Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-03-26
have already passed bills making s.tur.

DOUBT fall Ia line. When this has beer
I accomplished think 1t will be found ths'
the few hours deducted from business
and given to outdoor recreation will be
more than made good by increasing fici.
epcy and more cheeriu service on the
part Of the great army Of the employed,
And what change has taken place
In the game since the old days Of the MI.
tual and Atlantic contests. am not am
bilious to be placed in the ranks of the
| old stsgers, but think that every mate.
| rial alteration that has been made In the
game, whether in the rules or in the play
ing, has been within the limits Of my
personal experience, that is, since be
gan to play on regularly organised
nipe. The reduction Of the number of
bad balls allowed the pitcher; the change
OF the old time pitch into the almost unre-
stricted delivery Of the present day, with
all lte varieties Of "outcurves," "drops,"
"lnshoots" and "rIses;" the abolition of
the foul bound out; the invention of the
mask and chest protector, are all innoVs-
tons Of comparatively recent date.
IsHALL NEVER FORGET
@y frst, experience in facing curved
pitching. II was In the summer of '7s
l Was then playing third base in the H.r-
ward nine, and We had come down to play
our annual games with the Princeton
college tesm. Up to that time We had
never even heard of the curved ball. We
went into the game with every onfdence.
Mann WAS then pitching for Princeton.
The first i've men to the bat, I think,
struck out. We did not notice anything
peculiar about Msnn's delivery except
our inability to hit 1t. At the nth inning
the score stood Z to against US. Our in
ability 30 touch the ball had become 30
msrked that some OF the nine took posi-
ton behind the catcher, which WAS al
lowed In those dRys, to see II We could
discover what was the trouble. The dis
coVery WAS q revelation. Ball. that
started in the direction of The strikers
body were coming In over the plate. and
what was apparently promised to be .
good ball was foot or more ont OF
the bAtsnan's reach when he struck
at 1t. Such an eccentric deliv-
cry was unhesrd Of, and we were
unable TO account for IT, but II WAS fact
ell the came that was likely to cost US the
game unless We took prompt and imme-
diase action. There was one fatal mis-
take, however, that Mann made. HIS
curve was very wide one, but he limited
himself entirely to this one style Of deliv
cry, sever using straight ball. The
consequence was that every ball thst
seemed about to "tAke" US In she side
came
INDIRECTLY OVER THE PLATE.
OF this fact We were not slow to take
advantage. We picked out the longest
bats that we could fnd snd every osll
hat was apparently about to knock
the wind out Of us we struck at with
Oh ldnks faitn that it would be some where
near the center of the plate. Nor were We
disappointed. Had Mann appreciated the
wisdom Of sending straight ball occs-
sionally, he would have oisssipated our
wind and fsith st the same time, and had
us completely at his mercy; but this he
never seemed to think e. Consequently
We soon began to Sind" the ball eith
some { q CT, as we WhiteWashed them for
the remainder Of the game, we managed
10 crawl out Of o, and vero small hole and
eventually WOE the game, the score at
the close being tot.
When we played our return game 10
Cambridge the same tactics gave Us the
game by score of 10 to 8, while the day
before, Yale, who was given her frst ex-
perience In this style Of pitching, was SO
much puzz ed that Mann succeeded in
disposing of her nine without their get
ting single hit.
AS have often been asked by whom
and when was the cAtcher's mask in
vented, brief account of how Il frat
came into use nay not be embarrassing
IN THE sUMNRE OF 1876
was playing centelfsld on the Harvard
nine, Thatcher WAS our regular catcher,
but once In 8 while used to 60 in behind
the bat to relieve him when his hands
got sore, an occurrence which happened
quiet frequently, IS the well padded
catcher's gloves Of the present day were
almost unknown, and We had to get along
the best We could with ordinary
buckEkin gloves with the fngers
cut OF. The only protection then
In use from fo4l tips was small piece of
which, II struck by the ball, IL WAS popu-
lsrly supposed would prevent the d.sa,
greeaoIe contingency Of being forced to
this protection was fortunately never
compelled to test personally, nor did /
hear Of any one elSe's experience In this
direction, although it gave one 8 certain
Gmoant of confidence; still I rather
insgine that foul tip which landed
square would In al probability drive in
both teeth and rubber.
Catching In those days WAS no child's
play. 1t was the time of swift under
hand throwing, and severe accidents
were not uncommon. In the fall of 1875
Thatcher left college and Fred Thsyer,
the captain Of the niue wanted ma to ILL
his p asi:ion regularly on the nine. To this
my family WAS strongly opposed, and I
told Thsyer would not be allowed to
catch uclsss he could get up some pro-
teclion for the face, and suggested that 8
mask somewhat in tn nature Of fencir z
mask might answer tina purpose.
THAYER ACCEPTED THE SUGGESTION,
went TO Q WREN ker IN Bosom ami be-
tween them they evolved the arst max
ever used on ball Geld, and on whieh
Th6yer took out q patent.
few tests made In the gymnasium
sho we'd that although large and un-
wieldlv, It WAS perfect projection. 10
appearance It looked very much like q
bird cage, and bore as near q resem-
blsncs to a Hssk now In use az the FIRST
steam engine to the one Of the present
day.
when IL made itR drst sppearnce nm tbs