The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-04-24

DIaVEI
was arranged on condition that after
ward we would play them a five in
nings baseball match under regular
baseball rules.
Rounder rules permit (what we
would call) the base runner to be put
out by soaking him with the ball
while running between the four
boundary poles or posts, and this at
tractive feature was about the only
rule of the game our players seemed
to take any special interest in.
The game opened with the Ameri-
can eleven in the field, and as feed
err 1 was handed a ball about the size
of a golf ball, covered with leather
and comparatively soft, and the long
looked for game of FOUNDERS was
ready to commence.
The first Rounder batsman took his
position with a sort of a miniature
cricket bat, or paddle cross be-
tween a potato masher and a pen
holder. With his left hand behind his
back and his right grasping this So
called bat, he struck a sort of a John
Hancock signing he-DeclarauOn- Of
Independence attitude, and the referee
announced that the game was on. AS
& shoulder-high ball came over the
plate he stuck out his hattened bat or
paddle with about the same effort you
would hand a friend a cigar, and the
ball glanced off his bat over the
!
We insisted it was foul but the referee
said it was a good hit. and the bats
man ran around the four boundary
posts, which were about three feet
high and the diameter of a, broom
handle, with a tiny blue flag on the
/ top of each, and when he had COM
/ pleted the circuit the scorer an
nounced that he had made four runs
"a run being counted as each post
was passed-and the audience ap-
plauded. The next batsman did the
same thing, and the EngliShmen had
! scored eight runs. I then had con-
ference with our catcher, and we de-
cided that low balls close to the body
might tend to make these dainty but
effective Over-the-fence hits less fire.
quent.
It worked well, for after that they
only made three runs. and that was
caused by one Of our American players
trying to soak" Rounder base run
ner, but missed his target. Their eleven
players were all put out, which closed
their first innings. Then tie Americans
| took their innings and tried to hit the
/ ball out as we would in baseball, but
as it was permissible to use only one
hand it was found impossible to hit the
ball any distance, but we finally sue
/ ceeded in making eight straight runs
before our eleven men were all put out.
We were very DESTROYS of playing a full
game of two innings, for we were just
getting the hang Of the game.
Ny investigation and research so far
inclines me to the opinion that base
ball did have its origin in the old colon
ial game of "One Old Cat" f'One Old
Cat was played by three boys-a
thrower, catcher and batsman. The lat
ter, after striking the ball, ran to a
goal about thirty feet distant, and by
returning to the batsman's position
without being put out, counted one run
or tally" 1.-TWO Old Cat was played
| by four or more boys with two bats
men placed about forty feet apart.
''Three Old Cat was played by six or
more boys with three batsmen, the
ground being laid out in shape Of tri-
angle. -Four Old Cat was played by
eight or more boys with grounds laid
out in shape of a square.
-Four Old Cat" required four
| thrOwers, alternating as catchers, and
four batsmen, the ball being passed
/ from one corner to the next around
/ the square field. Individual scores or
/ TALES were credited to the batsman
making the hit and running from one
| corner to the next. Some ingenious
American lad naturally suggested that
one thrower be placed in the center of
the square, which brought nine play
ers int the game. an which also
made it possible to change the gam g
into tea rs or sides, one side fielding
/ and the other side batting. This was
for many years known as the old game
\ of Town Ball, from which the pres
ent game of baseball may have had
its origin.
One prominent baseball writer
claims that he can prove that one of
the founders of the old KnickerbOcke
club came onto the field one day in
the early forties with the original
game Of baseball worked out and de-
scribed on a sheet of paper, and that
this game was tried and liked so well
/ that the game was adopted then and
| there, and the Knickerbocler club
| was organized to put it into effect.
If such an ancestry can be estab-
hshed for baseball every American
/ friend Of the game will be delighted.
While zone Old Cat" or Town
Ball" may not rank much higher in
the ancestral scale than Founders. %
vet they strongly appeal to the lover
| Of our national sport as distinctively
American games.-A- G. Spalding.
-s-.zs-. 80 - ,4-- ,eo- eo