Page:America's National Game (1911).djvu/387

 run. He had only one chance in right field and that was to chase a rolling ball clear to the back fence. His throw in was a work of art.

"The majority of college players were old Harvard men, but there were several from Yale, Dartmouth, M. I. T., Amherst and the University of Iowa. Twenty-seven men were used on their side, while the professionals had sixteen men. Everybody had a crack at the ball or a chance in the field. There were three umpires, Hon. Louis A. Frothingham, candidate for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor and an old Harvard Base Ball captain himself; Hon. James A. Gallivan, another Harvard man, and Joe Kelley, manager of the Boston Nationals. It was odd to note under what rules the old-timers played. They moved the pitcher's box nearer the plate at least ten feet; the pitchers threw an underhand ball; the batsmen called for a high, low or fair ball, and they had to have it; they had a chance to have nine balls called before they took a base; they ran the danger of being out on caught foul tips; and the catchers could catch foul flies on the bounce and still have their man out. Also, to effect a double play, the catcher could drop the ball after a third strike, pick it up, touch the home plate, and then nail a runner between bases, scoring a double play. All of these things, with the personalities and the histories of the players, with men with mega-phones to announce everything, and with the First Corps Cadet Band to break the innings with tunes appropriate to the individual players, made a very interesting afternoon.

"In the evening a banquet at the Algonquin Club was attended by all of the participants in the game and a few invited guests. Governor Guild and Hon. Louis A. Frothingham were compelled to send letters of regret. Colonel Everett C. Benton, chairman of the committee in charge of the event, introduced Colonel Winslow as toastmaster, and he called on Mr. Spalding for the first speech. The latter said he was glad he had come three thousand miles for the game, for Boston was the only city where such an event could be carried through successfully. He referred to the fact that the national game got its first real start in this city. 'Just as Boston was the cradle of liberty for the Nation, so also was it the cradle in which the infant game was helped to a healthy maturity,' he added. 'The work of the early Boston teams, with Harry Wright—God bless him—Messrs. Adams, Porter, George Wright and other Nestors of Base Ball, left its impress for all that is good in the national game. Base Ball is fast getting a foothold in the remote parts of the world, and the time is surely coming when it will be the universal field sport of the world.'