The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-04-06
THE SPORTING FIELD.
!. GLANCE AT COMING EVENTS OUT
AND INDOORS,
/ snort Chapter ON tho Rise and ProEress
III the National Game rurf Matte rs -
The oar. the rifle and the Kennel.
nrarr MA pRnaREsa orr nAaE RAI.I.

II the national Game-fWrf Matte rig
The oar. the rifle ana the Kennel.
RISE AND PROGRESS or BASE BALL.
Harry Chadwick the veteran base bail re-
r,rter Of the United States, furnishes De
witt,s Base Ball Guide with the following
sroellent account Of the origin and progress
! ii The national game:
I,ase ball dates It's origin from the old Eng
Mn uame Of rouRders, to which. however 1t
nav bears no much resemblance as chess to
dra,,ghts Or checkers" In this country the
tarly history Of the game shows 1t tn have
been little else than schoo.-boy pastime, In
1915 II began 70 occupy q more important po-
aIton In the record OF American field sports,
and about that time 1t became q regular club
Qame, the Knickerbocker Club OF New York
being regarded as the Nestor OF base ball.
Nearly forty years ago species Of base ball,
known as .town ball." was In vogue In Phila-
delphia, the Olympic Club Of that city being
its principal exemplar AT o later time, too,
aphase of base ball was popular ~ the East
ern States, under thename OF the New Eng
land game" title given 1t In contradistinc-
ton to the New York game 81 the period. the
former being played with small, ilght pau,
which was thrown overland to the bat, while
In the latter a large elastic ball was used, with
lonr heavy bats, the ball being pitched to the
hat. Base ball as now played, however, can
only date It's rise from the establishment Of
the National Association Of Base Ball Players,
organized i'm 1867. from which time only has
IL been. played under specially authorized
code Of rules.
Before the organization Of the knicker-
booker Club, the rule Of play was to throw
The ball at player In putting him out;
init this led to several severe injuries, and at
The first convention Of delegates from the ex
isting ball clubs the rule was changed to Its
nresent wordingi which requires the ball to
ID held on the base or the player to be touched
while the fielder holds the ball. before he can
ia nut out while running bases This was the
Hrst innovation on the primitive rule OF play
FAMILIAR to the school boy OF thirty years
aup. AT that time, too-1S45 TO lS56--the
0arne was won by the club making q certain
number Of "aces' before the opposing elul'
could. Afterward the rule was changed SO
Al to give the victory to the club making the
most runs in nine innings play on each side
The first printed code Of rules contained but
fourteen sections, and under 1T the pitcher
could deliver the bull as wildly as he chose,
and the baseman could strike at IL at his OPP
Aun, thus making the game tediously dull
and embarrassing, when the contesting mines
were rivals or pretty evenly matched. The
changes In the rules introduced, even at the
frst convention OF the fraternity In 1867, were
such ns to materially Improve the game, but
these revised rules were nothing Ia COMPARE
son with the complete code OF laws by which
base ball Ia now governed, and which have
brought the game up to the point OF excel
lence which now charaeterizes It.. Up to the
year 1860 base ball-as played under the
National Association rules-was chiefly con-
fined to New York and it's vicinity, though y
few clubs existed IN other States. But lii 1860
the then brilliant career OF the Excelsior
Club. OF Brooklyn. created quite Juror,
and the tour Of this club through New York
State, and HfterWart to fhftadtipfta and
Baltimore, led to a wide extension OF the
popularity Of base ball; and . year or two
later the same club established the New
York game as it was then called-in Bos-
ton, and it gradually superseded the New
England game which is now almost un-
known.
The first series OF contests for what may be
called the base bail championship took place
during 1878 and 1859. At that time the
Eysian Fields, ut Hoboken, were the great
centre of base ball playing, and here the
Knickerbocker Eagle, Gotham and Empire
slups ruled supreme 1,1 rival spnrang up
and after some tough battles 1t was generally
conceded that the latter club was the strong
cat Of the then existing organizations. The
success Of the Atlantics led to the arrange
ment Of . series Of three games between
selected mines or the New York aid Brooklyn
clubs In 1853. known as the Fashion Course
Games" In these encounters New York bore
Off the palm by score OF 10 to Is and 20 to Is,
against scores Of % 70 70 the single game q,
the first match included Messrs. De Bost,
catcher; {. Van Colt, pitcher; Wadsworth,
first base; Pinckney, second base; Rxby,
third base; Gelston, short stop; Hoyt, lett
field; Benson, centre field. and Heavyweight,
right field. The Brooklyn nine consisted OF
Leggett, catcher; nj. Brien, pitcher: Price,
first base; Holder, second base: Masten, third
base; Pidgeon, short stop; z: uRrien. left
field; Grum, centre field. and Burr, right
field. In the second game, Marsh, Turner
and Davis played In place OF Wadsworth,
Benson and Wright on the New York side, and
Oliver, Pearce and Manoit. In the place OF
Leggett, Holder and Burr, Brooklyn
CANNING bs aa h B nine Meo IL the r ,ha
hnd Thorne played with Geiston,. ellsworth,
Pinckney and De Bost the Brooklyn nine be-
ing made up entirely Of Atlantic and Eckford
Cub players, they being. beaten worse than
before. In the season of 1860, the Excelsior
Club Of Brooklyn. ranking second to none at
any time in social standing, then occupied
the highest position in the country, as the
leading exemplars Of the beauties OF the
AdiAS xAh0 ohl ale tiiiS YEAR, by Inc Way, GElk5
club did more to establish base ball on q per-
manent and reputable footing than had be-
fore been attempted by any other club; other
noteworthy organizations. such as the
Knickerbocker Club of New York, fer in
stance, having been more limited In their
\. sphere Of operations. The advent OF Creigh-
ton, during that memorable season. with the
accompanying brilliant career of the Excel
sior nine, would have been promptly fol-
lowed by the strenuous efforts Of rival
ORGANIZATIONS during ensuing Saasonc
but for the Inauguration Of the great
rebellion In 1861, which, OF course, materially
interfered with the progress of base ball in
deed, in effect 1t put 1t back several years.
and it was not until 1864 that the game began
to recover its lost ground. In this year the
system OF professional bail-playing began to
openly manifest itself; for previously, though
Practically In existence to some extent, it had
not been prominently brought into public no.
tee: and with this new system came the real
struggle for the championship. Since then
professional bali-pIaying has been officially
recognized as a legitimate occupation: and