The Rathdrum tribune. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1903-1963, 1915-12-31
EARLY BASEBALL.
Williams and Amherst Played the
First intercollegiate Game.
THIRTEEN MEN ON EACH SIDE.

Inc Contest Lasted Four Hours. anc
the Score Was 70 to 32-Playera Wars
Elected by Ballot, and Popularity, No,
Skill, Was What Counted.
The first intercollegiate game of base.
bali was played on July /, 1859. II
has frequently been declared that the
nrst match between colleges was the
Harvard Williams game of 1se4-that
Is at once right and wrong. 1t was
the first college contest played under
the general rules that now govern the
game, but Eve years earlier, on July /.
| 1859, Amherst and Williams met at
Pittsfield, Mass, In the first intercol-
iegiate baseball game Of any type
played in the world.
The two balls used In that game are
hanging In a room in Amherst college,
and beside them hangs this inscrip-
ton: 1.-The veritable balls used In the
first game of intercollegiate baseball
ever played, July 1, 1859. Amherst
versus Williams, won by Amherst"
The contest was of the old fashioned
round ball" kind and required thir-
teen men on q side. The teams were
not selected because of any particular
skill or training, but were chosen by
ballot from the students at large" 1t
took about three weeks to settle the
negotiations for the match, and doubt
less the arguments would have con-
tinued as many months had not the
Pittsfeld Baseball club offered its
grounds and thus quieted suspicious
as to neutral territory. There was
considerable dispute as to the size and
kind of ball to use, but this was ended
by allowing each side to use its own
ball exclusively.
Those two balls brought to the game
were the wonder of the crowd. That of
Amherst weighed two and one-half
ounces and was about eight inches in
circumference. while that of Williams
weighed two ounces and was seven
inches round. Some Williams wiseacres
had suggested light colored covering
so as to make 1t seen with difficulty
by the batters," and this popularity
filed the fans" with admiration
The fans at that first col4ege game
were indeed plentiful. All the faculty
and every student at Williams were
there, and the whole village of Will
Jamestown emptied itself into the ball
grounds at Pittsfeld. There were,
moreover, several female seminaries"
within easy riding distance, and their
interested students We're present to put
the boys on their mettle. The Amherst !
team felt little lonely, as only seven
teen students. all players. were in their
and not a single neighbor or
of the faculty came to cheer
them up.
1t was indeed doubtful whether the
game could ever be finished. for some
enemy of law and order started the re- |
port that the Amherst thrower was a
professional blacksmith who had been
hired for the occasion" Thus the sus.
)icion of professionalism entered col
eye athletics at the very beginning
However, the contest started at II
o'clock, lasted twenty-six rounds, or In
lings, and closed after four hours of
continuous playing. The score was 70
o 81.
AS the man at bat had the right to
mock the ball In any direction what
yer, there were many 'side strikes"
back knocks" and "ticked" fouD
alls. Considering the fact that the |
nan behind the bat had no glove, mask
r protection of any sort, it was re-
that the Amherst catcher "al.
owed no balls to pass that were with
n his reach and missed only one licked
,all in the course of the entire game"
Strange to say, there was almost I
complete silence on the part of the
players themselves, and no decision
vas complained of openly.
Some of the boys in that first inter
collegiate game became famous men.
,ut not as ball players. The captain of
he Amherst team became president of
Cougaloo university; Henry Hyde gain
ID fame as Boston lawyer; Marshall
Sushman was for years leading off,
,ial In the United States patent Office, I
while the umpire. L. r. Smith. became
/ successful lawyer. Evidently the
spirit of 80 that made those players SO
on that hot day in July
made them still more earnest In the
real battle of life that came In future
Companion.
Not Up In Craftsmanship.