Re: Early sports historical changes
I just bought a modern reprint of Henry Chadwick's 1868 book on baseball. It was the first book devoted totally to baseball.
In it, Chadwick talks of his battle to eliminate the rule that a batter was out if his hit was caught either on the fly or on "first bound" (ie first bounce). There were no fielding gloves back then, and so the "first bound" rule was popular to protect bare hands.
Chadwick was among those who thought it was more "manly" to catch balls on the fly (without a glove!), so he adopted a tricky tactic. He said he argued both sides of the issue in different articles, thereby creating two parties where there had been only one. Then he got the National Association to experiment with eliminating the "first bound" catch, and the idea caught on.
But his victory was only partial, as in 1868 the "fly catch" rule applied only to fair balls. The "first bound" catch was still an out on foul balls and uncaught third strikes.
I just bought a modern reprint of Henry Chadwick's 1868 book on baseball. It was the first book devoted totally to baseball.
In it, Chadwick talks of his battle to eliminate the rule that a batter was out if his hit was caught either on the fly or on "first bound" (ie first bounce). There were no fielding gloves back then, and so the "first bound" rule was popular to protect bare hands.
Chadwick was among those who thought it was more "manly" to catch balls on the fly (without a glove!), so he adopted a tricky tactic. He said he argued both sides of the issue in different articles, thereby creating two parties where there had been only one. Then he got the National Association to experiment with eliminating the "first bound" catch, and the idea caught on.
But his victory was only partial, as in 1868 the "fly catch" rule applied only to fair balls. The "first bound" catch was still an out on foul balls and uncaught third strikes.
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