The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-04-21
MASK. NIT AND SHIN GUARDS NOW
rLAY PROMINENT FART
IN SPORT.
HOW THEY DETELOPED
oI.D-TrMERs SUFFERED BEFORE
PROTECTIVE ARMOUR WAS
INVENTED. FAN OF LONG
+ AGO DECLARES.

imagine a modern baseball team play
ling the game barehanded?" asked
gray haired fan while discussing dia-
| mond doings Of long ago. There
would be plenty of business for the
hone settlers and so many errors IN
the field that the sport would develop
into burlesQue. Yet l can remember
the days when ball players had neither
masks nor mitts. II required great
courage to face swift pitcher and lots
OF nerve to get in front OF hot
grounder. Nowadays. however. ball
| playing isn't SO painful with the softly
padded felderS gloves, the steel wire
masks, the heavy catchers' mitts, chest
protectors and shinguards to protect
the players from harm.
! Many Of our citizens who played
base ball more than thirty-hve years
ago will tell you that broken fingers,
bone bruises. split palms and torn nm.
i ger nails were every day accidents and
that a player who showed the white
feather was taboo. Before gloves and
| masks were invented catchers had end
| less troubles. The old timers who
dared to stand close. behind the bats
| men had teeth knocked out and noses
fractured by the hot foul tips that
could not be avoided. Soon came q
habit Of putting piece OF solid rub
! her In the mouth made in such ! man
/ ner that It covered the lips and pro-
yided protection for the teeth. 1t prov
ed 90 efhcient that all the leading
| catchers adopted IL. But even then It
rtf,f4
James Tying and Thayer Of Harvard.
| invented the mask. a cumbersome Al
! fair with broad strips OF iattened Iron
that covered the face, but also partial
! ly obscured the backstops vision.
Masks and Gloves.
The mask was the first contrivance
calculated to prevent serious injury.
Then came the catcher's gloves, one
light kid, with no fingers and little
for each hand. These gloves were OF
light kid, with no fingers and little or
| no padding. Catchers who handled
swift deliveries. therefore, soon found
that the gloves did not come up to the
requirements. So 1t was common
thing to see backstops stunning grass.
cotton batting and even strips OF meat
! into the gloves to protect the palms OF
/, the hands when under hot fire from
the box.
| One OF the first National League
catchers to use left hand glove with
fingers was Meyers, Of Indianapolis.
more than twenty-five years ago.
Somebody made glove for him that
caused a general laugh. The fingers
were so long and surface of glove was
80 broad that Meyers found It dineult
/ TO hold a pitcned ball He was catch
ing the great Henry Boyle In those
days and Boyle had binding speed.
Meyers had broken all OF his fingers.
also both thumbs in handling Boyle
with the fngerless gloves. 20 that he
readily tried the new one. and after
much perseverance, he proved that it
had merit After that all the catchers
adopted a finger glove for the left
hand. The glove was improved upon
when the manufacturer put solid leath-
err tips on the ends of the fingers to
protect the nails. Even then catchers
were not envied by the other players.
for their right hands usually were
/ maugled until physicians had to be
called In.
They Took to Witt.
Buck Ewing. Silver Flint and Char
ley Bennett, three Of the greatest back
stops the game ever produced. were
among the first 10 adopt the mitt.
which was a comparatively light affair.
hut made 1t impossible to injure the
fingers OF the left hand. Incidentally
these star catchers began to show that
one hand was su6lcient to catch a
pitched ball. They discarded the right
hand glove and soon perfected q move
ment Of the left wrist that placed the
mitt in the right position to receive
the ball. Ewing once told the writer
that during an entire season he didn't
catch more than dozen pitched balls
with his bare hand. He used to enjoy
catching tho puzxlines esyres AZ Keefe
| Welch ami crane vith ths mitt rhtch
msds a almost ,mnc..ths. - NV. !.
mar ~
pssssu oalI. WIN 1ec nsnt nano
kloVeiess catcners srsdusy learned 70
throw TO bases with greater speed and
accuracy than ever before. for bail
| thrown with . gloved hand naturally
travelled slowly and without the proper
aim.
A the manufacturers. Sr.dn.,,v IN
crcased the si,e ana vsisht ~ the