Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-11-24
Base Bail..-A Card from the ssEthan
Aliens,


Editor Rutland Herald We notice in
late issue of the Rutland HERALD q
card signed by the three principal officers
and men of the Ondowa Base Ball Club,
in which they deny our right to the
championship and endeavor to sustain
their position by statements as unfair as
the game they played. Since they have
seen fit to make public through your col
umns the existing difficulties between US
by presenting their side of the case, we,
| in iustice to ourselves, desire to present
through the same channel the matter as
wa see it, We were informed the day
before the game was to be played that the
Ondowa Club had arranged for an UNI
pire from Cambridge, and we expected to
| find him on the ground when we arrived
there, but were disappointed. The Ethan
Aliens, having objected to their own
| friends as well az the friends of the On
dowas-H. K. Fowler-and proposed a
gentleman from the state of New York.
who was at the hotel, only one quarter of
a mile distant, and offered to go after him.
He was acquainted with the game and in
favor of neither club. This the Ondowas
would not allow, and intimated that il
the Ethan Aliens did not consent to the
umpire they had proposed, the game
could not be played, and at the last mo-
ment he was accepted, not by the Ondo-
was but by the Ethan Aliens. The Ethan
Aliens, having kept the lead until the
close of the thicd inning, the Ondowas
seemed SO much ohagrined that they lost
all desire for fair play, and from this point
in the game expressed an opinion of every
doubtful play before the umpire bad time
| to give his decision, and in every case
he decided as they told him. The On
dowas, not gaining by this in the fourth
inning, endeavored during the fifth to dis
able the pitcher of the Ethan Allen Club,
and succeeded in driving balls SO near
him that he became somewhat excited and
could not pitch with nearly the effect he
had before. The umpire in this inning
made very strong and unjust decision
which alone gave the Ondowas the runs
The first striker having reached the first
base ran nearly to third on foul-admit-
ed to be such by the one who struck it,
and in returning to first failed to touch
second, as the rule requires The ball
was thrown by the pitcher to the first
basemau. who touched the man with the
ball, and then sent it to second. The
Ethan Aliens demanded that the man
should bs Judged out, and Judge
of their surprise when, at this late
hour, the umpire decided the foul
q strike and that the man was entitled
to his base. This decision was made on
the testimony of the acting captain of
the Ondowas which is strictly forbidden
by rule The unfairness of the umpire
| during the first half of the sixth inning
became so manifest in his decisions on
strikes and fouls, that the Ethan Aliens
were forced to believe that the Ondowas
were determined If they could not win
by fair means they would by foul. The
Ethan Aliens went to bat in the sixth
to do their best to regain what they had
lost, and succeeded in retaining the lead
by one run, and but for the umpire would
have had more.
/. Now commenced the seventh inning of
which the Ondowas so much complained.
The second striker went out, and the
next reaching third attempted to steal
home bat was touched with the ball by
? the catcher before reaching the base. A.
. they accidentally ran together both fell,
the catcher still holding the ball on the
runner, and the Ondowas before any de-
cision of the umpire was given declared
? the player was not ont. AS the umpire
J refused to give decision, and the captain
f of the Ondowas directed the scorer to
{ score the run, the Ethan Aliens thought
, that they could no longer submit to such
| decisions and continued insult and retain
! their honor left the field, declaring that
, they would no longer continue the game
unless the man was declared out.
This was the unusual point that came
up, and was SO magnanimously given up
) to secure the continuance of the game
? This question decided, the Ethan Aliens
returned to the field to continue the
| game. The Ondowas on foul balls, that
were decided fair because they bounded
into the crowd and could not be sent to O
base in time to put the player out, and
| by one or two good hits secured five runs
! with two men on bases. The next striker
. waited at the bat until the men on the
Q bases came home fifteen minutes by the
; watoh-wbile more than a dozen balls
/ were pitched fairly to him, the umpire
r refusing to call single strike. This
: capped the climax, and as there was NO
/ time to play more than the seventh in.
| ming, Notwithstanding the Ondawas state.
!, ment to the contrary, and as the umpire
!. was so manifestly given the game to the
. Ondawas the Ethan's decided to play the
s game into the dark. The Ondawas also
9 knowing the eight inning could not be
: played, and thinking they had made runs
: enough to win, endeavored to foul OF
strike out. These men whose honor is 80
3 much shocked also stopped between the
: bases to be put out. Then and not till
: then, did the Ethan Aliens throw balls
8 over the heads of the basemen or around
, the field. From the above it will be seen
that this style of playing, never before
0 seen in Vermont, was INDUCED in az
!. much by the business men of the
t Ondowa Club as by the Ethan Aliens
a Seven innings, could and would have
a been played, but for the unfairness of the
t umpire. No player got ashamed of his
: part in the transaction but the third hand
? was caught out, because it was admitted
Q by members of the Ondowa Climb, to be te
+ dark to longer continue the game.
The Ethan Aliens did not "leaye the
8 ground disguised with themselves" bu,
: with almost everybody else. They die
: make an official demand for the bat before
leaving the ground, and another the fol
3 lowing day, by letter, and it was saction
: ed by every member of the Ethan Aller
: Club. The Ondowas refused to answe,
t this last demand, and yet complain of nc
q Ramon 90 hoipu ,nado RI <ha;r 1nt%o- L. ~