The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-01-14
INDOOR BASEBALL.
The First Game PLAYED
Last Night.
IT WAS WON BY BOSTON.
A New and Exciting Sport Is
Developed.
FUN AT BATTERY BIS ARMORY.
Professional Players Give an Exhi-
bition of the National Game
in Miniature.
IT WAS WON BY BOSTON.
FUN AT BATTERY BIS ARMoRY.

Indoor baseball is a success. That ver
dict was rendered by the several hundred
people who were present at Battery BIS
Armory last night and saw the profession
ais skurry about on the polished floor and
put through nine innings of the most rapid
bali that san Francisco people have ever
witnessed.
1t is a game where everybody makes
errors, and they are so common that no
account is taken Of them. But thai only
adds spice to the play.
IL is quicknesS of action that counts,
even much more so than in the outdoor
games, for a player at no time has far to
go, but has very few seconds in which 10
do ii.
The diamond is only twenty-seyen feet
square, set on that small space seven of
the nine players have their positions, and
if the ball gets through the line which they
form it is plain TO be seen that it is going
in hurry.
But here is where the fun comes in, for
the ball Is about seventeen inches In diam
eter, and that makes it very difficult to
catch or to throw accurately, and it proves
TO be very difficult matter to smother the
bounding sphere and make a quick throw
TO base in time to get putOut.
At times the game took on some Of the
features of football. for the whole team
would be after the ball in a rush. or all of
them indiscriminately chasing some base
runner, whose chances of a score were al
ways good after he had reached first.
The feature of the game is the sliding to
bases. These latter are not fastened TO
the floor, and when player makes a dive
at Dag ne doesn't make any effort to stop
there. That isn't the object but if he can
manage to grab it as he goes by il is all
right for him to bring up ont in the held,
and then make his way back TO the dia-
mOnd with the base in tow.
Long was everywhere in the game and
the fans who think he is quick IN the
ordinary game ought to have seen him last
night. He shot the big ball around pro-
miscuously, while the crowd had 10 look
twice TO see it, and he ran bases like
streak. Long has had considerable ex-
perience at the game, and gave the other
players most of the points which they
have picked up.
Hard hits are not to be expected and
the ShOItstOps-there are TWO of them
are not over eight or ten feet from the
batter. This is the only change from the
PLAYERS positions in the regular game
The center fielder is brought in and sup
ports the pitcher on one side. while the
regular shortShOp moves up on the other
the second baseman covering center field
Long and Nichols each made home-run
hits, while several others made the circuit
of the bases without stopping, but that
was due to the tact that nine men were
grasping for the ball, though nobody
reached it.
AS shown by the score below, Boston
won by score of - TO 9. The second
column indicates the bases made by the
player, whether he scored or not, and in
the last column are the outs, not putouts,
made by each man. The score was as
follows: