The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-06-08

association umpire, having become disgustod
with the manner in which the clubs have al
lowed him to be insulted by spectators at
matches.
In the game in New York in which John L.
Sullivan, the Iugilist, pitched for the Metro
politans against a picked nine, his share OF
the gate receipts-one-half the money taken
scored twenty runs to fifteen for the picked
nine.
THE following close eleven inning game
was played at Buffalo between the Philadel-
ph;a and the Buffalo mines:
Philadelphia. .......0 0 0 0O011 0 0 Ia
Buffalo. .......... % 900 1O010 0 %
Base Observation-Disclosures, s: Buffalo, 8.
Errors-Philadelphia, 5; Buffalo, 8. Pitchers
Coleman and Calvin.
IT does not seem to be generally UNDER
stood that umpires are obliged by the rules,
in cases of doubt, to give the preference to
a b~ase-runner and not to the ball. Rule 81.
section 8, declares that the ball must be held
by the base-player. 6, efore" the runner
touches the base or the latter j. not ont. II
the ball be held at the same moment III 1t the
runner touches the base the runner is net
out.
RECENTLY a singular game was played in
Philadelphia, the contestants being the mines
of the Smoky and Hopper baseball clubs,
composed respectively of one-armed and
one-legged men, for the cripple champion
ship. Four of the Smoky team had an arm
off at the shoulder, one had a paralyzed arm,
and each of the rest of the nine was minus a
hand. The Hoppers were i'll worse trim.
Their first baseman had an artificial leg, the
center and right-felders chased balls on
crutches, and the oilers of the nine travelled
on peg legs. The two-leyged, one-armed
side had an easy victory over the two-armed,
one-legged crowd, the score standing 81 to
IL at the end of the fifth inning, when the
game ended.
A WRITER in the New York Erening Post
gives these "reminiscences of old-time base
ball; In 1865 and 1866 "A perfect frenzy of
ball playing swept over the United States.
Old and young took part or interest in the
anne Every village and hamlet boosted its
nine, and in the cities the list of clubs
rivaled the Homeiic catalogue of the ships.
The game as played then had a breezy range
and flavor. The ball, charged to its full
with rubber, bounded among the fielders
with the ricochet of a cannon ball. One
had its bats made of huge square
pickets "whitt'ed" down at one end.
mother team bore vast round beams of bass
wood, as large as a mans thigh, bored out
and charged with cork to make them light.
The lookers-on invariably constituted them
selves a sort of high court of appeal, with
out any legal delicacies of language. Occa-
sionally, in more exciting contests, a stone
or brick bat projected from the crowd en-
phasized its opinions and sometimes it
seemed as though the umpire would have to
qualify for medieval suit of armor to hold
his place. As for the mines, an epiQram-
matte phase by which l once heard a player
describe his team may suffice. Said he:
Sour nine cam bat much, or throw much.
or catch much, but they're first-rate takers
Many a funny incident crosses memory in
looking back on those CID days. In one of
the games a lire ball struck the pitcher-a
pulpy. round-headed classmate-squarely on
the side of the head. The ball caromtd side
ways TO a fielder, who caught it on the fly,
putting the striker out amid shrieks of mer-
riment. In another instant during a match
game a swift Elmer" hit the player on the
ankles, followed up his body and was caught
at the chest. Perhaps, however, the most
famous catch of all was that of an indifferent
player whose back happened to be turned
lust as a hard-hit ball was struck to him. He
turned suddenly, exactly in time, as it seemed
to receive the ball in the pit of the stomach
But he threw out his left hand defensively
and the ball, TO the utter amazement of the
spectators and even more of the player him.
self, "stuck" between thumb and forefinger