THE AMERICAN GAME OF BASE-BALL.
The national game of ball of the American people, though having its origin in the English game of rounders, nevertheless possesses sufficiently marked features to entitle it to the distinction claimed for it. Unlike the schoolboy pastime from which it originated, it requires manly qualities in a high degree to excel in it. In fact, the difference between base-ball as played in America, and rounders as played in England, is as great as the contrast between the graceful and daring movements of an accomplished skater of the present time, and those of the skaters who, with pieces of ivory fastened to their feet, used to strive to glide over the ice in the year 1600. In base-ball, as in rounders, you use a bat and a ball and run round bases; but there all resemblance ceases.
The American game of base-ball, as now played, is not more than ten years old, for its date only extends back to the period just previous to the organization of the National Association of Base-Ball Players, which Association formed the present code of rules, and is the only authorized body having any supervisory power over the game. In fact, the history of the game commences with the formation of the National Association, inasmuch as the rules previously in vogue were crude and irregular, and different in one locality from what they were in another. Since the organization of the National Association and the meeting of the first annual convention, however, the game has spread throughout the country, and entirely superseded every other game of ball as a national pastime. At first the Association consisted of delegates from clubs, but now it is composed of a congregation of representatives from State base-ball associations, governed by the National Association proper, each State association having immediate control of the affairs of its own clubs, and possessing its own judiciary committee to settle disputes, but no supervisory control over the playing rules of the game, that matter being placed in the hands of a committee of rules of the parent Association, to which is also attached a judiciary committee, forming a court of appeal from the decisions of State judiciary committees, and also a court to adjudicate upon disputes between clubs of two States.
At the last convention of the “National Association of Base-Ball Players,” which was held in Philadelphia, Dec. 11, 1867, and in which clubs from all sections of the country, from Maine to Iowa, and Michigan to Kentucky, were represented, the following code of rules was adopted to govern the play during the season of 1868:—
RULES AND REGULATIONS
ADOPTED BY THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BASE-BALL PLAYERS.
Rule I.—The Ball, Bat, and Bases.
Sec. 1. The ball must weigh not less than five, nor more than five and one-quarter, ounces avoirdupois. It must measure not less than nine and one-quarter, nor more than nine and one-half, inches in circumference. It must be composed of india-rubber and yarn, and covered with leather, and, in all match games, shall be furnished by the challenging club, and become the property of the winning club as a trophy of victory.
Sec. 2. The bat must be round, and must not exceed two and a half inches in diameter in the thickest part. It must be made of wood, and shall not exceed forty-two inches in length.