The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1916-03-03

bound catch, succeeded in establish
ing the fly catch of fair balls as the
future rule of play" This rule has
never been changed, and fans" to-
day will bear witness that II has re-
suited in giving them many a thrill
and often raised them off their seats.
Catching fly balls is now one of the
most advanced, skillful and attract
i've characteristics of the game.
There was an addition to the rule
in 1868. Sometimes players then,
as they do, at the present day, throw
their caps, and later their gloves at
the ball II It went beyond their reach,
either over their heads or on either
side OF them on the ground, stopping
and even catching the ball in this
rather unsportsmanlike fashion with
out being liable to any penalty. To
check this 1t was decided that eff an
adversary stops the ball with his hat
or cap, no player can be put out un-
I'll the ball shall first have been set
tied In the hands of the pitcher
while he stands in the line of his po-
sition."
This is exactly the wording of the
"block" ball rules, now applying on
ly to individuals not engaged in the
game. In a very short time the rule
makers saw the absurdity of this
and changed the rule to read: mo
fair or foul ball, IL caught from any
other object than the person of a
player. even before touching the
sround, shall put player out" This
also tut an end to all arguments re-
latjng to balls taught from a tree. a
fence or house. In 1868, for m
stancestance, under the head of ''Um-
pires and Their Duties" an authors
ty wrote touching on this point:
Whenever foul ball is caught af-
ter bounding from the side of a
building, fence or tree, provided
It has not touched the ground, 1t
shall be considered fair catch, un-
less a special agreement to the con.
trary be made previous to the COM
mencement Of the match" There
were many who took exception in
most emphatic language. The rule
Of 1871 put an end to all controver-
sizes.
In 1876 the law allowed the runner
or runners to take two bases should
a fielder stop or catch fair ball with
his hat or cap, and naturally gave
the batter a safe hit. The question
now arises as to which base the run
ner was entitled to advance. II
runner on first reached second be-
fore the illegal stop or catch was
made could he go home on the allow
ance of two bases? Like a batting
out of turn, this rule was seldom vio-
lated. So the disputes went on un-
til few years ago, when 1t was de-
cided that the runner was entitled
to two bases counting from the base
which he possessed when the pitch
er delivered the ball to the batter.
This is still the rule.
The rules suffered fearful slash
ing in 1881. The old code had be-
come extremely verbose and conse-
quently tedious. The accumulation
of words and paragraphs was drudg-
cry to go through. So more con-
else code was arranged, paragraphs
being entirely thrown out and 9TH
, ers cut down to suitable and intel
ligent form. During the process of
slashing the rule against stopping or
catching the ball with hat or cap
was condensed into few lines, max
ing the act balk and so emitting the
runner to only one base.
Later the balk incubus was, re-
moved, and the runner, which in
cluded the batter, was entitled to one
base without the suspicion of pun
ishing pitcher for something of
which he was entirely innocent.
Gloves were now included in the in
terdict.
For a time the rules read that no
part of players dress should be
used to stop or catch a fly except
his "gloved hand" In 1904 no
catch to stop was permitted with any
part of a players uniform while
detached from its proper place ON
his person." Now a catcher's pro-
tector is not detached" article. and
ball lodging there is considered
fair catch II held before touching the
ground.
Some players still insisted on i'm
peding the direction of the ball, bat
ted or thrown. by hurting their gloves
at it. In 1910 the rulemakers de-
cided that such conduct was illegal
and entitled the runner to three bas-
es on batted ball, and in 1914 al
lowed the runner two bases on a