Evening journal., 1907-05-21
PEACHES BEATEN.
SCORE lO4 TO z
AL Reach, Veteran Baseball
Player, Talks Interesting
Of By-gOne Days

In the Month American Of Sunday Al
Reach, the veteran baseball player, writes
entertainingly Of baseball in bye-gone
days under the heading of Nations
Traits ln Baseball" in which he speaks
Of clubs that represented several of the
present Tr-state cities. Wilmington in
cluded away back in 1863
Mr.. Reach says;
For instance, as early as September 10,
1868, tits recorded that the Athletics jour
neyed TO Altoona, and beat the Mountain
team Of that city by score Of % to %.
Among other Trstate towns we Wis
tied We're Wilmington, which we beat lo4
to z; Williamsport, which we downed los
to s, and Harrisburg, whose Tyrolean
Club lost GUS by a score Of 101 to IL.
But It was no disgrace for any team
ollose to the Athletics in those days. for
we had a strong lineup; a team that was
especially noted for it's hitting power.
The Early Days Of Baseball
i recall distinctly the preliminary steps
10 the great convention that met in 1857
and drafted the first national set Of rules.
"At that time there was always a 'A
in the score. for, instead Of playing nine
innings as we do now, the rule was that
the team which had scored twenty-one
runs, with both sides having had an equal
number of innings, was the winner
"A third strike was out If caught on
the bound, so was either a fair foul or
fair ball; but it had to be on the first
bound. Then a home run was not allowed
ground Instead, the hitter was limited
10 one base, the idea being that he could
not make the circuit unless the team in
the field had had an opportunity to get
the ball and retire him.
1--WE had no uniforms then; the only
score kept was the number of runs and II
a newspaper so much as mentioned the
outcome of one of our games, we felt
nattered.
FLY-on-bound rule abolished
"The new rules, framed in 1857 with
their establishing of nine innings as a
game. proved very popular, and in the
next seven years few changes were made
but in 1864 came the radical innovation
a foul or fair ball was not out unless
caught on fly. This did away with out
on a bound
1--WE hear bunting spoken of to-day as
though it were something new. and yet in
the old. days we had a form of bunting
that called for a skill that the ball player
Of to-dsly never has to utilize.
"The play that gave rise to it was
known as the fair foul, and 1t made
very interesting variation,
"The idea was that If a ball hit fair
the hitter could run. no matter if i
bounded out of the lines in foul territory
afterward.
Some Of our batters Of that day de
veloped a. most extraordinary prohcienc
in the use Of this play. Perhaps its great
est master was Ross Barnes. He coul
tap the ball. make 1t hit along the line
in fair territory and then roll ou;.
In this way he made many doubles an
/ even triples. for once the ball got by tn
/ third or first baseman it was likely TO rol
/ all the way out to the fence. If OF had an.
speed on it and none of the outhelders
was near enough to get it back to the in
field
This play is now almost forgotten. ye
IL used to be one of the most cultivate,
arts OF the batsmen.
"Gloves also have helped fielding
whole lot. Take the glove away from oui
stars Of to-day. and many of them woul
have to quit the game.
"Then we had TO pickle our hands &
order to stand the impact and moreove
we made a science Of giving with the bal
so as to lessen the shock, otherwise ou
hands would have been shattered"