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 to be lax in the enforcement of the rule. In most cases, where the demand of the captain of the club possessing a legitimate pitcher was not too strong, the umpire permitted the unlawful delivery of the ball rather than stop the game and disappoint the crowd.

It should not be understood that no modifications of the straight arm delivery had been made previous to 1884. There had been several changes, but each resulted in partial failure. The original Knickerbocker rules of 1845 required that

In 1860 the rule was revised by the original National Association of Base Ball Players, providing that

In 1875 another change provided that

The National League, in the first year of its existence, in 1876, made a change providing that

In 1878 the National League again changed the rule, requiring the pitcher to deliver the ball

In 1883 the National League once more revised the rule, requiring that the ball should

None of these changes were satisfactory. The requirement that the ball should be delivered with the arm