OCR Text |
Show " Early History of the National Pastime And Its Evolution CHICAGO, Sept 2" the com ing of the world's series baseball takes I a paramount plaeo m the thoughts of i many persons. The word "baaeball" as a dosienntion for the national pastime pas-time came Info existence In the thirties thir-ties of the last cenlury, according to ihistorians, and is the evolution of the I name "roundball1 which later be-Icame be-Icame "townball" because the game was played at town meetings ' There are two schools of though) on the orlpin of ihe game of bast -i hall onif olaim that tho namo is the evolution of the old English game of "rounders" while others claim in thlr 'writings that the sport is. of Mrielly American origin. Writers of the flst croup say tho came of ' rounders" ..an be traced to the Netherlands, and in turn to Bgypt, even t,roinc so far as to sugcest that the Sphinx "may have been the first umpire " Those who favor the idea that the game oriqinatod with Americans, by Americans, and for Americans are in the majority however, and to Alexander Alex-ander J farlwrichi, New York man, the credit for originating the Ramr as now played is given by many writers. writ-ers. In 1S42, it is written, Cartwrtgbl broke in on a gamo of "onefold-cat" which a cang of New York boys were playing on the Murray Hill grounds, and with a stick scratched a diamond in the dust, tellincr the boys thi-jthe thi-jthe game they should play and suggesting sug-gesting a player for each base, three "scouts" in tho outfield, a pitcher and a catcher. In the early days, when the gamo resembled ri'ket and any lull hit by the batter was fair." the catcher catch-er had to scout to assist himself. The game as suggested by Cart-wright Cart-wright took form quickly and on September 23, 1845, the Knickerbocker Knickerbock-er club In Now York was formed, having hav-ing the honor of being the first baseball base-ball club, according to historical writers writ-ers of the game. The first contest of the m w game wa played between the Knlekerbocker club and another Nw York team on the Elyaian fields, Hoboken, N J. The New York tea.u won, 23 to 1. The first tabulated score ever kept of the game, histories 'record, was that printed by the Now I York Clipper on Julv 14, lSr3. Th" Contest was played on July 5 of that jyear between the Knickerbocker ;-nd iGotham teams In the early days runs were called "aeen" and a team had to make 21 ! to have enough to win. Rule one of the early set of rules, copies of which hav been preserved, says that ill players "must be punctual and oh-serve oh-serve the lime for the commencement of the game." This precaution was I necessary because in thoe days no bast - on balls were possible and it wafl not uncommon for the pitcher to throw for half an hour before Ihe batter decided de-cided to strike. Very few chances iu the basic principles prin-ciples of the game, as set forth in the original twenty rules, made In 11 '. have been made in rule two of the original set it le provided that "he-fore "he-fore the commencement of the game tin president shall appoint an umpire who shall keep the game in a book and note all the violations of the rule-," and seventeen states that there shall be no appeal from the umpire's decision lncas 0l a dispute. In isis .i rule making it necessary for a player to be ' touched out" was added to the original rode- and at this time sliding to the bases made iis appearance. Other changes were made from time to time making the principles of the same the .me as th. stand today Beginning With" the Knickerbocker and Gotham clubs other organizations sprung up into being and a pioneer convention of baseball clubs was hold in May, 1857. The next year 25 cLbs sent delegates to New York and "The National Association of Baseball Players" Play-ers" was formed. In the late fifties the game spread to Boston; Portland, Maine, look up the pastime in 1858. and Bufialo and Rochester, New York, followed. Chicago Chi-cago started the game in 1856 and two years later was playing match games with Milwaukee. . . When ihe same spread to San Francisco Fran-cisco in 1859 it developed into a wild -porf Professional gamblers who in-lested in-lested the Pacific coast town in the early davs bet heavily on the games, according to historical accounts, and the "spectators' were in the habit of shooting off revolvers vhen a fielder was about to catch the ball Records show that New Orleans bo-eamo bo-eamo interested in baseball in 1360, then ihe Civil war put a stop io the sport temporarily, but the soldiers m the camps played and writes say the war had a great deal lo do with the spread of the sport over the on':n country. In 1867 the Savannah team, accom- ; panipd by a band and rooters, went to Charleston to play for the rbani-ipionshlp rbani-ipionshlp of the South, it is chronicled Harvard unlversltv combined with the town boys in 18G5 and organized the first college baseball team Later Tufts and Yale followed. In 1864 ami '65 the "Atlantlcs" of Brooklyn won all their games and held undisputed title until 1866, when tho Philadelphia Athletics stepped in and handed tne ( hampions a defeat. The two teams played before a crowd estimated at .0,000 on October 1, 1S66, ;nd the Athletics won, 31 to 12. It was considered a disgrace to take money for playing in the early days.l but in 1866 three members of the! Brookhn team were given $10 a week 1 for playing. This, according to his--4 torlans, was the turning point in the , Mm" toward professionalism The 3fl first professional team is credited iO 1SE Rockford. Ill , where Al G Spalding T" organized the "Forest City's" team, j g" To Hairy Wright, who went to CJl-1 B Icinnatl in 1867 from the Washington V National.-, writers give tho credit tor 1 importing non-residence players for I his team. By 1874 professional, amateur and -I PJ semi-professional clubs had sprung up J all over the country and baseball truly became the national sport In 1875 the j "Association of Baseball Players' ex- 1 pelled the Chicago club for refusing to 22 play a return game, and thereupon, M? I histories say, Spalding and McVey nd I"' I ime other Boston players jumped to HI ! hicago. The Spalding revolution is W given as the reason for the formation 'oi tht National league in 1876. j The newly formed National leane fj had lot rh.iU the International as-o-jojatlon in 1877, the American assocl- I ji:tion, Union Association, and in 1000 i lie meri(aii It ague, which stands to- W"1 I day as the only rival. f ' |