Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-04-16
THE GAME OF TRAP"
1t Resembles Baseball, and Has Been
Played in Ireland Thousand Years.

It Resembles Baseball, and Has Been
Played in Ireland Thousand Years.
There-was game played at the olden
festivals and fairs of Ireland that re-
minds me curiously of baseball. 1t is
called trap" and as it so closely re-
sembles Americas national game and
was practised in Ireland more than
thousand years ago, I shall describe it
here. The first game / saw played was
at place called Ventry Harbor, in the
County of Kerry. 1t was during an an
nual celebration of the nth of March.
In a great field were thousands of the
peasantry and people from Dingle and
even from Killarney and Listowel and
Limerick. At a signal the entire con-
course moved toward the hill where l
was standing with friend, and there
remained on the battlefield only fifty
men. These were the players, and this
is how the game was played:
A captain for each side being selected,
the forty-eight players stand in a row,
and from them the captains alternately
call each twentyfour men. Then they
toss for innings and the game begins. 1t
is played with a hurley and ball of
horse-hair and leather formed like
double cone -. This is placed on the
ground near to hole, which answers
the purpose of the baseball home plate;
under it is spoon-shaped piece of wood
called kippeen. This the batsman
strikes, and the ball rises in the air
when he hits at it. Should he miss three
strokes he is out. If he fails to drive it
forty hurley lengths (about ninety feet)
he also loses his innings. And he scores
nothing unless the ball is driven at
least the distance of fifty hurley lengths.
Behind the batSman is the captain of
the opposing team, and his twenty-four
men are arranged in semi-circle on the
field, about fifty yards from the bats
man. At line distant from the hole
about twenty hurley lengths are sta
toned two men of the in side, and their
duty is strange one. When the ball
is struck the ielders endeavor to catch
it on the fly or after one hop, and should
they succeed in doing this, with one
hand, the man is out. If they do not
catch it they throw it toward the hole.
And then comes the business of the
two men who stand on this twenty
hurley line 1t is their duty to prevent
the ball getting within that line, and
they are permitted to strike it as it is
thrown, and so increase the score of
their friend. Should they miss three
times then the batsman is out, as though
it was he himself who had made the
false hits.
If the ball is thrown behind the player
the opposing captain endeavors to SO
strike it that it goes within the twenty
hurley line, in which event also the
batsman relinquishes his hurley. The
score is counted by distance only. For
instance, nothing counts until after the
ball has been struck fifty hurleys'
lengths, and after that each length
counts one, the length of the game
being usually five hundred Or some
times it is decided by the aggregate of
the innings.
It seems to me that this game is
more scientific one than baseball. 1t
requires greater skill in handling the
bat and infinitely more strength, and
certes the work of the fielders is more
difficult and requires absolute skill in
the determination of the throw toward
the hole. OF course it is not precisely
similar to baseball-for instance, there
is no pitcher-but the mode is not so
very uISS1lulldI ulltG oIlC Cdl1 AoC CIiCS d
close resemblance.
This game continues to be played in
many parts of Ireland, particularly in
the west and southwest; and so great
is the interest taken in it in the parishes
where it is played that all country sides
turn out to watch this picturesque test
of the strength and skill of their
athletic young friends In the days of
the old fairs this game rivaled hurting.
Robert L. Walsh, in Outing.