BASE-BALL. 



79 



scored the most runs wins the game. In case 

 the scores are equal at the end of the ninth even 

 innings, then play is continued until one side or 

 the other scores a majority of runs, or until 

 play is stopped by darkness. Unless five in- 

 nings are completed on both sides, however, 

 there can be no game. This is base-ball in its 

 theoretical form. As played under the present 

 code of rales governing it, of course more com- 

 plex details are introduced ; and thoroughly to 

 interpret the professional code of the game, as 

 the official association umpires of the period 

 are required to do, demands mental powers of 

 no mean ability. A match-game of base- ball 

 averages not over two hours of time in play- 

 ing, even at the hands of amateur exemplars 

 of the game, and still less when trained pro- 

 fessionals are the contestants. 



Professional Playing. In the early period of 

 the history of base-ball the game was entirely 

 in the hands of the amateur class of the frater- 

 nity, professionals being debarred, under the 

 old Association rules, from participating in 

 match-games. With the growth of base-ball 

 in popularity, however, came the opportunity 

 to make money out of it, and the old National 

 Association had not been in existence ten years 

 before professionalism, in a disguised form, be- 

 gan to find a foothold in the institution ; and 

 in 1889 and 1870 this element became a ruling 

 power in the Association, and its aggressions, 

 culminating at the close of the season of 1870, 

 led to a division in the ranks of the fraternity 

 at large, one result of which was the organi- 

 zation of two National Associations out of the 

 clubs that had composed the first Association 

 the amateur class organizing the " National 

 Amateur Association " in 1871, and the profes- 

 sional clubs establishing the first "National 

 Association of Professional Base-Ball Players " 

 the same year. From this time forward pro- 

 fessional clubs increased in number each season, 

 and fifteen years after the organization of the 

 first professional association, over a dozen dif- 

 ferent leagues of professional clubs were in 

 existence, and a capital reaching into hun- 

 dreds of thousands of dollars was. in vested in 

 the business. This growth of professionalism 

 did not lessen the amateur class of the frater- 

 nity at all ; on the contrary, it spread the growth 

 of the game in general popularity, though 

 there was an interregnum when sundry evils, 

 which followed in the train of professional 

 playing, temporarily had a damaging effect on 

 the good name of the national game, and for a 

 time retarded its advance in public estimation. 

 But the establishment of the National League 

 in 1876, which was the successor of the first 

 professional National Association, introduced 

 reform measures that had the effect of purg- 

 ing the professional clubs of the "cracked" 

 element, which had worked its way into the 

 arena, and the war the League made upon 

 pool-selling in connection with professional 

 ball - playing the greatest curse American 

 sports have ever suffered from did much to 



purify the ranks of the fraternity. Since then 

 the National League, and the later organized 

 American Association, have combined their 

 forces in support of stringent laws in favor of 

 playing the game in its integrity, and now 

 honest play is the rule enforced by strong 

 laws throughout the entire professional arena. 



OUT- FIELD 



1 far Umpire. Batman and Catehtr 

 i for Captain and AuistaaC. 



The Grand Tonrs. From the period of the 

 grand tour made by the Excelsior Club in 

 1860 up to 1880, three events occurred that 

 formed noteworthy chapters in the records of 

 the game, and these were the tour of the Na- 

 tional Club of "Washington to Cincinnati, St. 

 Louis, and Chicago in 1867; the tour of the 

 Cincinnati Club to Maine in the East, New Or- 

 leans in the South, and California in the West 

 in 1869, during which that club accomplished 

 what no other club has since done, and that 

 was to go through the entire season without 

 the loss of a single game; and the visit to 

 Great Britain in 1874 by the Boston and 

 Athletic Professional Clubs. These tours had 

 a great effect in extending the popularity of 

 the game, the trip to England especially giv- 

 ing the American national game a world-wide 

 fame ; besides which the remarkable skill in 

 fielding shown by the American base-ball play- 

 ers, while playing cricket as well as base-ball, 

 opened the eyes of the English cricketers to 

 the possibilities of the American game as an 

 excellent training-school for learning to excel 

 in fielding for use in playing cricket. The 

 ball-players did not lose a single game in which 

 they played as cricketers while in England. 



How to learn the Game. There are two ways 

 of learning to play base-ball : the one is to learn 

 it for the simple object in view of recreative 

 exercise ; and the other is to acquire a thorough 

 practical knowledge of the game in ord-er to 

 become a professional expert. The former in- 

 volves but little time or trouble, inasmuch as 



