Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-10
HOW BASE BALLBEGAN
It's Origin Over Half a Century
Ago.
new YORK CITY WAS ITS BIRTHPLACE
immense Crowds That Formerly
Attended the Games.
~
YORK CITY WAS ITS BIRTHPLACE
DECLINE OF THE SPORT

| The first match game Of base bali was
| played June 49, 1916, at Hoboken \. J.,
| the contestants being the knck rbocker
| ard New York Base Ball Clubs. The sport
| had begun to take form nearly nine months
| before. Base ball is the result of evolution
1t grew gradually out of the old English
school-boy game of FOUNDERS which grad
ually became town ball" In the latter
sport, instead of bases, there were cor
ners.' These were unguarded. and the run
ners were put out by being hit with the
ball. which was thrown directly at them by
the fielders. The ball used was necessarily
| therefore, much softer and smaller than
! the base ball Of today, and was composed
wholly of rubber
Origin of Base BALL.
A number of New York gentlemen were
In the habit of assembling on a vacant lot
then long way out of town, and now COW
cred by the Madison Square Garden, every
Wednesday and Saturday afternoon to play
town ball. At length some of them began
to think that certain notifications would
greatly improve the sport Numerous in
formal discussions took place, and it was
III ally decided to adopt certain changes.
Among these was the substitution of has, 8
for corners, the adoption Of a hard ball
with rubber center wound with yarn and
covered with leather, the placing of men TO
guard the bases, and having the ball
thrown to them instead of directly at the
base runners. 1t was also decided to
change the name of the sport from town
pan TO base bali on account Of the bases
forming so important a factor of it, on
September D, 1915 the gentlemen who had
decided upon these changes formed tbern-
serves INTO an association, to which they
Ia n anna Of d
BAH Club, at the same time adjoining the
proposed changes in the game of town hall
ana voting that their new game should
hereafter be known by the name Of base
pali. Ihus the national game was born
ana II has undergone innumerable changes
ana notifications during The long period
mat has elapsed since its birth Eut II is
uoub'1ul II 1t has thereby baen made any
more enjoyable as sport, pure and sim
pie. one base ball club causes otb,rs and
soon there Were number of these orga MIA
tlons In and around New York, and the first
match game followed. 1t consisted of ari,,
-FOUR innings, the rule then being that the
cIub hrst making twenty-one runs in a,,an
innings was the winner
Inc gradual extension of base ball from
New York to other parts of the co1,nfrv
was slow, though the metropoljtan nau-s
papers did all in their power to foster the
sport. Town ball continued To he nlavad IN
other parts of the country and its PLAYERS
seemed reluctant to substitute base hall
for II. 7o p'il
Extension Throughout the Country.
ndse pall was not introduced in Phladel-
phia. only ninety miles from New York
until 1860, fifteen years after its birth. In
that year the Olympic club of the Ouaker
CITY, which had been organized in 1899 IN
play town ball. and had done so ever sinca
decided thereafter to play base hall in.
stead. The first match game of basa batI
II, II, fhlIadelphla did not take place till June
II, ls6o, and was between the Equity and
Winona clubs.
The first match game or tho r,.;o,
sport IN San Francisco took place Febru-
airy ~, 1860, nearly four months nrior 10
the match in Philadelphia Base BAH was
not played in the New England states mill
nVe or SIX years after its origination and
then only in such a modified form that If
was known as the New England game
10 distinguish it from the game as played
in New York ou
Purely an Amateur Sport.
The originators of the national game
were gentlemen who played base ball only
for recreation, and would have held in very
10" esteem any man who sought to trans
form 1t into means of gaining g. liveli-
hooo' II was their intention, as well as
that of other generations of enthusiasts ic
base ball players who followed them thai
base ball should be purely a gentleman's
game. As clubs multiplied throughout the
country 1t became necessary to establish
some general organization having authority
to control and regulate the interests of the
sport, to make such changes in the playinp
rules as might from time to time seem
necessary and in every possible way to pro-
tect and improve the national snort
To meet this necessity there was Formed
the National Association of Base Ball PLAY
ers, in which any club was entitled to mem
pership, with the privilege of sending dele
gates to the annual meeting The playIne
rules adopted by this organization v-ere
the standard zones for the game. and were
respected and adopted by all clubs wheth-
er members of the association or not AL
most the first rule adopted by this national
association was one positively debarring
from membership and rendering liable to
expulsion any club in which there was a
man who played base ball for hire or ennoI-
ument of any kind
The Golden Age of the Game.
The result was that base bah fiourished
between the years 1866 and 1871. The clubs
were literally legion, and in every large
city the number of matches that were
played daily was almost incredible. The
grounds We're usually upon some vacant lot
or common, and were free to all. As con-
sequence the crowds at these contests were
very great, from 10000 to 80 900 persons be-
ing by no means an unusual Attendance
In the city of New York for example there
were five different base ball grounds within
a stones throw of each other, and scarcely
day passed during the base ball season
that there was not match in progress
upon each of these grounds and the same
is true of other large cities. 1t is no exag-
gel'ation to say that thirty years ago 200
played now.
Some idea of the old-time interest and at
tendance may be gained from the fact that
Brooklyn and the Athletics of Phila delphia
In the latter city, October l. 1866 the at
tendance inside and outside the ground