The Coolidge examiner., 1933-10-06


| ! major-general of volunteers became
~ a colonel Of infantry in the United
States army In 1867 retired in 1873
and died in 1893.
Cooperstown is quaint old village at the foot
or Otsego lake in Otsego county, New York
famed as the home of James Fenimore Cooper
who made his bid for immortality with his
Misunderstanding Tales"
The facts contained in the two foregoing para.
graphs probably wouldn't add up to a single
item of interest to the average dyed-in-the- wool
baseball fan but the fact remains that through
the association of the names of Abner Double.
day and Cooperstown, " Y. there came about
the chain of events which makes II possible for
him TO reach the high point of his feversh in.
terest in the national game along about the first
week In October. It's world series time Need
any more be said?
Early In the Nineteenth century the youth of
America was playing a game with bat and ball.
which resembled and yet differed from the an
cent English game of "rounders" This game
generally known as town ball. although the
New Englanders called 1t round ball or Massa-
chusetts baseball Played on a square field
whose sides were 60 feet long. there was no re
strictiOn on the number of players who took
part and the rules of the game varied in differ
ent localities
This crowding of players within a limited
space of play and confusion as TO rules suggested
to one young man that Ii was time to formulate
q new set of regulations and speed up the play
by making the field diamond shaped instead of
square. He Abner Doubleday. a student at
Green's school in COoperstown, N. Y. who began
working the idea in 1889. But II was not un-
ti the next year that he took active steps to i'm
prove the game
In 1910 great crowd gathered In Coopers.
town for picnic and political meeting during
the famous Harrison log-cabln. hard-cder cam
paIgn
When the boys assembled that afternoon Dou-
bleday gathered them around and explained as
well he could the points OF the game.
He decided that there must be four bases 90
feet apart. and the boys Immediately began TO
refer to the game baseball" The name stuck
II provided for eleven men on side. using four
outtielders. five infielders. pitcher and catcher
Doubleday ruled runner not on base might be
put out by touching him with the ball. This
system of one player throwing to another devel.
oped into fast double plays
The rules made by Doubleday specified that
the ball should be made of rubber and yarn and
covered with leather II must weigh about FIVE
ounces and must not be more than nine inches
in circumference The weight of the ball and the
size of the hand were taken into consideration
In determining these measurements. The bat
was to be of round wood and to be used with
both hands In town ball the bat was frequently
used with one hand
The next thing for the inventor TO deter
mine the distance between the bases. After sew
eral experiments 10 was found that man would
have TO hustle to run ~ (walking) PAGES or
about 10 feet before ball OF those dimensions
could be returned after having been driven to
the outtield Thus IL was that 80 feet fixed
as the distance between the bases.
OF the development of the new game the vol.
ume Annals of American Sport" in the Yale
University Press series CHRONICLES OF Amer
ica" Is the authority for the following:
The changes introduced by Doubleday inaug
urated new era for those interested in town
ball and round ball Although there were no or.
ganized teams playing regular schedules to pop
uarize the new rules. the diamond began to su
persefle the square field in the eastern states
In lS45 group of New York gentlemen who
had been enjoying practice games together for
several years organized the Knickerbocker Base
ball club the first association of baseball play
erS in the country. Under the leadership of AL
exander ] Cartwright they drafted code of
rules based upon the Doubleday system of play
with n team of nine men constituted al the
present time AS result of the publication oi
their rules and regulations the Knickerbocker>
soon had competition in the New York district
Iurina The decade after 1880 numerous base
paII clubS were formed - New York Rrooklyb
phiIa ephia Baltimore and other smaller towns