The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1906-07-03
ENGLISH BASEBALL wRlrE.uP.
Unique Story From London Graphic
of Game Played in England.

London Graphic: There was a diff
ferent crowd than that which cheered
| the Woolwich arsenal football eleven
| on its way through the league pro-
gramme at Plumstead on Saturday
| and it was a different game that it
watched. When the "Gunners" step
out on the field on Saturdays, propell-
| ing football before them, a horse yell
goes up; and hardly ever ceases except
| to alter it's note all the afternoon; but
when eight slim young gentlemen from
the States (firsD and from Oxford
university (second) took up their DO
sition at the pavilion corner of a big
diamond, chalked on the field, the
spectators mostly pavilion critics, well
| coined them with sympathy rather than
enthusiasm.
The eight Oxford Americans who
were all credited with being Rhodes
scholars, were followed on the field by.
an umpire (who Is, perhaps, the most
important figure In baseball), by q
man in arrnor and sinewy athlete
who was spoken of as the catcher. The
| duties of the pitcher were to hurl a.
missile little larger and a little
| lighter than cricket bali at Z any,
Rhodes scholar who stood on the platel
at the home corner of the diamond;l
the man In arInor caught the ball when
the batsman nissed;it: and the umpire.
adjudicated cases when 1T did
not miss the batsnan,
In such cases the bats1nan usually
walked to first base, trying not to rub
the place. If on the contrary, the BATS.
man hit the ball with the bludgeon3
that he carried to defend himself, and
hit it within the angle of the diamonda
he started to run for first base, and
thence to second or third, as the case,
might be, with all the speed at his
command. &
We should, perhaps, have mentioned
that the opposing side consisting of.
seven players besides the pitcher, has
been distributed about the diamond
in order to hamper the basic progress.
of the Rhodes scholars as much as
possible. When a Rhodes scholar
dumped the ball the fleldmen did their.
best to intercept it, they did not throw
| 1t at the flying batsman, as we used to-
do at school when playing but
returned 1T to one of the four bases
at the corners of the diamond, where
| a waiting wicket keeper. who is call
ed baseman tried to put the bats
| mans wicket down before he reached
| it.. The wicket consisted of a bag, and
many and strange were the efforts of
| the batsmen to reach it.
If the whole circuit of four bases
was made by a batsman, who seized
opportunities to run offered him when
his colleagues were dealing with the
| deliveries of the pitcher, then his side
| counted one run. There are no Cen
| turtles" in baseball; and having thus
| described as we'll as we are able what
seems to be the leading principles of
| the game, it will perhaps cause small
| surprise when we add that the Rhodes
scholars in their first inning did not
score run. That, however, caused
/ their supporters no dismay, for their
were eight more innings to come.
| The fielding side, which consisted of
| the London team" of the recently
| formed British Baseball association.
then came in to bat. and ]. H. Winston,
/ who came from the university of North
Carolina before he went up to Christ
| church, assumed the duties of pitcher
as we'll as of captain. To every ones
surprise-it is polite to except the
| striker-one of his Al deliveries was
| hit with resounding emphasis by w.
A. Give, who was normally footballs
/ er, and the London side scored one. But
the Americans were now warming to
| their work. They rapidly put three
| members of the London side out and
resumed. their position on the bats
mans plate.
| Mr.. Franklin, the Rhodes, scholar:
Mr.. Van der Zee of Iowa and Merton
| and Mr.. Young who came from Dako-
to to adorn Oriel, got their eyes in.
and added four runs to Americas
| score. This form was kept up.
BY the end of the fifth inning Amer
lea led by thirteen runs to five: and
though London by some creditable