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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (May 17, 1903)
Opening the Base Ball Season Snap Shots at th; First Gamo by a Staff Artist V Fi- r-p,fr...,.,.i' tr -nr--.-. 'Ifiii tin'- riH" . . X 4j , , , - ,,, '... . Ji FAITHFUL. WHO OCCUPY THE WESTERN BLEACHERS. 0 N " j ;i ..i ... r ..y v. --w. .... . t MAYOR MOORE9 AND CHIEF DONAHUE ARE HOT1I ENTHUSIASTS. WRIGHT OF OMAHA MAKES HIS FIRST SAFE HIT ON THE HOME GROUNDS. A, 4"' Ww) .0 I MANAGER QULNN OF DE3 MOINES AT THE BAT. i T IS not a maize of an - tiquity, but a mae of uncertainty that . Bur- s 07fK)J rounds the origin of base I V J ball. All the best investi gators concede that. the game Is an American Invention. It is admitted that It grew from some other game played with a ball, for such games have been known from earliest) times. Just when base ball took on I Its distinctive form cannot be ex-j. actly stated, but It Is certainly known that the first club or "nine" k organized to play the game was formed In New York In 18. Prior to that time young men had been; In the habit of playing the game . for recreation, although no regular organization ezlBted and no code of rules had been formulated to govern It It Is worthy of note right here, perhaps, that the first club formally organized was woe fully beaten In its first match. Ad that time the game consisted cfJ twenty-one aces, or runs, and in this game the "scrub" team beat the regulars In four Innings by 21 to 1. Eleven years later the game bad gained such popularity and the number of teams organized had so Increased that a national association was formed. The first meeting was held In New York In 1857, and a set of rules to govern the game was formu lated and published. For eleven years the game remained a purely amateur proposi tion. Its growth waa steady, and only dur ing the years of the Civil war did It show any signs of nagging Interest Even dur ing those dark days did the American peo ple still have time to watch the perform ance of the teams and maintain a steady Interest In the score. In 1867 the practice of employing players uncommonly expert to give their services to certain teams had Brown so .that It became apparent that a id i r J f ! i i O - r-"-nV L . - I - . .. j ,: . . " J - II j - ! P I 1 ! ' :: I- t .L JOE DO LAN, AN EXPERT INFI ELDER. ROBERT CARTER, A FINE TYPE OF OUTFIELDER. COUNCILMAN DAVID O'BRIEN FORGETS EVEN THE ELECTION AT A BALL GAME. dividing line between professional and amateur players must be drawn, and in 1868 the national association for professional base ball clubs was organized. This as sociation soon assumed control of the game and has since maintained It, although the number of leagues has multiplied many fold. Base ball Is peculiar In the respect that It Is the only known form pt sport con trolled absolutely by the professional ele ment against which no serious charge of unsportsmanlike conduct has ever been maintained. Not that It has always been free from taint, but for the reason that the men at the head of Its affairs have dealt so promptly and decidedly with the few cases presented that the result has had the effect of rendering unfairness or Jobbery unprofitable. Its success depends solely on publlo confidence, and If the people were not satisfied that the game Is "on the square," the owners of the teams might as well close their gates. Since that far off time In 1846, when the first nine men associated themselves to gether as a base ball team, the game has grown until the teams, professional and amateur, number Into the thousands. It has spread beyond America, although for eign countries have been slow to adopt It. But In South Africa it has displaced cricket among the colonists, and wherever nine Americans can be found the game of base ball Is practiced. Its professional as pect and Importance In the United States may be determined from the fact that four teen separate and distinct associations are banded together In a national agree ment and one Is In existence as an "out law" league; each league Is romposed of eight clubs, making a total of 120 pro fessional clubs of high grade. In addition there are Innumerable "brush" leagues, that Is, leagues made up of minor towns and not of sufficient Importance to be con sidered In the national compact.
