654 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



first, the other side gets the bases for an inning. If the men in 

 the ring are all out first, they must go back into the ring for 

 another inning. It is possible for one side to hold the bases all 

 day, but in practice the honors are pretty evenly divided. 



When all the basemen but one are out, he may choose a part- 

 ner, and they " smuggle " the ball. They conceal it under the coat 

 of one, and both hold their hands under their coats as if they had 

 it. Then they run the bases, and the enemy, not knowing which 

 of the two has the ball, may be stolen upon and hit. But at any 

 time a baseman can throw only from a base. 



This is, so far as I know, the highest development of this class 

 of ball-games. We have traced their natural history from the 

 wanton hitting of one boy by another, through the hole-ball 

 games, in which there are no bases and no sides, and the base- 

 games in which there are two sides standing equal, on two bases, 

 to the numerous bases occupied by one side as a token of victory. 

 We have not yet encountered one of the most important instru- 

 ments of ball-playing — the bat. This mighty engine of human 

 amusement, whether in the form of a billiard-cue or a croquet- 

 mallet, or what not, brings about radical variations in the game. 



There is so much pleasure in the mere batting a ball that 

 many a boy will amuse himself at it entirely alone for hours. He 

 will gently toss the ball upward and as it comes down bat it 

 either upward or horizontally. He will throw it against the barn- 

 side and bat it on the rebound. He will lay the bat across a ful- 

 crum and the ball upon one end of it, and then, striking the other 

 end with his father's axe, drive the ball out of sight into the blue 

 sky, catching it as it comes down. When several play at this, 

 the privilege of striking being earned by catching the ball, the 

 game is called " sky-ball." 



If he can get another boy to toss up the ball, and he strikes it 

 upward, the game used to be called " tip-e-up." 



If the pitcher throws horizontally, a nameless and stupid game 

 is produced. The pitcher earns the bat by catching the ball when 

 struck. This was always so hard to do, in my experience, that the 

 bat generally seemed in danger of becoming a hereditary posses- 

 sion of the batter. 



It was much more fun to throw the ball against the barn, and 

 standing behind the batter put him out by catching the ball when 

 he struck at it and missed it on the rebound. This we called 

 " barn-ball." 



It was still better to divide the work of pitching and catching. 

 There is division of labor, as the economists call it, in any batting 

 game. There is also distinction of rank, the bat being always a 

 token of victory — something to be struggled for and won. In all 

 two-handed games the pitching, catching, fielding, etc., are all 



