Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 210, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1918 — BASEBALL BAT SAME AS SIXTY YEARS AGO [ARTICLE]

BASEBALL BAT SAME AS SIXTY YEARS AGO

Few Changes Have Been Made in Stick Used by Sluggers. Originally Decreed That It Should Be Made of Wood Not More Than Two and One-Half Inches in Diameter and Round. Baseball was referred to as bat ball in some communities in the early days of the national game. The modern btseball bat had its origin just 59 ago. . March 9, 1859, at a meeting of the fathers of baseball held in New York, it was decreed that the bat should be made of wood and have a diameter no* to exceed 2% inches and a length not greater than 42 inches. In the years that have followed fewer changes have been made in the bat than -in any other thing connected with the game. The provision as to length still stands, but since 1895 the swatter has been permitted to use a slightly thicker bat. The early rule that the bat be made of wood wasn’t binding enough in the early days of professionalism, for some of the players sneaked in bats into which holes had been made and filled with lead. The rule of 1859 prescribed that the bat should be round, and this provision is in effect today, although in the intervening years there have been some variations. In the'early eighties a four-sided bat was Introduced and was indorsed by the. governing body of amateur players, but it didn’t last long and was never used by professionals. Later in the same decade bats made of soft wood and flat on one side were introduced, to be used in bunting. This variety of bat gained the recognition of the National league, and was used in nearly all professional circuits up to 1893, when it was discarded and outlawed. Prior to the adoption of the rule of 1859 any old kind of stick was permissible in baseball. Even flat bats were not barred and many star swatters used implements of prodigious srte. It takes a real man to wield a heavy bat, say one that is five feet long and five inches wide, but many ts the old-timers did it. Those were the happy days for the “knockers,” as batsmen were called In that period.