The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1877-09-06
Baseball as 1t Was and Is.

What glorious thing game of base
ball was1when the amateurs hourished,
some sixteen years ago! What enthusiasm
prevailed when two different clubs, rerre-
senting different localities of the same
city, met; what desperate anxiety when
the champion organizations of rival cities
encountered! The players were delicate
handed gentlemen, tinged a rich brown
by exposure to the sun, and clad in fancy
uniforms, each one wearing wonderful.
ly-fashioned pair of running shoes, man.
ufactured by shoemaker after the own
er's designs. The spectators were num-
bered by thousands, and the gayly -colored
dresses lent variety to the appearance of
the crowd. The affair made sort of hol-
iday. The characteristics of every one in
a ball-club, as man, we're known, as
we'll as his points as player, and his
friends looked at his performance with a
solicitude for his success that was almost
painful. The players took the field with
a light, airy, graceful movement. They
had deep interest in the game, and were
generally nervous about the result of it;
they liked the fun and had expectations Of
winning honor. The pitcher put on plenty
of speed, but knew nothing of twist, and
there was beautiful uncertainty about
his delivery. The catcher was very shy
about coming up close to the striker, and
when he did take such position the
pitcher merely tossed the ball in softly
and the batsman waited for an accident to
give the man running chance to make
base. An overpitch soon settled the mat
ter, and the crowd howled its pleasure or
disgust. So great check was the pres
ence of man on one of the bases that
clubs with rapid pitchers were sometimes
willing to let striker who made the first
base get all the way round, so that the
balls might be sent in at full speed. In
those days it was esteemed great
feat for the catcher to throw bali to the
second base and cut off a man running
from the first The catching of fly ball
was considered matter altogether in the
hands of Providence, and when a sky
scraper was driven upward The spectators
looked at its flight in alterations of hope
and fear, never certain of its fate. In
deed, in very primitive times the bold
felders were accustomed TO back away
from the fly ball and take il on the first
bound. Then it seemed impossible for
the players to cover the space between the
foul-fags and ground ball was held to
be perfectly safe. The favorite method
of stopping grounder was to shin it and
then run and pick it up; for the idea of
STOPPING to take ball that was skimming
through the daisies at lightning speed re-
suited from slow process of evolution.
The possibility of catching a ball on the
short bound and the advisability of max
ing scoop OF the hands instead of cross
ing them were demonstrated by the first
cricketers that came over from England
The old ExcelsiOrs taught ball-players
how to keep down scores by holding their
opponents to the bases. The old Atlantics
led the way in showing how to win
game with the bat, and brought into vogue
reckless method of passing about the
bali like a cannon shot. The Cincinnati
Red Stockings demonstrated the value of
perfect organization, and metamorphosed
ball playing from sport into business.
The era of its triumph marked the decline
of amateur clubs, the establishment of
professional mines and the breaking up of
all local feeling in regard to base ball.
The game has been brought to perfection,
but the fun is gone. To freouenter Of
the ball field as it was fifteen years ago a
match game of this era is sad sight.
The ball ground is fenced in and
Il heavy entrance fee is charged
at the gate. A few spectators are
ranged on the well-worn seats
and they are all men and boys. The play
ers have not the youthful, lightsome air
of their predecessors. They take their
places in a perfunctory way and with the
cool, careless confidence of men about to
perform an ordinary days work. Neither
of the contesting clubs seem to care
whether the game is won or lost. Victory
or defeat is mere question of averages,
and each is accustomed to both, for they
are playing continually. The crowd Isl
also uniL Lterested in partisan way, for
there is no matter OF local pride involved.
The men representing New York this sea-
son may be upholding the houor of st.
Louis or Chicago next year. There is
merely a languid interest expressed as to
the salary that some particular men GET
and the prospects or others for good en-
gagement. The pitcher delivers the ball
easily but with curl that seems to trouble
the batsman. He never over pitches and
the catcher never lets a ball pass him. If
the striker drives bali up in the air
straightway everybody loses interest in it,,
for the catching of it is no longer the
:" noble work of chance" but matter of
certainty. If a grounder is driven be-
tween the bases it appears impossible tor
it to find path through the fielders; and
when one Of them gets hold of it he slaps
it to the base and the affair is settled. A.
man on a base is no longer source of
strength to the club at the bat but a source
of weakness, as he cannot get chance to
run until the ball is struck and then
moves at the risk of being cut off. The
listless precision, the workmanlike GER
tainty, thereadiness without agility which
everybody displays become monotonous.
cit is magnificent said the French
man, "but it is not war. ."ra "It is base
ball, but it is not magnificent. IN r.
World.
THERE are upward Of 5000 coats-of 2