Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/640

BASE. the amines and the alkaloids. See Amines; Alkaloids; and Acids.

BASE. In heraldry, the lower portion of the shield. There is a dexter base, middle base, and sinister base. The chief or principal part of the escutcheon is the top. The shield is always supposed to be on the arm of the wearer, and it is his right and left hands, not those of the spectator, which are kept in view. The ground or surface of the shield, on which all the charrges or figures are depicted, is called the field. See. BASE. See Bass.

BASE'BALL' ( named from the 'bases'; see below). An American field-crame, which derives its origin from the old schoolboy game of 'rounders.' It has been known in various forms in the Eastern States for nearly a century; but it is only within the past forty years that it has come to be a recognized field game throughout the whole country. The honors of its place of birth are divided. Philadelphia claims that her 'town-ball' was practically 'baseball,' and that it was so played by her Olympic Club from 1833 to 1859. On the other hand. New York claims that her Washington Club, organized in 1843. was the first exponent of the actual game, while certainly the Knickerbocker Club of New York, which played, for convenience, on the Elysian Fields of Jersey City (where now Hoboken stands), was the first to establish a code of rules. Baseball, as a national game, really came into existence with the union of all the clubs of New York -and vicinity into a 'National Association of Baseball Players' in 1858.

Professional Baseball.—This association re- vised the playing rules at its annual conventions from 1858 to 1870, by which time it was found that the popularity of the game had developed, besides the original amateur class, a number of trained professionals. The organization of the first professional baseball nine (the Cincinnati Red Stockings), in 1868, was followed in 1871 by the formation of two national associations, the one governing the amateur clubs, and the other the professionals. In 1876 the 'National League of Professional Baseball Clubs' was org.anized. the original professional body of 1871 having become extinct. This new association, which is the present existing major league, made good progress in stamping out some of the abuses which, with professionalism, had crept into the game, but new abuses were ever developing. By 1882 the time was ripe for the formation of a rival, and the 'American Association of Profes- sional Clubs' was formed. The two organiza- tions, instead of proving of benefit to the game, created new dangers and discords; so much so that in 1890 the dissatisfied from each combined to form the 'Players' League,' in the hope of get- ting control of the game.

In the contest of interests which followed, both the Players' and the Association were disbanded, and the National League, under its present name of 'The National League and American Association of Professional Baseball Clubs, was made the governing body, with 12 clubs (afterwards reduced to h). Various cities have been represented in this league. Boston and Chicago from the beginning. The champions have been: Chicaao, 1876, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1885, 1886; Boston, 1877, 1878, 1883, 1891, 1802, 1893, 1897, 1898; Brooklyn, 1890, 1899, 1900; Providence, 1879, 1884: Detroit, 1887: Baltimore, 1894, 1895, 1896; Ncav York, 1888, 1889; Pittsburg, 1901. By a national agreement made in 1887, the minor leagues — Eastern, New England, Interstate, American (formerly Western), Atlantic, the various State Ipagues, the International, and Canadian — abide by the one professional code of rules.

The history of college baseball is not a long one. After some ten years of intermittent life among a few New England colleges, it assumed definite shape with the formation, in 1879, of the Intercollegiate Baseball Association by Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Amherst, and Dartmouth. Yale refused to join because professionalism was not barred, coming in the next year, however, when further restrictions were adopted. In 1887, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale withdrew, and formed, with Columbia, the Eastern College League; Columbia left it a year later. The original Intercollegiate Association underwent various changes by the withdrawal of Brown and Dartmouth, the entrance of ^Vesleyan, the en- trance and withdrawal of Trinity, and now ex- ists under the name of the Intercollegiate Asso- ciation of the New England States, composed only of Amherst, Wesleyan, and Williams. Meanwhile, the Yale-Harvard-Princeton agree- ment had been dissolved for trivial reasons, although their contests and comparative records, while not on a championship basis, are still watched with great interest. It is strange that in the national sport there should be no general intercollegiate association or code of playing rules ; usually, though not without exception, the rulings of the professional league have been adopted.

The Game.—The game is played by nine men in each team, on a level field, on which is laid out the form of a 'diamond' 90 feet square, with bases at each of the four corners (see diagram). One of these bases is called the home-plate, and the others (beginning with the right) first, second, and third respectively. Within the dia-