Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-08-25
Feminine Base Ball.

hiuou III ITO l. llme6
The game of base ballrecently played In Phila-
delphia by gorgeously dressed young women
was confessedly failure, aad it established the
tact that base ball. unlike the modern drama
cannot be made exclusively an exhibition Of
clothing. The base ball girls had undoubtedly
been trained with great care In order to nre-
vent serious accidents. soft ball was used In
the training lessons, and the batter was allowed
to use hollow paper club. The trainer asserts
that prior to the public exhibition the girls had
acquired what he considered fair degree OF
proficiency-that is to say, the ball was pitched
about once In three times somewhere In the
neighborhood of the bat. and several successful
catches were made in the course of every game.
When. however, the girls played in public with
real ball and bat they did not cover them
i selves nas with gl0rym an'a as they stood
ering. With the exception Of a
mouse, there is probably nothing more
dangerous than a base ball flying through the
air directly at some unprotected girl. Such at
Least, was the opinion of the ball-playing girls.
The batter alone showed no signs Of fear, for
there was, OF course, no probability that the
balls aimed at her would come near her. The
other players. whenever bali came In their d.
rection, would excleim loudly, "Oh, my!" and
would frantlcally dodge It, No casualties either
the reason that no girl was able to throw the
ball swiftly enough to inflict q severe blow
Still, had it hit girl in the eye or on the back
hair it might have caused some inconvenience
OF course the girls cid not venture to catch the
ball. They could not have caught it had they
tried, for the simple reason that they were
standing on their feet and were without aprons
To expect o girl in such circumstances to catch
ball would be absurd.
The sangune Spectator who managed the
baseball girls is, however. not discouraged
He intends that the girls shall at once resume
the study Of the game with hard instead of q
soft ball-the trainer as we'll as the girls being
tncased In the BOytOn rubber armor. The girls
are all to be provided with large aprons. and.
with the exception of the pitcher and the batter.
will sit down during the game ready to catch in
their laps any ball that may come to them, while
the labor OF chasing runaway balls and bringing
them back will be performed by an auxiliary
force OF small boys. The great problem, how
ever. Is, how to teach the girls to throw a ball
with any precision. 1t IL proposed to ascertain
by careful experience in precisely what direc-
tlon girl should try to throw ball in order to
nit the bat. 1t Is generally believed II the batter
Is standing due west Of the pitcher the latter
should aim at the north star If she wishes to
send the ball within reach OF the bat, but this
is not rule which can be trusted in all cases.
The peculiarities Of each player must be ascer-
tanned by experiment, and when this 10 done the
angle at which she should throw Q bali can be
calculated as easily as . sailor who knows the
variation OF the compass can calculate the exact
position of the pole.
After all, it Is very doubtful II girls can be
made efficient baseball players. They can far
surpass the male "Iied Stockings" and "White
Stockings" in the splendor Of their costumes.
but in ell probability the sacred cause of art
would suffer less were they to display their
clothes on the stage instead Of the ball field.