Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 July 1896 — UNIQUE BASEBALL. [ARTICLE]

UNIQUE BASEBALL.

FT IS PLAYED BY BOYS WHO ARE EN TIRELY BUND. How the Inmates of the Kentucky Institu* tion for the Blind Enjoy the Came. Novel Features of the Sport Should the Louisville Baseball Club at the close of the season have succeeded in successfully defending twelfth place in the pennant race, they may earn fresh laurels by challenging and probably defeating the nine from the Kentucky Institute for the Blind,which is located near the Falls City. In the Kentucky Institute there are two regularly organized nines, between which there is the fiercest rivalry, and the institute pennant Is as highly prized and will be as blttteriy contested for, as that gaudy strip of bunting which, whatever else happens, will not wave next year over the Polo Grounds. Professor R. B. Huntoon, of the Kentucky school, describing baseball among the blind, makes the astonishing statement by way of preface, that among the boys and young men, who must go through life in darkness there is a fondness for athletic exercises, and an ambition to excel in feats of physical power almost as deep founded as among the students of the universities. The gynasium is well patronized, and field sports are in high favor, notably sprinting, longer races up to a mile.running jump, hop, skip and jump, and putting weights. Intense excitement prevails during these contests, the results of which must be reported by word of mouth to both contettants and “spectators.” The baseball game differs, of course, in many of its details from the regular games played by the youth of America. The diamond is not of regular size, but is of regulation form. The distance between bases is but forty feet, instead of ninety. The infielders are stationed the same as in a National League game, with the exception that there is a right shortstop, thus making ten men to a side, an arrangement once seriously considered by professional ball managers. In the outfield, on public games, there is an unlimited number of players, each taking a turn at the bat, first moving up one position whenever a batsman is put out. The catcher sits on the ground, well back from the home plate, and, to guard against injury, he wears a mask and a chest protector. His position is such that when the pitcher delivers a ball it strikes the ground just between his knees and is taken on the short bound.

The batsman takes his position at the plate, with a heavy flat bat, somewhat like those used in cricket. The umpire, who must be a man of unimpaired vision, calls upon the pitcher to get ready, and then clearly sings out, “One, two, three!” At the word three the pitcher must loyally deliver a ball that can be hit by the batsman, who, standing there in the darkness, with a sharpened sense of hearing and a wonderful conception of the time that must elapse before the ball reaches him, is prepared to strike. Baseball writers often refer to “the whlsh of the ball, as like an arrow, it fairly split the space over the home plate.” To the quickened sense of the blind this “whish of the ball” is a reality, and it is astonishing, guided by this refined development of the hearing faculty, how often the ball is struck by the batsman.

If the batsman should miss, the ball bounces into the catcher’s lap, and is at once returned to the pitcher by a single toss with a precision that is wonderful. When the ball is batted, the umpire calls out quickly to the fielder in whose direction it is travelling, and he, guided by a sense of hearing, either catches the ball or follows it in its course through the grass. Six strikes are an out. In fielding any number of bounds are permitted. If the batted ball is a “hot liner” and travelling straight for an infielder’s head, the umpire shouts a warning, and in such cases the endangered player ducks or falls to the turf. It is possible, in fact the ball is frequently fielded to first in time to put out the runner. When throwing to first the assisting player, who is guided by thevoice of the baseman, calculates the distance with nicety and throws the ball so that it strikes the ground a few yards in front of the baseman. The latter hears it coming, and usually gets it without further assistance. Running bases was formerly a difficult thing. There were then three trees on the diamond. toward which the runner ran with outstretched hands. Bags have since been substituted for bases, and therunner is guided by the voice of the baseman, who is required to shout “First, first first.” In like manner the other bags are won. Once on a base the runner is guided by the voice of the unless his side dies at the home plate. Six outs put a side out Naturally there is no approach to scientific ball playing, but under all circumstances it is astonishing to note the frequency of “clean hits,” while the base running and fielding are at times almost marvellous and present a most wonderful exhibition of the refinement of the development of the sense of hearing in an effort to compensate for the loss of sight.