Frostburg mining journal., 1883-08-25
Sl;tliseellany.
A WOMAN ON BASE BALL.

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base ball nine is having considerable
difficulty in finding some one to catch
or pitch, or do something or other In
its games. l don't wonder bit. If
the man they want has to eubmit to
anything like the rough and tumble
performance l saw the other day on
the Polo Grounds, he will need more
than his salary to pay the doctors for
repairing him. I accepted Mr..
Diogenes' invitation to s,e what he
called "the beauties of the national
game" It was broiliug hot day.
but Mr.. D. said the game would be
hot IN proportion, go we started.
1t was the first time l had ever
seen base ball played. 1t will be the
Last. What i saw confirms me in the
belief that mems ideas Of sport are
inexplicable on any theory except
teu porary insanity. I had heard Of
people who enjoyed getting into
fl. hts because they had the fun OF
getting all smashed to pieces. didn't
believe it, however, until l saw a
base bail game. Then was convinced.
/ should think there must have
been ss many as 5000 people besides
Mr.. D. and myself, looking en- at the
eighteen wild men who gyrated about
the ball grounds. A great many In
the throng were ladies, and, to my
amusement, they seemed to enjoy
what they saw.
AS We took our seats | saw a man
throw round object with all his
might and main at a man who held
something like a cart-rung in his
hand. The missile came so close to
the cait-rung mans head, that as he
lodged it the man who stood right
behind him, and another person who
stood right at the second mans heels,
ducked their heads in unison with the
man with the cart-rung to escape be-
ing hit. The missile finally struck
the side of the grand stand with a
noise like the explosion of cannon
Nobody seemed surprised. Mr.. D
explained that the missile was ball,
and that what l thought was a cart
rung was not cart-rung, but bat.
He said the men always thr ew the
ball like that in the hope that the
STRIKER" could not hit it with the
bat. examined the man with the
bat critically. He didn't look a bit
like labor agitator, much less a
striker. l told Mr.. D. so. He laugh
ed and aaid that that was technical
name only.
The man who stood behind the bat
had cage built around his head, and
wore thick gloves. The man behind
him also had his Uranium inclosed in
wire. He jumped up and down and
watched the man who hurled the ball,
and the ball Itself, as if he considered
himself in imminent danger of being
made target. I asked Mr.. D. about
the cnges. "Oh," eaid hs, "that'a
part of the outfit. Formerly they
didn't wear those mssks. but en- one
or two occasions the striker, in hitting
at the bail, brought the bat accident
ally in collision with the catcher =
head. The phock split the bat. The
captain of the nine complained, after
this he'd happened several times,
that bats were too expensive to be
turned into kindling wood in that
way. The catcher objected too. He
aaid he couldn't afford to have a
hesdache during a match. To satisfy
both players the masks were adopted
Ali the damage taat an accomplished
ba'sman Can hope to infict upon the
the OF poslte nine ia TO smash the mask
to pieces.
While Mr.. D. was talking the
striker hit the ball. 1t shot onward
as if fred from a gun, ard the man
who hit it ran away as fast as his legs
could carry him. Two other men
who had been standipg at different
POINTS watching him followed his ex-
ample. The crowd began to yall
until l was nearly deaf. The ball
dropped like meteor toward man
who stood with his eyes turned sky
ward. 1t went into his hands with a
erri6c whack, and he promptly let
go of it. The crowd yelled in deris-
ion. The man yelled too. Then he
seized his left wrist with his right
hand. and whirled round and round,