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 two sides, or teams, were chosen, one known as the Fielding Side, and the other as the Batting Side. The game was known as "Town Ball," and later, that is, in the decade beginning with 1850, it came to be known as the "Massachusetts Game of Base Ball," in contradistinction to the "New York Game of Base Ball," as played by the Knickerbocker Club of New York City in the decade of the '40s. Thus Town Ball came in vogue and made another step in the evolution of the American game of Base Ball.

In this game were present many of the elements of the game of Base Ball as we know it to-day—and then some. It accommodated thirty or more players and was played on town-meeting days, when everybody in the township took a hand. Sometimes there were so many playing that the grounds were full of fielders, and but for the large number and their indiscriminate selection, the sport might have developed more skill. The square field of Four Old Cat, but with the side lines lengthened to sixty instead of forty feet, obtained in Town Ball. Batsmen were out on balls caught on fly or first bound, and base runners were out by being "soaked" while running by a thrown ball. Town Ball was played quite generally throughout New England. It had, as before stated, fifteen or more players on a side, Catcher, Thrower, Four Bases, a Bat and a Ball.

The final step in the evolution of the game was the adoption of the diamond-shaped field and other points of play incorporated in the system devised by Abner Doubleday, of Cooperstown, New York, in 1839, and