OCR Text |
Show (Cincinnati Commercial Tribune.) Time will ijot turn back in its flight, but the mind can travel back to the days before baseball, or at least to the days before baseball was so well known and before it had become s scientific. There were" ball games in those days In town and country, and the country ball game was an event. There were no clubs tne country boy of those days was not gregarious. gre-garious. He preferred flocking by himself him-self and remaining independent. On Sunday Sun-day afternoons the neighborhood boy." mc ton some well-crossed pasture and.i whether ten or forty, every one was to take part In the game. Self-appointed leaders divided the boys jnto two companies com-panies by alternately picking one. until the supply was exhausted. The bat. which was no round stick, such as is used now, was a stout paddle with a blade two Inches wide, with a convenient conveni-ent handle dressed onto it, was the chosen chos-en arbiter. One of the leaders spat on ' the side of this bat, which was honestly ! called "the paddle," and afked the leaa- I or of the opposition forces, "wet or dry?"' The paddle was then sent whirling up In the air. and when it came down whichever which-ever side won went to the bat, while the others scattered over the field. . Theall was not what would be called a "National league ball" nowadays, but it served every purpose. It was usually made on the spot by some boy offering up his woolen socks as an oblation, and these were raveled and wound round a bullet, a handful of strips cut from a t rubber overshoe, a piece of cork, or almost al-most anything or nothing, when anvthluj? was not available. The winding or this ball was an art, and whoever could excel in this art was looked upon as a superior supe-rior being. The ball must be a perfect sphere, and the threads as regularly laid as the wire on the helix of a magnetic armature. When the winding was compete com-pete the surface of the ball was thoroughly thor-oughly sewed with a large needle and thread lo prevent it from unwinding when a thread was cut. The diamond was not arbitrarily marked off as now. Sometimes there" were four bases, and sometimes six or seven. They were not equidistant, but were marked by any fortuitous for-tuitous rock or shrub or depression in the ground where the steers were wont to bellow bel-low and paw up the earth. One of these tellurial cavities was almost sure to be selected as "thes den." now called the home plate. There were no masks or mitts or professors. There was no science ;r chicanery, now called "headwork." The strapping young oafs, embryonij teachers, presidents and premiers were too honest for this. . The pitcher was the one who could throw . a ball over the "den," and few could do thfs. His object ob-ject was to throw a ball that could be hit. The paddieman's object was to hit th ? ball, and It he struck at it which he need not do uniess he chose and missed it, the catcher, standing well back, tried to catch it after- it. had lost its momentum by striking the earth once and bounding in the air "on the first bounce." it was called and. if he succeeded the paddle-man paddle-man Was "dead" and another took his place. If he struck it, and it was not caught in the field or elsewhere. In the air or "on the bounce." he would strike twice more, but the third time lie was compelled to run. There was no umpire and very little wrangling. There was no effort to pounce upon a baserunner and touch him with the ball. Any-one having it could throw It at him, and if It hit him he was "dead" almost -Iteially sometimes. some-times. If he dodged the ball he kept on running until the "der." was reached. Some of 'the players became proficient in "ducking, dodging and side-stepping, and others learned to throw the ball with the accuracy of a rifle bullet. No matter how many players were on a side, each and every one had to put out. And If the last one made three successive home runs he "brought in the side," and the outfielders, outfield-ers, pitchers and catcher had to do all their work ever again. The boy who could "bring in his side" was a hero, i No victorious general was ever prouder or more lauded." Horatius at the bridg-i was small potatoes in conmparison. He was the uncrowned king. There were no foul hits. If a ball touched the paddle ever so lightly it was a tick, and three ticks made a compulsory run. The score was kept by -some one cutting notches in a stick and the runs during sn afternoon after-noon ran into the hundreds. If the ball was lost in the vrasp or rolled under a Scotch thistle, the cry "lost ball" was raised, and the game stopped until it was found. |