene)
- [Google Books, Spalding's Official Handball Guide (1928), p. 31 text view (seen 30 October 2026)](https://books.google.com/books?id=9jNMAQAAMAAJ)
- [HathiTrust Digital Library, catalog record 102896696 (seen 28 October 2026)](https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102896696)
- [Internet Archive, full-text search for "hand ball" AND "rules" AND "1886" (seen 28 October 2026)](https://archive.org/)
- [Maurice W. Deshong, The Game of Hand Ball and How to Play It (1893)](https://www.loc.gov/item/ca05001384/)
- [Michael Egan, Handball and How to Play It (1903)](https://www.loc.gov/item/04000015/)
- [New York Public Library, Catalog of Copyright Entries registrations 1931-1964, handball hits](https://github.com/NYPL/catalog_of_copyright_entries_project)
- [New-York Daily Tribune (New York), 10 April 1860, p. 1](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030213/1860-04-10/ed-1/?sp=1)
- [New-York Tribune (New York), 13 July 1904, p. 4](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030214/1904-07-13/ed-1/?sp=4)
- [New-York Tribune (New York), 27 December 1896, p. 21](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030214/1896-12-27/ed-1/?sp=21)
- [Open Library, editions of work OL10794547W (seen 30 October 2026)](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL10794547W)
- [Public Ledger (Memphis), 23 December 1867, p. 3](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85033673/1867-12-23/ed-1/?sp=3)
- [Robert L. Ripley (ed.), Spalding's Official Handball Guide (1923)](https://www.loc.gov/item/23002979/)
- [St. Paul Daily Globe (Saint Paul), 16 November 1885, p. 4](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn90059522/1885-11-16/ed-1/?sp=4)
- [The Evening World (New York), 12 July 1890, p. 1](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030193/1890-07-12/ed-3/?sp=1)
- [The Irish Republic (Chicago), 5 October 1867, p. 13](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn94054745/1867-10-05/ed-1/?sp=13)
- [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 Jersey City News (Jersey City), 9 January 1897, p. 3](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87068097/1897-01-09/ed-1/?sp=3)
- [The New York Herald (New York), 2 May 1861, p. 12](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030313/1861-05-02/ed-1/?sp=12)
- [The New York Herald (New York), 4 September 1874, p. 5](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030313/1874-09-04/ed-1/?sp=5)
- [The New York Herald (New York), 5 March 1876, p. 6](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030313/1876-03-05/ed-1/?sp=6)
- [The New York Herald (New York), 9 December 1875, p. 10](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030313/1875-12-09/ed-1/?sp=10)
- [The News Scimitar (Memphis), 13 November 1919, p. 15](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn98069867/1919-11-13/ed-1/?sp=15)
- [The Society News (Wilmington), 15 December 1883, p. 3](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn88053091/1883-12-15/ed-1/?sp=3)
- [The Sun (New York), 10 October 1884, p. 1](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1884-10-10/ed-1/?sp=1)
- [The Sun (New York), 11 June 1883, p. 1](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1883-06-11/ed-1/?sp=1)
- [The Sun (New York), 13 March 1884, p. 3](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1884-03-13/ed-1/?sp=3)
- [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), 21 November 1890, p. 4](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1890-11-21/ed-1/?sp=4)
- [The Sun (New York), 23 February 1886, p. 3](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1886-02-23/ed-1/?sp=3)
- [The Sun (New York), 24 November 1880, p. 1](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1880-11-24/ed-1/?sp=1)
- [The Sun (New York), 27 November 1885, p. 3](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1885-11-27/ed-1/?sp=3)
- [The Sun (New York), 27 October 1880, p. 1](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1880-10-27/ed-1/?sp=1)
- [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), 5 April 1896, p. 30](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1896-04-05/ed-1/?sp=30)
- [The Sun (New York), 5 January 1891, p. 6](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1891-01-05/ed-1/?sp=6)
- [The Sun (New York), 9 April 1885, p. 3](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030272/1885-04-09/ed-1/?sp=3)
- [United States Wall Ball Association, "Rules & Conduct" (seen 27 October 2026)](https://uswallball.org/rules)
- [US Handball Association, "Four-Wall Rulebook" (seen 28 October 2026)](https://www.ushandball.org/four-wall-rulebook/)
- [US Handball Association, "National Champions" (seen 28 October 2026)](https://www.ushandball.org/about/national-champions/)
- [Wexford GAA Handball, "Playing Rules" PDF (uploaded August 2016) (seen 28 October 2026)](https://wexfordgaahandball.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Playing-Rules.pdf)
- [WorldCat, search for AAU official rules handball (seen 28 October 2026)](https://search.worldcat.org/)

## Corrections

Found a mistake, or a source we missed? Email perfectshipllc@gmail.com with the subject "History correction: Racket courts and saloon alleys (/history/record/01-racket-courts-and-saloon-alleys/)". Please name the page and, if you can, the source.