Produced by Jerry Kuntz as part of the Lawson's Progress project, http://www.lawsonsprogress.com Base-Ball: How to Become a Player With the Origin, History and Explanation of the Game By John Montgomery Ward of the New York Base-Ball Club PREFACE. The author ventures to present this book to the public, because he believes there are many points in the game of base-ball which can be told only by a player. He has given some space to a consideration of the origin and early history of the game, because they are subjects deserving of more attention than is generally accorded them. His principal aim, however, has been to produce a hand-book of the game, a picture of the play as seen by a player. In many of its branches, base-ball is still in its infancy; even in the actual play there are yet many unsettled points, and the opinions of experts differ upon important questions. The author has been as accurate as the nature of the subject would permit, and, though claiming no especial consideration for his own opinions, he thinks they will coincide in substance with those of the more experienced and intelligent players. To Messrs. A. H. Wright, Henry Chadwick, Harry Wright, and James Whyte Davis, for materials of reference, and to Goodwin & Co., the Scientific American, and A. J. Reach, for engravings and cuts, acknowledgments are gratefully made. JOHN M. WARD. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. AN INQUIRY INTO THE ORIGIN OF BASE-BALL, WITH A BRIEF SKETCH OF ITS HISTORY CHAPTER I. THEORY OF THE GAME--A CHAPTER FOR THE LADIES. CHAPTER II. TRAINING CHAPTER III. THE PITCHER CHAPTER IV. THE CATCHER CHAPTER V. THE FIRST BASEMAN CHAPTER VI. THE SECOND BASEMAN CHAPTER VII. THE THIRD BASEMAN CHAPTER VIII. THE SHORT-STOP CHAPTER IX. THE LEFT-FIELDER CHAPTER X. THE CENTRE-FIELDER CHAPTER XI. THE RIGHT-FIELDER CHAPTER XII. THE BATTER CHAPTER XIII. THE BASE-RUNNER CHAPTER XIV. CURVE PITCHING INTRODUCTION. AN INQUIRY INTO THE ORIGIN OF BASE-BALL, WITH A BRIEF SKETCH OF ITS HISTORY. It may or it may not be a serious reflection upon the accuracy of history that the circumstances of the invention of the first ball are enveloped in some doubt. Herodotus attributes it to the Lydians, but several other writers unite in conceding to a certain beautiful lady of Corcyra, Anagalla by name, the credit of first having made a ball for the purpose of pastime. Several passages in Homer rather sustain this latter view, and, therefore, with the weight of evidence, and to the glory of woman, we, too, shall adopt this theory. Anagalla did not apply for letters patent, but, whether from goodness of heart or inability to keep a secret, she lost no time in making known her invention and explaining its uses. Homer, then, relates how: "O'er the green mead the sporting virgins play, Their shining veils unbound; along the skies, Tost and retost, the ball incessant flies."