BASEBALL IN EARLY TIMES.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 180, 23 October 1903, Page 7

BASEBALL IN EARLY TIMES.

Wfeen the Players Wetre Ohoaein More i»t Their Vocal Powers Than I ■■ KLxurwledse of tine Gaiutt, It -was on tlipse. rural fields in the : heyday of baseball that the sport, if less refined,; wa>B more picturesque. That the gamewas vocal goes -with the saying. Not far away froni th c truth was- tix© country captain who described his team a»."men who can't bat-much, or field much, but' first-rate talkers." To. dispute ..the umpire on every clo.se decision was orthodox duty— a fashion not.yet outlived— and it-made £he rural ; ball game forensic as well as spectacular, says Outing. The country ..umpire, who was usually selected by the home team, meritshis specific picture. In the earlier days of the sport h« was chosen for knowledge of the rules simply because the opposing bucolic nines had -so little knowledge themselves. Later, technical lore became somewhat secondary as a credential, and in the ideal rural urn was sought a kind of Boanerges — I a Son of Thunder, bellowing out, his decisions until the welkin echoed, and able, on the one hand, either to placate I the crowd by good temper or to daunt it with strong speech. That is to £ay, the umpire of the time and placeliad to own no middle terms of personal temperament, but be either extremely crisp or superlatively goodnatured andtactful.