Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1895-07-01
SIDE LIGHTS ON THE BALL FIELD
The Father of the National Game still Liv-
ing in New Haven Hale and Hearty
and Eighty.

Thousands who admire baseball will be
Interested in the fact that there Is IS smui. ~
game, DR.. Daniel L. Adams, an octoGe-
marian. lie is exceedingly well preserved,
and his active step and unmpaired eye
sight and hearing go far to prove the
value of an active interest in athletics in
early life. The doctor was one of the first
men to belong. to an organized baseball
ters connected with the growth and char
aacter of the national game He went TO
New York as physician in 1898 he says:
formed the Nickerbocker Baseball Club.
They went into it just for exercise and
enjoyment, and | think they used to get
n good deal more solid fun out of 1t than
the players in the big games do nowadays.
About a month after the organization of
this club. several of us medical fellows
Joined it, The following year ! was mede
president, and served as long as l was
willing to retain the office. Twice a week
we went over to, the Elysian Fields, for
practice. Once there We were free from
all restraint, and throwing off our coats
we played until it was too dark to see any
longer. / was "A left-hgnded batter, and
sometimes used to get the ball into the
river People began to take an interest i'm
the game presently, and sometimes we had
as many as 100 spectators watching the
practice. The rules at that time were very
crude. The pitching was all underhanded,
and the catcher usually, stood back and
caught the ball on the bound.
our players We're not very enthusiasts
tic at first, and did not always turn outt
we'll on practice days. There was then nok
rivalry, as no otfr. club was formedd
baseball base had IA desperate struggle for cx-
istence AS captain, / had to employ all
my rhetoric to induce attendance, and
effort, but my love for the game, and
the happy hours spent at the 'Elysian
Fields led me to persevere. During the
summer months many of our members
were out of town. thus leaving a very
short playing season.
I'VE had great deal of trouble in get
l made all the balls myself, not only for
our club, but also for other clubs when
York to find someone who would UNDER
take this work, but no one could be in
found a Scotch saddler who was able to
show me n good way to cover the balls
with horsehide, such as was used for whip
lashes. |. used to make the stuiiing out of
three or -four ounces of rubber cuttings,
wound with yarn and then covered with
the leather. These balls were of course a
use 1t was not until some time after
1850 that "A shoemaker was found who
was wiling 10 make them Tor us. rms
was the beginning of baseball manufac-
turing"
The national game, as baseball is now
almost universally termed, is to-day the
most popular and the cleanest of all pro-
fessonal sports in the country. 1t is prob
ably the only game entirely free from the
popularity of the game may be credited to
that fact, The gentlemen who are at the
ncaQ OI the natlOhdl league are men oil
good moral and social standing, and
through their efforts the game has lost
much of the roughness which character
lied the playing several years ago.
Year after year the rules have been
changed as to strengthen the umpire
and make his rulings absolute thus re-
ducing to the minimum boisterous or un-
necessary coaching. The umpires, with
few exceptions, have endeavored to live
up to the rules. The necessity for even
more stringent rules is emphasized by the
fact that many players make a practice
of taking advantage OF any leniency and
have PLAYED dirty ball" whenever the
opportunity afforded itself. There are at
least three clubs in the national league
that make dirty ball" a feature OF their
playing and the players have so intmi-
dated the umpires by their threats Of Vio-
lence that their underhand work in the
field Is generally permitted TO pass with
out rebuke, The Pittsburg team is one OF
the teams that has been noted for its
roughness in the field.