The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-05-11
TOUCHING SECOND
pas THE SCIENCE
S Reserved

some other genius brought them into
action. In the pioneer DAYS of the
game, il seemed that if a PLAYER in.
vented or evolved a play, the Others
instead of seIzinu upon il to use, gave
him. Kind of patent-right to it. In.
deed II was not until 1855 that any
systematlzatlon of plays was begun.
When Dickey Pcarce invented the
! bunt. and used X as n means of reach.
ing first base, he was scorncd and his
fellows thought it rather baby trick.
1t never occurred to them that il might
be more effective as run getting de.
vice than trying to beat the cover of
the ball. T. R. Boerum caught pitched
balls behind the bat without waiting for
| the bound as early as 1859. vet as late
as 1897 cstchers played back cxcept on
third strikes or when runners were on on
bases, little dreaming the assistance
they gave the pitcher by remaining
close. Ross Barnes. in a game between
the Chicago and Rockford teams in
1870, stole home twice while the pitch.
er was in the act of delivering the ball
without finding inritators for many
years, Comiskey used the "dclayed
steal when ne was playing al Des
Moines, as boy. Ted Sullivan records
that the ST. Mary S college (Kansas)
team played off bases TO draw throws
and then advanced a base bv beating
the relayed throw, when he was AT
school IN the sixties.
In the days of the ''New York" and
Massachusctts" games, the first
bound was out, and often games were
played in which the batter was out if
the ball was caught on the second and
even the third bound When the Knick.
erbocker team pro~osed that the ball
should be caught on the fly to make
an out. it was ridiculed. Tying, the
Harvard catcher, who arranged the fa
nous demonstration before the faculty
to prove that a ball could be curved, wore
the first mask in 1876 and was received
with scorn. 1t was not until 1886 that
the left-hand glove came into use. and
then many teams refused 10 play il
! their opponents wore gloves, and fol
a long time after that there was deeJ
prejudice against the hand armor. An
son. during all his career, refused to
wear mitt, playing. first base with
a light glove against the terrific throw
| ing of Williamson and Pfeffer. He was
| converted two years before his retire
ment.
The adoption of the glove in catching
was the result Of the change in the
rules in 1884, which allowed over HAND
pitching and made more protection
necessary, and in 1886. with the abo
lition OF the high-low ball rule. Tho
game entered into its best period of de
velopment, with more rapid progress.
During the early eighties, there came
into the game two Of the greatest in
ventive geniuses 1t has known-MikC
Kelly of Chicago and Charles A. Co
miskey, leader of the St Louis Browns
According to James A. Hart, who was
| for years head of the rules committee
fully one half of the restrictive rule:
enacted were the direct results of the
activities of Kelly and Comlskey tt
find ways Of beating existing rules anc
them or not, both used the ''bluf
hunt" the ''delayed steal, +" the 3" dou
bic steai'' with runners on first ant
third and many other plays used today
by the best teams
Kelly's greatest invention, however