The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-06-18
WOULD INCREASE
NUMBER OF BASES
Well-Known Richmond Man
Suggests How Good Old Game
Could Be Revived.
TEAMS WILL TRY IT. HERE.

In the golden" days Of baseball, when
q game would last from the rising. Of
tho sun to the setting Of the same; be-
fore the innovation Of masks. nitts and
gloves, when runs we're made Shy the
tens. and a shut-out was unheard Of,
the fans saw q game that was q game
exciting from the moment the first
ball was thrown to the last man out.
day Is not what It was, and masks, and
gloves and umpires have robbed It OF
much of its interest, and the new rules
OF its excitement. 1t is q poor game
new that shows a score, Of ten, runs Tor
either side, and impossible game
ia one to- nothing scores trs.st
Sigh for Old Gnne.
But the old time rooters sigh for the
old-fashioncd sluggingfests. and tho
days when the baseball hero went
forth and made anywhere from ten
to fifteen runs.
pitched ball to the far back fence,
and everybody came home, himself In
cluded. Runs were marked on the
ground, on either side Of the home 10, NJ,
scratching lines in the dirt with his
stick. 1t was fun in those days, for
the people liked to see the runs come
In and the more tallles made, the bet
ter the game.
To make the game as It once was. g
woll-known Richmonder has conceived
tho idea Of having q diamond Of FIVE
bases, instead Of four. For the fourth
tho shortstop viii be moved up to &C;
cupy It, The bases in this figure will
be shortened to eighty feet. instead Of
ninety feet of the present diamond,
unprotected points. Blythe widening
Of the diamond there will abe4 a lessen
ing of the chances OF fouls. The first
baseman will have 12o feet of line space
TO- cover in his territory. and the four
others will have eighty feet
In place Of second-base, as 1t Is now,
the catcher will have two far bases to
throw to, each 1919 feet from home,
whereas second base Is only 127 feet
removed from the plate. ,First-baseman1
and fourth baseman will have about
q half a mile to throw to each other,
and 1t will be slow runnor who can't
reach first on hit to fourth. The
about half a hundred hits registered
against him, for the batter would reach
first on almost anything he hit. Four
singles, without q stolen base would
Would !iip,l. be e, somiething doing when q 5ig
hitteralin one out to the fleldlarks
That would mean fave runs, In about ten
mInutea Of play and the inning would l1
end with about fifteen runs Provided 1ro,
slump, at the end OF nino innings the
defeated team would have about one
hundred and thirty-nNe runs. while the
winners wouldn't fall short Of some
thing near two hundred If the fans
couldn't be satisfied with that let them
try wccklong game Of cricket, with
tho famous w. G. Grace at the wickets.
VIII Try 1t.
Stolen bases would become SO fire.
quent and ordinary as not to excite
interest. Even Hicks, the former
Richmond player would be able to
pilfer dozen or so during a game.
and Wallace, Richmonds fast centre
fielder, would wear himself out run
ming round the circuit, The hardest
work would devolve upon the catcher
and pitcher. Tho catcher would have
four bases to keep watch upon, and
tho pitcher would soc many Of the
present fouls changed into hits.
1t cannot be told Just at present
how tho national committee on rules
would take to the new idea, but 1t is
believed that 1t would excite much en-
thusiasm among theFfans giving them
plenty of fun for their money.
AS a starter. The Times-Dispatch
club and certain other clubs here are
going to try the now game Fans
should take this opportunity OF seeing
the change, to Judge for themselves
how they would like It.