The Project Gutenberg EBook of Base-Ball, by John M. Ward

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Title: Base-Ball
How to Become a Player

Author: John M. Ward

Release Date: November 30, 2006 [EBook #19975]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BASE-BALL ***

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