Show IF nt TN T N W W kari 19 ti X 4 y nl 0 W S y K A 4 A vp I 1 wd Z A y e Z Z A OAME GAME IN 4 if above Is shown baseball as it was in the old days the r second championship game between the Atlant of brooklyn and the athletics of philadelphia phia in 1866 the score was 33 to 33 gamo called lied at the end of the seventh inning on account of darkness notice the underhand pitch r the gloveless catcher keeping a respectful distance behind the bat the wide swing of the batsman and basemen playing frozen to the bags from the annals of american sport in the pageant of america courtesy yale universo university Univ ersty ty r press 6 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON DOUBLEDAY was a native of ca listen spa N Y who was grad bated from the united states mill tary academy at west point in n 1842 served in tha th seminole mexican and civil wars was breveted a major general of volunteers became a colonel of infantry in the united states army in 1807 retired in 1873 and died in 1803 1893 cooperstown Coopers town Is a quaint old village at the foot ot of otsego lake take in otsego county new york tamed famed as the home of james ren imore cooper who made his bid for immortality with his tales the facts contained in the two forego ln para graphs probably add up to a single item of interest to the average dyed in the wool baseball fan but the fact remains that through the association of the names of abner doubleday and cooperstown Coopers town N Y there came about the chain of events which makes it possible for him to reach the high point of his feverish in terest in the national game along about the first week in october its world orld series time need any more be said early in the nineteenth century the youth of america was playing adame a game with a bat and ball which resembled and yet differed from the an dent clent english game of this game was generally and known wn as town ball although the new vew englanders called it round ball or massa chue chu etts baseball base bilL played on a square field whose sides were CO 60 feet long there was no restriction on the number of players who took part and the rules of the game varied in differ ent localities this crowding dIng of players within a limited space of play and confusion as to rules suggested to one young man that it was time to formulate r a new set of regulations and speed up the play by making the field diamond shaped instead of square he tie was wag abner doubleday a student at it green greens s school in cooperstown Coopers town N Y abo wio began working on the idea in 1839 but it was not un til the next year that be took active steps to lm prove the game in 1840 a great crowd gathered in coopers town tor for a picnic and pol meeting during the famous harrlson harrison log cabin hard elder cider cam laign when the boys assembled that afternoon don doti ble bleday day gathered them around and explained as well as he could the points of the new game he ile decided that there must be four bases 90 feet apart and the boys immediately began to refer to the bame a me as baseball the name stuck it provided for eleven men on a side using four outfielders five infielders pitcher and catcher doubleday ruled a runner not on base night inight be put out by touching him with thie thle ball this system of one player throwing to another devel aped into fast double plays the rules made by doubleday specified that the ball should be made of rubber and yarn and covered with leati er it must weigh about five ounces and must not be more than nine inches in circumference the weight of the ball and the size of the hand were taken into consideration in determining these measurements the bat was to be of round wood and to be used with both hands tn in town ball the bat was frequently used with one hand 0 the next thing for the inventor was to deter mine the distance between the bases after sev era eral eXpert experiments ments it was found that a roan man would have to bustle hustle to run 42 walking al king paces or about W feet before a ball of those dimensions could be returned after having been heel driven to the outfield thus ft t was that 40 feet was fixed as the distance between the bases of the development ot the new game the vol ume annals of american si rt in the yale university I 1 ress series chronicles of amer lea Is the authority for the following the changes introduced by doubleday inaus a new era for those interested in town ball and round ball although biere were no or teams playing regular schedules to pop clarize the new rules the diamond bean to su perseda per sede the square field in the eastern states in 1845 a group of new york gentlemen who had been enjoying practice ganes together for several years orani the kniel er bocker baseball club the barst ass elation of hi baseball play ers era in the cantry under tie lea leadership lealer ship of al y aexander 3 artwright tl ey drafted a code of rules based up n the D system of play with a team of nine dine men as constituted at the present time As a result of tl 11 0 p ihlia tion of their rules and ref lations tie ft e krile herh I 1 ers era soon had competition in the nev ev york d strict during tie decile den ie after ib 0 i ier i cr is baseball clubs ere t f ri zd d LV L I 1 york ork liro bro I 1 lyn I 1 hi ladell hla I 1 altimore dIU inore and oil otter er towns tons K t i I 1 cwb N I 1 INV TWO S and the sport which had once been a gentleman mans s game as exemplified by the knicker boilers soon became the sport of the common man as well in march 1858 a national asso elation of baseball players was formed and one of its first actions was to appoint a rules corn com cittee which introduced the nine inning game but it remained for the civil war to national ize baseball la in 1805 a convention or of the na lional association of baseball I 1 layers was held at which representatives from nearly clubs took part most of them were from the east but there were indications that teams were being formed all over the country two years yeara later the national meeting brought together re presen natives from scores ot 0 teams west est of the AI al leg hanles bardes and south of the mason and dixon line the east however still laid claim to leader ship in the sport with the Att antics of brook lyn asserting their right to the title of national champions after they had defeated the new york in 1865 for the next few years they had strong rivals for the title in the ati fetics of philadelphia no not connie macl mack a outfit he date back quite that farl far I 1 and the unions of Horri santa in 1869 the cincinnati bed red stockings became the first professional team and two years later was organized the national association of professional fess ional baseball players in 18 6 the present national league was organized composed of teams rei rel resenting four eastern and four west ern cities new york I 1 hll idelphia hartford boston chicago st louis louisville and cin cin natt in 1882 a new organization arose to challenge the national league and to attack its financial policy this was the american association and its promoters clien ing that the admission charge of 50 cents made baseball a rich mans man a game announced that it w uld give the god baseball at a cost of only 29 15 cents I 1 11 I 1 e a al league stood its gr und and but instead of ign ring its rival recognized it bv later entering into a nathonal nat jonal lonal agreement with it in order to estabi sh A uniformity in placers contracts methods and the buying and selling of players services that year als saw the real beginning of the worl I 1 series I 1 lea post so seis sois is n game for the title of world hann charal ons iwo ye ire bea re tie cincinnati clit of tie national league had been exi elded from the Nati onil league where il 0 on it joined the american and won the champt t ship of that circuit in 1852 in oct ber of that jear ear aptakin anson of the I 1 icaco na dional league chan i 1 ions arranged g guras ity es with the for or a national championship after cincent ati had won the first ga game ul e at home nome by a score of 4 to 0 and had lost tl e game in hirago by a score of i 2 to 0 il it was n rifled by the pres dent of tl e an association that further contests would en enl I 1 in exp elsion so the abortive world series ended fhe rhe growth groth ot of the horld series idea from that point on Is traced by charles I 1 ike sawyer for many years sporting ed tor for of the new york evening I 1 st at as folio follo vs in the wai witter ter of 1882 the magnates of that day decided there was ruona room for two major or to live in harmony and formed a tri partite national agreement taking in the north western min slin r league and agreeing to keep hands on off the players of friendly clubs the agreement having worked well in ISM 1883 and 1884 and peace being fully established the magnates decided that the plan tried out in 1882 bv C achl I 1 cago an I 1 cincinnati I 1 bed ked like a lot of rea ready y money so it was decided to hold bold the first offic official al world ser seres es in 1 t ew aw york between ta he e two w win n ning bing clubs movidene rov idene and the metropolitans un on october 23 3 24 and hod 25 1884 the provi deice dei ce nine winner of the nat nati nal league charn chain pio iship took tie metr i bitans of new york into camp at the old lolo 1010 I 1 olo grounds at one hun dred tenth street and fifth avenue in the string S k at iv vt 1 4 J 11 a t f ABNER DAY of three games by respective scores 0 of 6 to 0 3 to I 1 in seven innings and 11 to 2 in six innings the last two games being called on account of darkness these championship contests between the winners of the national league and the american association continued until 1890 the high water mark in receipts being in 1887 when 42 was received in 15 games on a barnstorming tour to st louis detroit pittsburgh brooklyn new york philadelphia wasi wasl ington baltimore and chicago the detroit nationals beating the st louis americans by ten games to five in the season of 1988 the glints broke into the chain cham plon ship roll by beating st louis six games to tour four four games being played in new york four in st louis and one each in philadelphia and brooklyn to gross receipts of 24 10 the highest gate being the fifth game in new york of 5 64 6 4 50 and the lowest the last in st loula louis of sa they didn dian I 1 care to watch sera even at fit home in those days davs again the giants won I 1 11 1 beating brooklyn Pro oklyn by six games to three tl tt P total gate ate being 23 of which over 8 was wag at the second game in brooklyn I 1 here there was mighty little interest in the next ears series brooklyn tying with the louisville 15 ill nals with three games each and one tie aril aid in ISM 11 here ere was wa no series and in 1842 1892 the an aluin association was absorbed by the na tl ti I 1 league 12 clubs club paying in a divided sea son the winner of the first half playing the win ner of the leond half at the end the beating t leveland leve lind by five games to none with one tie ghere was as no series in 1803 1893 and then came the lup cup series but it was entirely a national league affair baltimore national league champions in 1694 1891 18 and 1846 lost to new york in four straight aimes in 1844 1894 lost to leveland four games to one in 18 A and beat bent cleveland four in 18 i poston won the championship in but lost the temple cup to baltimore bv four tames games to one these series begin with 18 receipts in four games and then dwindled so rapidly that the games were abandoned abando aban donel nei in 1898 in 10 the national league dropped four ot of its twelve clubs thus giving ban johnson a former baseball player and a baseball writer his chance to form a new league with these four clubs as a nucleus to which were added four oth ers era forming the present american league with in three years the american league was lecog nihed as a major circuit and in 1904 1903 the new nein league established its superiority over the old when the boston fed ped sox defeated the pitts burgh pirates five aames to three the present era of world series games bean beau in 1001 1905 and since that time the american league has contin bed to demonstrate its superiority by winning 16 out of 27 world series v i 0 by western newspaper union r wy T 7 M f 11 04 0 4 v H 4 f t A 1 |