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Show BASEBALL IN THE.'50S. t1 n5 ! ' T "J AX 3 rl D SOFttT Cl '- r. riKrtt "1 guess you follows would be mighty amused to sco the game as wo played It along In tho '50's." A Cloveland fan, ono of the old boys, was expounding tn an a:'.rntrlng bi"rh of youngsters, tho game us It whs first pl-iyod. "The first set of rules ax printed In I 1S.V.) uudor tho title The Hnseball I Players' Pocket Companion,' contain- ' Ing rules and regulations for forming clubs, directions for playing the "Mas- I sachusetts game.' "Thi essentials of playing the game then, were a ball, hat and four woodoi I stakes for bases Tho ball was com- i posed of woolen yard and stilps of I India nibbor wound tightly unfl the whole covered with calf skin or buckskin. buck-skin. "Tho gnmo was commenced by staking stak-ing off a friar r.f slrfv f(.pt fnr Hie bases and nieaHiirliig thirty feet from tho thrownr' the Hlrlhcrn' stand "The four corners of the siuarn. A. II, (. I), wero tno bases. Tho square S. four feet wide, was tho striker's stand. In Hie center of lio squaro, T, the thrower was stationed. If tho I player ntnnl; tho hall he hud to run tho bases. Just tho same hh to-day I) I was home, and arriving thi-re sufely I tho man was given one tally Cur I hundred tallies were game " i |