University of Nebraska Press Author David Block will serve on a committee that will trace the beginnings of U.S. baseball.

The committee, announced by Major League Baseball on March 15, will be made up of 12 baseball experts who will seek out the history of baseball’s very early days, along with the game’s evolution and growth. The committee will also look at the history and evolution of in various regions, cities and communities.

Block, the author of Baseball Before We Knew It, which won the Seymour Medal in 2006, is in good company; other committee members include Ken Burns and George F. Will. The official announcement, and the full list of committee members is here.

Baseball before We Knew it examines the game’s mysterious beginnings, going all the way back to the 1700s. Block evaluates the originality and historical significance of the Knickerbocker rules of 1845, revisits European studies on the ancestry of baseball which indicate that the game dates back hundreds, if not thousands of years, and assembles a detailed history of games and pastimes from the Middle Ages onward that contributed to baseball’s development. Click here for a full description