Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1891-05-02
THE GAME OF TRAP"
Il Resembles Baseball, and Has Bsso
Played In ireland . Thousand Years.

Il Resembles Baseball, and Has BssA
Played In ireland . Thousand Years
There was a game played at the olden
festivals and fairs of Ireland that re-
minds me curiously OF baseball. IL ID
called trap" and us 1t so closely re-
sembles Americas national game ana
was practised in Ireland more than q
thousand years ago, l shall describe IL
here. The first game saw played was
at a place called Ventry liarbor, in the
County of Kerry. 1t was during an an
nual celebration of the nth of March.
Ina great field were thousands of the
peasantry and people from Dingie ano
even from Killarney and Llstowei ana
Limerick. At n signal the entire con-
course moved toward the hill where
was standing with a friend. and there
remained on the battlefield only fifty
men. These were the players, and this
is how the game was played:
captain for each side being selected
the forty-eight players stand in row,
and from them the captains alternately
call each twenty-four men. Then they
toss for innings and the game begins. 1t
is played with hurley and n ball OF
horse-hair and leather formed like q
double cone =. This is placed on the
ground near to a hole. which answers
the purpose of the baseball home plate;
under it is a 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 1t
forty hurley lengths (about ninety fcStl
he also loses his innings. And he scorf.
nothing unless the ball is driven
least the distance of fifty hurley Lengthy
Behind the batsman is the captain
the opposing team. and his twcnty-toR.
men are arranged in semi-circle on
field, about fifty yards from the baV,
man At line distant from the hoS
about twenty hurley lengths are ST
toned two men of the in side, and thc$
duty is strange one. When the biH
is struck the fielders endcavor to cat
1t on the fly or after one hop. and shou
they succeed in doing this, with OF
hand, the man is out. If they do M
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 cndcavors to so
strike it that it goes within the twenty
hurley line. in which event also the
batsman relinquishcs his hurley. The
score is counted by distance only. For
instance, nothing counts until after the
ball has been struck fifty hurlcys'
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.
1t seems to me that this game is n
more scientific one than base ball. It
cquires greater skill in handling the
bat and infinitely more strength. and
ccrtes the work of the iieldcrs 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 dissimilar that one can not trace Il
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 ont to watch this picturesque test
of the strength and skill of their
athletic young friends. In the days of
the old fairs this game rivalcd hurting.
Robert r. Walsh. in Outing.