The National tribune., 1902-06-19
OLD=TIME BASEBALL.
The Game We Played 40 Years Ago,
Before II Became Professional"
BY CLARENCE DEMING.

contemporaneous and similar game cali
ed base" At about the middle sos
genius lost to renown compounded the two
games and gave us the basic lines of mod
ern baseball. The new sport, with its
variety and grace, caught the American
! taste. BY the year 1851 it had risen to
| the dignity of an association of clubs and
official rules 1t eclipsed the scientific
but torpid English cricket and the more
vigorous but less refined wicket of
Yankeeand. The civil war hardly gave
| it pause, and up to 1868, when profess
sionalism and gate money were first Off
cially allowed, the game was sovereign, If
not despot, of the American sports OF the
iward.
The game is still National and popular;
| it draws in the cities and around academic
| diamonds its thronging hosts. and is an
institutional sport; but the youngsters of
today should have seen it as it was in
| 1866 and 1861. when it reached its
ciimacteric and a frenzy for the game
swept the land. Each little village and
hamlet boasted it's nine, and in the larger
towns of the Eastern States the clubs
We're enumerated by the score. There
were National championships, State
Championships, and County Champion
ships, fierce, even yindictive in their rival
ries, and in narrower fields and smaller
prizes Of victory the passions We're not less
| tense. Across the long reach of years two
1
| the acute uuaIitv of tho snort in tbos.
DAYS Ono was tho edict nf tho f,ctorv
Owners in +, LARGO Now EpgJond town i'm,
| posing special pains and penalties on
absentces at ball games during working
hours. The other is the vision of weep
Ing women turning homeward as the
umpire's last "out'' sgnaled defeat for
| their not nine in nm ;ntcr-toyvn match
1t was on those rural fields in the hey
day of baseball that the snort. if less re-
fncd was more nicturesone That tho
game was vocal goes with the sovin. In
our present baseball day there is the fami-
| liar trick of orpauizinp the nine nc n kind
| of "claGre, to chatter away the nerves
of opponents at the bat. Rut genera
ton ago the claoue was both spontaneous
and noisy. and included spectator as we'll
rs pI0yer. Not far away from the trnth
was the country CAPTAIN who described
his team as men who cam hat mnch or
| field much. hut first-rote takers - To dis.
pute the umpire on every close decision
was orthodox dutv-a fashion not yet ont
Iived-ond il made tho ruro1 hail came
forensic MS well rs snoctocular
The countrv umnire. who was usuoIIr
selected by the home team. merits his
cnaci6c ,ic+uro In tbo aorI;ar d. -,
the snort he was chosen for lnowIadga
of the rules simply because the opposine
hucoIic mines had 50 LITTLE knowIe5ge
themselves. Later technical lore became
somewhat secondary as a credential. and
in the ideal rural umpir was sought n
kind of Boanerces-a Son of Thunder.
believing out his decisions until the vel
either to pIacate the crowd by good fem.
per or to daunt If with strong speech-
That is TO saw. the umpirc Of the time and
place had 10 own no middle terms of ner
sonaI Temperament but no either ey-
tremely crisp or superlatiyely good ma
tured and tactful.
The r,mnire's nlace was usually n noint
even with the home nlato and about %
feet away. There an ARMCHAIR was set
for him and. on sunny days, he was en-.
titled to an umbrella. either seIfprovided
or special one of vast circumference.
fastened to the chair and with II consti
tuting one of the fixtures of the game.
prerogative was rarely used. In his
pocket was COPY of "Beadle's Dime
Baseball Book then the bornbook of the
game, and often in reouisition. In his
airy perch. shielded by his mighty canopy,
the umpire of those DAYS made an limos
ing figure. bearing his honors with Orien
tai dignity, though hardly with Oriental
ease. = 80 49,
A pressing thorn Mt the umpire's seat
of Judgment was the right of an offended
team to demand n Change of umpire ;,
and such transitions in old rural baseball
were not rare In that connection typl-
cal incident comes to mind II was ar an
inter-town match. when for some reason.
not now recalled. the visiting team sup-
plied the umpire. He gave three succes-
sive decisions which fingered the home
players. On their demand tho umnire
was changed. then tho Contoin of the
home team asked from the new umpire
reversal of the last decision and ne II
seemed. by the very audicity of the de-
mand obtained il. Such an ex most facto
ruling illustrates the wide range of nm
hiring in old baseball
There were few uniforms in tbe rurol
nine. and such ms thay were they were NOT
uniform. The country PLAYER rose To 0nite
a peak of dignity if he could "snort'' tho
old-fashioned baseball can with IT'S hinge
visor. or a belt in place of the more use
ful than ornate "polluses Roseboil
shoes. for such as had them wore of tbn
homespun pattern. with spikes made nv
tba VILLAGE hIacksmitb and set in tho colo.
who also NOT seldom tried his hand nj
COVERING with c,lfslin the boIIs usod for
nroctice oomea The nrtboJoy aY.bito,, boIl
bo;ny need onIy fo- natnh ,,n,as oftan
tbe somo h,u for two nv. H." -, H.
IF a co,,ntrr oyrt oo,,,5 49, fo;r,,
;s1oI mooInr. for ;ts III :. ~ III
Incl and H.. local , ra ~ We IN III sii
80 ~ Ill 80. "a VI .ii. SUI.
- nv s,il'h ,r ra.to' III lhe result ol
tha I'll III, IN. q I'm Mohtcu 10
and h,, iprn,r,,I h;ts VI ,ne LHiase zen,
.ii"' ~ !'"'i,i "i,' '.nfuiHiihf .isiliHS