The first mention of baseball in print is in 1818, in
Jane Austen's novel
Northanger Abbey. This was published posthumously, and was her revision of a novel (originally called
Susan) she had previously offered for publication in 1803, and which she had begun around 1798.
In chapter one the tomboyish heroine Catherine Morland is described like this:
"it was not very wonderful that Catherine, who had by nature nothing heroic about her, should prefer cricket, base ball, riding on horseback, and running about the country at the age of fourteen, to books"
I'm sorry, this is all I can add. I know nothing about Babe Ruth and the World Series, or even Alexander Cartwright and "the day baseball was born". But I'm sure someone out there does.