while holding the ball. The base- a man's scoring. But if the fielder men also act as fielders, and render sees he cannot possibly get the ball assistance, when to Home Base in time, he throws

Drop.

they can, in back

ing up other

players.

The Fielders. The duty of the fielders is to catch all fair and foul balls they can" on the fly," and to "field" or throw all balls as quickly as possible to the proper place. This place varies according to the state of the game and the position of the fielder. If

there is no man on Third Base, and there is one on First and on Second Base, the ball goes either to Second or Third Base, ac

Short Stop.

it to one of the other bases. Or, if there are already two out, he may throw it to First Base, knowing that no matter if there is a man on

Batsman.

Third Base his run cannot count after the third out. It requires careful judgment in the fielder to know ex

Yale,

71527148

of the players, in the order in which umns is devoted to the runs and outs they come to the bat are arranged in of an inning. In the other columns, the first column. Opposite them, in in order, are recorded the total runs the second, are abbreviations show- of each player, his base hits, the men ing their positions. These differ he has put out, the men he assisted with different Scorers, but those given to put out (called "assists "), and his below are Catcher, H; Pitcher, P; errors. As soon as the first Batsman Ist baseman, A; 2d baseman, B; 3d leaves the Home-plate, the Scorer's baseman, C; Short-stop, S; Right work begins. If the Batsman is put fielder, R; Left fielder, L; Center out the Scorer writes in the first fielder, M. Each of the next ten col-inning-column, opposite the player's

name, what looks like a fraction. a two-base hit is counted as 2, and a Below the line is the number of the three-base hit as 3. This is all that out (in this case, 1). Above is an a young scorer will care to do, but abbreviation telling how he was put the National League rules require out. If he was put out by one of the still more. When the score is anplayers throwing the ball to a base-nounced to the public, as by printing man, the letters denoting those play-it in a newspaper, of course only final ers are used, separated by a dash; figures are given. The standard thus, P-B means that the Pitcher method is to give the players' names threw the ball to the 2d baseman. in one column, and then in succesK means "struck out"; f., a fly sive columns the number of times catch; 1, f., a foul fly; and b. b., first at bat, runs, base hits, sacrifice hits, base taken on called balls. If, in- put-outs, assists, and errors. This stead of going out, the Striker makes is followed by a summary giving the a base, he must have made a base score in each inning, and a large numhit, or someone, on the opposite ber of particulars, such as bases side, made an error. If the former, stolen, home-runs, double and triple the mark + is put down for a single plays, called balls, wild pitches, etc. base, for a two-base hit, or for What are called the batting and fielda three-base hit. If the latter, a dot ing percentages of the players are is put opposite the erring player's often calculated at the end of a series name in the error column on the of games. The former is the percentother page. When a player scores, age of base hits in the total number a dot is put opposite his name in the of times at the bat; the latter the inning column. At the close of the percentage of "chances accepted game the total runs, base hits, put-in the total number of chances outs, and assists are summed up offered." The chances offered to a from the score and entered in their fielder are found by adding his putrespective columns. To sum up the outs, assists, and errors; the chances put-outs, the number of times a accepted, by subtracting the errors man's letter appears, after a dash, is from this sum. Thus, if a player entered in the put-out column on the has put out 25 men, assisted to put opposite page, for if R-B for in-out 18, and made 9 errors, he has stance appears opposite a man's had 52 chances, of which he has name, that man was put out of accepted 43, and his fielding percourse by the Second Baseman on centage is X 100, or nearly 83 per the opposite side. The total num-cent. ber of put-outs for each side in an even nine-inning game is 27, and if they foot up more or less, there has been some mistake. The assists " are summed up by treating, in like manner, the letters before the dashes. The assists need not number 27 altogether, for some men are put out without assistance, as when a fly is caught. When the score is published only the columns that are lettered at the top are given. Often two columns of base hits are entered; one of base hits" simply, the other of "totals." In the former each hit is counted as one, whether for one or more bases; in the latter

"

The proper scoring of errors is very difficult, especially as there the scorer has no time to wait and think. Good scorers often differ as to whether a base has been gained by a hit or an error, and their scores would therefore read differently in this respect. The rules given below contain

some directions on this point. To be able to take the score of a ball game properly adds much to its enjoyment, and spectators often amuse themselves in this way. The score given above is that of a game between the Yale and Harvard university nines, and from it may be read a very good account of the

opposite direction until they reach the boundary lines of the grounds.

game. The reader will see that the F G and FH until they intersect first Harvard player made a run, with the lines L M and L O, and though not on a base hit. The then from the points G and H in the second struck a ball to the second baseman, who threw it to first base, putting him out; the third struck to third base with a like result, and the fourth struck to the first baseman, who picked up the ball and made the third out, ending the inning.

Rules of the Game. The rules given below are substantially those adopted by the National League and the American Association of Professional Base Ball Clubs. Those parts which refer to matters of discipline are omitted. Many of the rules apply to match games between organized clubs, and therefore do not apply to cases where sides are chosen just before the game, but it can be seen at a glance which rules thus apply.

THE BALL GROUND.

RULE 1.-The Ground must be an inclosed field, sufficient in size to enable each player to play in his position as required by these rules.

RULE 2.-To lay off the lines governing the positions and the play of the game known as Base Ball, proceed as follows:

THE PLAYERS' LINES.

RULE 5.-With F as center and 50 feet radius, describe arcs cutting lines F O, F M at P and Q; then, with F as center again and 75 feet radius, describe arcs cutting F G and F H at R and S; then from the points P, Q, R and S draw lines at right angles to the lines F O, F M, F G and F H, and continue same until they intersect at the points T and W.

THE CAPTAIN AND COACHER'S
LINE.

RULE 6.-With R and S as centers and 15 feet radius, describe arcs cutting lines R W and S T at X and Y, and from the points X and Y draw lines parallel with lines F H and F G, and continue same out to the boundary lines of the ground.

THE THREE-FOOT LINE.

RULE 7.-With F as center and 45 feet radius, describe an arc cutting line F G at 1, and from I out to the distance of 3 feet draw a line at right angles to F G, and marked From a point, A, within the point 2; then from point 2, draw a grounds, project a right line out into line parallel with the line F G to the field, and at a point B, 154 a point 3 feet beyond the point G, feet from point A, lay off lines BC and marked 3; then from the point and B D at right angles to the line 3 draw a line at right angles to line A B; then, with B as center and 2, 3, back to and intersecting with 63.63945 feet as radius, describe line F G, and from thence back arcs cutting the lines B A at F and along line G F to point 1. BC at BG D at H and B E at I. Draw lines F G, GE, E H and H F, and said lines will be the containing lines of the Diamond or infield.

THE CATCHER'S LINES.

THE PITCHER'S PLATE.

RULE 8. With point F as center and 60.5 as feet radius, describe an arc cutting the line F B at a point 4, and draw a line 5, 6, passing through RULE 3.-With F as center and point 4 and extending 12 inches on 90 feet radius, describe an arc cut- either side of line F B; then with ting line FA at L, and draw lines line 5, 6, as a side, describe a paralLM and L O at right angles to Flelogram 24 inches by 6 inches. A; and continue same out from F A not less then 90 feet.

THE FOUL LINE. RULE 4. From the intersection point, F, continue the straight lines

THE BASES.

RULE 9. Within the angle F, describe a square the sides of which shall be 12 inches, two of its sides lying upon the lines F G and F H,