Chapter 1

Credit for e-text: The Library of Congress, Joshua Hutchinson, David King, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

SPALDING'S OFFICIAL ATHLETIC LIBRARY

BASEBALL GUIDE

1913

EDITED BY

JOHN B. FOSTER

PRICE 10 CENTS

PUBLISHED BY

AMERICAN SPORTS PUBLISHING CO., 21 Warren Street, New York City.

[Advertisement]

AMERICA'S NATIONAL GAME

By A. G. SPALDING

PRICE, $2.00 NET

A book of 600 pages, profusely illustrated with over 100 full page engravings, and having sixteen forceful cartoons by Homer C. Davenport, the famous American artist.

The above work should have a place in every public library in this country, as also in the libraries of public schools and private houses.

The author of "America's National Game" is conceded, always, everywhere, and by everybody, to have the best equipment of any living writer to treat the subject that forms the text of this remarkable volume, viz., the story of the origin, development and evolution of Base Ball, the National Game of our country.

Almost from the very inception of the game until the present time--as player, manager and magnate--Mr. Spalding has been closely identified with its interests. Not infrequently he has been called upon in times of emergency to prevent threatened disaster. But for him the National Game would have been syndicated and controlled by elements whose interests were purely selfish and personal.

The book is a veritable repository of information concerning players, clubs and personalities connected with the game in its early days, and is written in a most interesting style, interspersed with enlivening anecdotes and accounts of events that have not heretofore been published.

The response on the part of the press and the public to Mr. Spalding's efforts to perpetuate the early history of the National Game has been very encouraging and he is in receipt of hundreds of letters and notices, a few of which are here given.

ROBERT ADAMSON, New York, writing from the office of Mayor Gaynor, says:--"Seeing the Giants play is my principal recreation and I am interested in reading everything I can find about the game. I especially enjoy what you [Mr. Spalding] have written, because you stand as the highest living authority on the game."

BARNEY DREYFUSS, owner of the Pittsburg National League club:--"It does honor to author as well as the game. I have enjoyed reading it very much."

WALTER CAMP, well known foot ball expert and athlete, says:--"It is indeed a remarkable work and one that I have read with a great deal of interest."

JOHN B. DAY, formerly President of the New York Nationals:--"Your wonderful work will outlast all of us."

W. IRVING SNYDER, formerly of the house of Peck & Snyder:--"I have read the book from cover to cover with great interest."

ANDREW PECK, formerly of the celebrated firm of Peck & Snyder:--"All base ball fans should read and see how the game was conducted in early years."

MELVILLE E. STONE, New York, General Manager Associated Press:--"I find it full of valuable information and very interesting. I prize it very highly."

GEORGE BARNARD, Chicago:--"Words fail to express my appreciation of the book. It carries me back to the early days of base ball and makes me feel like a young man again."

CHARLES W. MURPHY, President Chicago National League club:--"The book is a very valuable work and will become a part of every base ball library in the country."

JOHN F. MORILL, Boston, Mass., old time base ball star.--"I did not think it possible for one to become so interested in a book on base ball. I do not find anything in it which I can criticise."

RALPH D. PAINE, popular magazine writer and a leading authority on college sport:--"I have been reading the book with a great deal of interest. 'It fills a long felt want,' and you are a national benefactor for writing it."

GEN. FRED FUNSTON, hero of the Philippine war:--"I read the book with a great deal of pleasure and was much interested in seeing the account of base ball among the Asiatic whalers, which I had written for Harper's Round Table so many years ago."

DEWOLF HOPPER, celebrated operatic artist and comedian:--"Apart from the splendid history of the evolution of the game, it perpetuates the memories of the many men who so gloriously sustained it. It should be read by every lover of the sport."

HUGH NICOL, Director of Athletics, Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind.:--"No one that has read this book has appreciated it more than I. Ever since I have been big enough, I have been in professional base ball, and you can imagine how interesting the book is to me."

MRS. BRITTON, owner of the St. Louis Nationals, through her treasurer, H.D. Seekamp, writes:--"Mrs. Britton has been very much interested in the volume and has read with pleasure a number of chapters, gaining valuable information as to the history of the game."

REV. CHARLES H. PARKHURST, D.D., New York:--"Although I am not very much of a 'sport,' I nevertheless believe in sports, and just at the present time in base ball particularly. Perhaps if all the Giants had an opportunity to read the volume before the recent game (with the Athletics) they might not have been so grievously outdone."

BRUCE CARTWRIGHT, son of Alexander J. Cartwright, founder of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club, the first organization of ball players in existence, writing from his home at Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, says:--"I have read the book with great interest and it is my opinion that no better history of base ball could have been written."

GEORGE W. FROST, San Diego, Calif.:--"You and 'Jim' White, George Wright, Barnes, McVey, O'Rourke, etc., were little gods to us back there in Boston in those days of '74 and '75, and I recall how indignant we were when you 'threw us down' for the Chicago contract. The book is splendid. I treasure it greatly."

A.J. REACH, Philadelphia, old time professional expert:--"It certainly is an interesting revelation of the national game from the time, years before it was so dignified, up to the present. Those who have played the game, or taken an interest in it in the past, those at present engaged in it, together with all who are to engage in it, have a rare treat in store."

DR. LUTHER H. GULICK, Russell Sage Foundation:--"Mr. Spalding has been the largest factor in guiding the development of the game and thus deserves to rank with other great men of the country who have contributed to its success. It would have added to the interest of the book if Mr. Spalding could have given us more of his own personal experiences, hopes and ambitions in connection with the game."

_Pittsburg Press_:--"Historical incidents abound and the book is an excellent authority on the famous sport."

_Philadelphia Telegraph_:--"In this book Mr. Spalding has written the most complete and authoritative story of base ball yet published."

_New York Herald_:--"If there is anyone in the country competent to write a book on base ball it is A.G. Spalding who has been interested in the game from its early beginnings."

I.E. Sanborn, Chicago _Tribune_:--"'America's National Game' has been added to the _Tribune's_ sporting reference library as an invaluable contribution to the literature of the national pastime."

O.C. Reichard, Chicago _Daily News_:--"It is cleverly written and presents information and dates of great value to the newspaper man of to-day!"

George C. Rice, Chicago _Journal_:--"I have read the book through, and take pleasure in stating that it is a complete history of the game from the beginning until the present time."

Sherman R. Duffy, Sporting Editor _Chicago Journal_:--"It is a most interesting work and one for which there was need. It is the most valuable addition to base ball literature that has yet been put out."

Joseph H. Vila, New York _Sun_:--"I have read it carefully and with much interest. It is the best piece of base ball literature I have ever seen, and I congratulate you on the work."

Tim Murnane, Sporting Editor _Boston Globe_:--"You have given to the world a book of inestimable value, a classic in American history; a book that should be highly prized in every home library in the country."

Francis C. Richter, Editor _Sporting Life_, Philadelphia:--"From a purely literary standpoint, your work is to me amazing. Frankly, I would not change a line, for the reason that the story is told in a way to grip the reader and hold his interest continually."

_Los Angeles Times_ (editorial):--"Spalding's book has been out six months and ninety thousand copies have been sold. We understand there will be other editions. America has taken base ball seriously for at last two generations, and it is time enough that the fad was given an adequate text book."

Caspar Whitney, Editor _Outdoor America_, and one of the leading authorities in the world on sport:--"You have made an invaluable contribution to the literature of the game, and one none else could have made. Moreover, you've done some very interesting writing, which is a distinct novelty in such books--too often dull and uninteresting."

_New York World_:--"Albert G. Spalding, who really grew up with the sport, has written 'America's National Game,' which he describes as not a history, but the simple story of the game as he has come to know it. His book, therefore, is full of living interest. It is a volume generously illustrated and abounds in personal memories of base ball in the making."

_New York Sun_:--"There is a mass of interesting information regarding base ball, as might be expected, in Mr. Spalding's 'America's National Game.' It is safe to say that before Spalding there was no base ball. The book is no record of games and players, but it is historical in a broader sense, and the author is able to give his personal decisive testimony about many disputed points."

_Evening Telegram_, New York:--"In clear, concise, entertaining, narrative style, Albert G. Spalding has contributed in many respects the most interesting work pertaining to base ball, the national game, which has been written.

"There is so much in it of interest that the temptation not to put it down until it is completed is strong within the mind of every person who begins to read it. As a historical record it is one of those volumes which will go further to straighten some disputed points than all of the arguments which could be advanced in good natured disputes which might last for months."

_Providence_ (R. I.) _Tribune_:--"The pictures of old time teams players and magnates of a bygone era will interest every lover of the game, and no doubt start many discussions and recollections among the old timers."

_New York Evening Mail_:--"Were it possible to assemble the grand army of base ball fans in convention, their first act probably would be to pass a vote of thanks to Mr. A.G. Spalding for his work 'America's National Game'."

_Columbus_ (Ohio) _Dispatch_:--"Never before has been put in print so much of authentic record of this distinctly national game, and it will be long, if ever, until so thoroughly interesting and useful a volume is published to cover the same field."

_New Orleans Picayune_:--"The pictures of old time teams, players and magnates of a bygone era will interest every lover of the game. Homer Davenport, America's great cartoonist, has contributed drawings in his inimitable style of various phases of the game."

_Indianapolis Star_:--"From cover to cover, the 542 pages are filled with material for 'fanning bees,' which the average 'fan' never before encountered. It is an interesting volume for anyone who follows the national pastime and a valuable addition to any library."

_Buffalo News_:--"No book on base ball has ever been written that is superior to this one by A.G. Spalding. The book is admirably written, yet without any frills. Many of the more notable incidents recounted in this book are having wide publication by themselves."

_Brooklyn Times_:--"The book is practically a compendium of the salient incidents in the evolution of professional base ball. Mr. Spalding is pre-eminently fitted to perform this service, his connection with the game having been contemporaneous with its development, as player, club owner and league director."

_Washington_ (D. C.) _Star_:--"This work appeals with peculiar force to the public. Mr. Spalding's name is almost synonymous with base ball. He has worked to the end of producing a volume which tells the story of the game vividly and accurately. Taken altogether, this is a most valuable and entertaining work."

_New York American_:--"One of the best selling books of the season has been 'America's National Game,' by A.G. Spalding. The first edition of five thousand copies has been sold out (in two months) and a second edition of five thousand is now on the press. As a Christmas gift from father to son, it is most appropriate."

_Cincinnati Enquirer_:--"As a veteran of the diamond, well qualified to do so, Mr. Spalding has committed to print a professional's version of the distinctly American game. This well known base ball celebrity has a store of familiar anecdotes embracing the entire period of the game as now played and the reader will find it most interesting."

_Teacher and Home, New York_:--"Every live father of a live boy will want to buy this book. It is said of some of the 'best sellers' that they hold one to the end. This book holds the reader with its anecdote, its history, its pictures; but it will have no end; for no home--no American home--will be complete hereafter without it."

_Buffalo Times_:--"A.G. Spalding, with whose name every American boy is familiar, has been prevailed upon to commit to print events which were instrumental in guiding the destinies of the National League during the trying period of its early days. To write upon base ball in a historical manner, and yet not fall into the habit of quoting interminable statistics, is a feat that few could accomplish."

_Cincinnati Times-Star_:--"'America's National Game,' A.G. Spalding's great book upon the diamond sport, is now upon the market and receiving well merited attention. It tells the story as Mr. Spalding saw it, and no man has been in position to see more. When 'Al' Spalding, the sinewy pitcher of nearly forty years ago, came into the arena, the game was young, and through all the changing seasons that have seen it mature into full bloom, its closest watcher and strongest friend has been the same 'Al' Spalding."

_Cincinnati Time-Star_:--"The book is at once a history, a cyclopaedia and a most entertaining volume."

_New York American_:--"'America's National Game' tells for the first time the history of the national game of base ball."

_Portland Oregonian_:--"The book is of rare interest and has such personal value in the story line that one hardly knows where to begin in making quotations from it--all the stories told are so admirable."

JOHN T. NICHOLSON, Principal Public School 186, New York:--"It's a great book."

REV. W.A. SUNDAY, Evangelist:--"No one in America is better qualified to talk of base ball, from its inception to its present greatness, than A.G. Spalding."

WM. L. VEECK and ED. W. SMITH, of the Chicago _American_:--"We have found much enjoyment in reading the book, and it is very valuable in our work."

W.H. CONANT, Gossamer Rubber Co., Boston, Mass.:--"I have read the book with great pleasure and it produced a vivid reminiscence of the striking events in base ball, so full of interest to all lovers of the game."

JOSEPH B. MACCABE, Editor East Boston (Mass.) _Argus-Advocate_, and ex-President Amateur Athletic Union:--"I want to express my gratitude, as a humble follower of manly sport, for the compilation of this historic work."

JOHN A. LOWELL, President John A. Lowell Bank Note Company, Boston, Mass.:--"I have read the book with great interest and it certainly is a valuable compilation of facts relating to the history of base ball, the great national game of America. I prize it very highly."

WM. F. GARCELON, Harvard Athletic Association, Cambridge, Mass.:--"I think 'America's National Game' is not only intensely interesting but most valuable, as giving the history of the game. Better still, my nine year old boy is looking forward to the time when he can get it away from me."

GUSTAV T. KIRBY, President of the Amateur Athletic Union:--"Not only as a historical sketch of this great national game, but also as a technical dissertation on base ball as it was and is, this book will not only be of interest but of benefit to all of us Americans who are interested in sport--and what American is not interested in sport?--and being interested in sport, chiefly in base ball."

EVERETT C. BROWN, Chicago, ex-president of the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States:--"It is very seldom that any history of any sport or anything pertaining to athletics approaches the interest with which one reads a popular work of fiction, but I can truthfully say that I have read the story of the great national game with as much interest as I have read any recent work of fiction."

THOMAS F. GRAHAM, Judge Superior Court, San Francisco:--"'America's National Game' contains matter on the origin and development of base ball--the greatest game ever devised by man--that will be of the utmost interest to the base ball loving people, not only of this, but of every English speaking country; and I am sure it will perpetuate the name of A.G. Spalding to the end of time."

SPALDING'S OFFICIAL ATHLETIC LIBRARY

SPALDING'S OFFICIAL BASE BALL GUIDE

Thirty-seventh Year

1913

EDITED BY

JOHN B. FOSTER

AMERICAN SPORTS PUBLISHING COMPANY 21 Warren Street, New York

CONTENTS

A Remarkable Base Ball Tournament

A World's Series Problem

American League Averages, Official

American League Season of 1912

Base Ball Writers of the South

Base Ball Worth While?

Base Ball Playing Rules, Official Index to Playing Ready Reference Index to

Base Ball Playing Rules, Spalding's Simplified-- Ball Ball Ground Balls, Providing Balls, Soiling Base Running Rules Bat, Regulation Batting Rules Benches, Players Coaching Rules Definitions, General Field for Play, Fitness of Field Rules Game, Regulation Gloves and Mitts, Regulation Ground Rules Innings, Choice of Players, Numbers and Position of Players, Substitute Pitching Rules Scoring Rules Scoring of Runs Umpires' Authority Umpires' Duties Uniforms

Club Rosters of 1912, Official

Diagram, Correct, of a Ball Field

Editorial Comment

Elementary School Base Ball Tournament

Introduction

John Tomlinson Brush

National League Season of 1912

National League Averages, Official

National Association of Professional Base Ball Leagues-- American Association Appalachian League Blue Grass League Border League Canadian League Central Association Central Kansas League Central League Cotton States League Eastern Association Illinois-Missouri League Indiana-Illinois-Iowa League International League Kentucky-Ind.-Tenn. League Michigan State League "Mink" League New York State League New England League Nebraska State League North Carolina League Northwestern League Ohio and Pennsylvania League Ohio State League Pacific Coast League South Atlantic League Southeastern League Southern Association Southern Michigan Association Texas League Tri-State League Union Association Virginia League Western Canada League Western League

New Faces in the Old League

Notes

Schedules-- American League International League National League Northwestern League Southern Michigan Texas League

The Spalding Base Ball Hall of Fame

The World's Series of 1912

The Umpires

NOTICE--To give adequate representation to College and School Base Ball Teams, which heretofore has not been possible in the Guide owing to lack of room, "Spalding's Official Collegiate Base Ball Annual" will be issued in February. It will contain complete college records, pictures and information exclusively pertaining to College Base Ball. Price 10 cents.

INTRODUCTION

In preparing this issue of SPALDING'S OFFICIAL BASE BALL GUIDE for the season of 1913, it has occurred to the Editor that the season of 1912, and the period which followed its completion, have been filled, with a great deal of unusual and uncommon vicissitude.

In the first place the personnel of the National League, the oldest Base Ball organization in the world, has been greatly changed by reason of death and purchase of one franchise. New owners have brought new faces into the game, and when the National League starts on this year's campaign there will be some younger but equally as ambitious men at the heads of some of the clubs.

The players have effected an organization. That, too, is an incident of interest, for it is well within the memory of the Base Ball "fans" of this day what happened when another organization was perfected in the past. For this organization it may be said that the members promise that it will be their object to bring about better deportment on the part of their own associates and that they will work their best for the advancement of Base Ball from a professional standpoint. If they do this they will be of benefit to the sport. If they work from selfish motives it is inevitable that eventually there will be a clash, as there was in the past.

The last world's series which was played was the greatest special series of games which has been played in the history of the national pastime. There may have been single games and there may have been series which have attracted their full measure of interest from the Base Ball "fans," but there never has been a special series so filled with thrills and excitement as that between the New York and Boston clubs. The GUIDE this year enters into the subject thoroughly with photographs and a story of the games and feels that the readers will enjoy the account of the contests.

Some innovations have been attempted in this number of the GUIDE which should interest Base Ball readers. Attention is called to the symposium by prominent Base Ball writers which brings up a subject of interest in regard to future world's series. There are other special articles, including something about the Base Ball writers of the South, who have decided to organize a chapter of their own.

The year 1912 was one of progress and advancement on the part of Base Ball throughout the world. To-day it not only is stronger than ever as America's national game but it is making fast progress in other countries because of the attractiveness of the pastime.

The Editor of the GUIDE wishes its thousands of readers an even more enjoyable Base Ball year in 1913 than they had in 1912. This publication is now one of worldwide circulation, and carries the gospel of Base Ball, not only across the Atlantic ocean, but across the Pacific ocean as well. One of these days it may be its province to report a series for the international championship, and then Base Ball will have become the universal game of the world, a place toward which it is rapidly tending.

THE EDITOR.

EDITORIAL COMMENT

BY JOHN B. FOSTER.

PROGRESS OF AMERICA'S NATIONAL GAME

Two more nations have been conquered by the national game of the United States; a whole race has succumbed to the fascinations of the greatest of all outdoor sports. Both France and Sweden have announced their intention of organizing Base Ball leagues. That of Sweden is well under way. Indeed, they have a club in Stockholm and there are more to follow, while the French, who have gradually been awakening to the joys of athletic pastime in which they have hitherto chosen to participate in other ways, hope to have a new league by the expiration of the present summer.