Spalding\'s Official Baseball Guide 1913 - John B. Foster
SPALDING'S OFFICIAL ATHLETIC LIBRARY
BASEBALL GUIDE
1913
EDITED BY
JOHN B. FOSTER
PRICE 10 CENTS
PUBLISHED BY
AMERICAN SPORTS PUBLISHING CO.,
21 Warren Street, New York City.
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AMERICA'S NATIONAL GAME
By A. G. SPALDING
PRICE, $2.00 NET
A book of 600 pages, profusely illustrated with over 100 full page
engravings, and having sixteen forceful cartoons by Homer C. Davenport,
the famous American artist.
The above work should have a place in every public library in this
country, as also in the libraries of public schools and private houses.
The author of "America's National Game" is conceded, always, everywhere,
and by everybody, to have the best equipment of any living writer to
treat the subject that forms the text of this remarkable volume, viz.,
the story of the origin, development and evolution of Base Ball, the
National Game of our country.
Almost from the very inception of the game until the present time--as
player, manager and magnate--Mr. Spalding has been closely identified
with its interests. Not infrequently he has been called upon in times of
emergency to prevent threatened disaster. But for him the National Game
would have been syndicated and controlled by elements whose interests
were purely selfish and personal.
The book is a veritable repository of information concerning players,
clubs and personalities connected with the game in its early days, and
is written in a most interesting style, interspersed with enlivening
anecdotes and accounts of events that have not heretofore been
published.
The response on the part of the press and the public to Mr. Spalding's
efforts to perpetuate the early history of the National Game has been
very encouraging and he is in receipt of hundreds of letters and
notices, a few of which are here given.
ROBERT ADAMSON, New York, writing from the office of Mayor Gaynor,
says:--"Seeing the Giants play is my principal recreation and I am
interested in reading everything I can find about the game. I especially
enjoy what you [Mr. Spalding] have written, because you stand as the
highest living authority on the game."
BARNEY DREYFUSS, owner of the Pittsburg National League club:--"It does
honor to author as well as the game. I have enjoyed reading it very
much."
WALTER CAMP, well known foot ball expert and athlete, says:--"It is
indeed a remarkable work and one that I have read with a great deal of
interest."
JOHN B. DAY, formerly President of the New York Nationals:--"Your
wonderful work will outlast all of us."
W. IRVING SNYDER, formerly of the house of Peck & Snyder:--"I have read
the book from cover to cover with great interest."
ANDREW PECK, formerly of the celebrated firm of Peck & Snyder:--"All
base ball fans should read and see how the game was conducted in early
years."
MELVILLE E. STONE, New York, General Manager Associated Press:--"I find
it full of valuable information and very interesting. I prize it very
highly."
GEORGE BARNARD, Chicago:--"Words fail to express my appreciation of the
book. It carries me back to the early days of base ball and makes me
feel like a young man again."
CHARLES W. MURPHY, President Chicago National League club:--"The book is
a very valuable work and will become a part of every base ball library
in the country."
JOHN F. MORILL, Boston, Mass., old time base ball star.--"I did not
think it possible for one to become so interested in a book on base
ball. I do not find anything in it which I can criticise."
RALPH D. PAINE, popular magazine writer and a leading authority on
college sport:--"I have been reading the book with a great deal of
interest. 'It fills a long felt want,' and you are a national benefactor
for writing it."
GEN. FRED FUNSTON, hero of the Philippine war:--"I read the book with a
great deal of pleasure and was much interested in seeing the account of
base ball among the Asiatic whalers, which I had written for Harper's
Round Table so many years ago."
DEWOLF HOPPER, celebrated operatic artist and comedian:--"Apart from the
splendid history of the evolution of the game, it perpetuates the
memories of the many men who so gloriously sustained it. It should be
read by every lover of the sport."
HUGH NICOL, Director of Athletics, Purdue University, Lafayette,
Ind.:--"No one that has read this book has appreciated it more than I.
Ever since I have been big enough, I have been in professional base
ball, and you can imagine how interesting the book is to me."
MRS. BRITTON, owner of the St. Louis Nationals, through her treasurer,
H.D. Seekamp, writes:--"Mrs. Britton has been very much interested in
the volume and has read with pleasure a number of chapters, gaining
valuable information as to the history of the game."
REV. CHARLES H. PARKHURST, D.D., New York:--"Although I am not very much
of a 'sport,' I nevertheless believe in sports, and just at the present
time in base ball particularly. Perhaps if all the Giants had an
opportunity to read the volume before the recent game (with the
Athletics) they might not have been so grievously outdone."
BRUCE CARTWRIGHT, son of Alexander J. Cartwright, founder of the
Knickerbocker Base Ball Club, the first organization of ball players in
existence, writing from his home at Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands,
says:--"I have read the book with great interest and it is my opinion
that no better history of base ball could have been written."
GEORGE W. FROST, San Diego, Calif.:--"You and 'Jim' White, George
Wright, Barnes, McVey, O'Rourke, etc., were little gods to us back there
in Boston in those days of '74 and '75, and I recall how indignant we
were when you 'threw us down' for the Chicago contract. The book is
splendid. I treasure it greatly."
A.J. REACH, Philadelphia, old time professional expert:--"It certainly
is an interesting revelation of the national game from the time, years
before it was so dignified, up to the present. Those who have played the
game, or taken an interest in it in the past, those at present engaged
in it, together with all who are to engage in it, have a rare treat in
store."
DR. LUTHER H. GULICK, Russell Sage Foundation:--"Mr. Spalding has been
the largest factor in guiding the development of the game and thus
deserves to rank with other great men of the country who have
contributed to its success. It would have added to the interest of the
book if Mr. Spalding could have given us more of his own personal
experiences, hopes and ambitions in connection with the game."
_Pittsburg Press_:--"Historical incidents abound and the book is an
excellent authority on the famous sport."
_Philadelphia Telegraph_:--"In this book Mr. Spalding has written the
most complete and authoritative story of base ball yet published."
_New York Herald_:--"If there is anyone in the country competent to
write a book on base ball it is A.G. Spalding who has been interested in
the game from its early beginnings."
I.E. Sanborn, Chicago _Tribune_:--"'America's National Game' has been
added to the _Tribune's_ sporting reference library as an invaluable
contribution to the literature of the national pastime."
O.C. Reichard, Chicago _Daily News_:--"It is cleverly written and
presents information and dates of great value to the newspaper man of
to-day!"
George C. Rice, Chicago _Journal_:--"I have read the book through, and
take pleasure in stating that it is a complete history of the game from
the beginning until the present time."
Sherman R. Duffy, Sporting Editor _Chicago Journal_:--"It is a most
interesting work and one for which there was need. It is the most
valuable addition to base ball literature that has yet been put out."
Joseph H. Vila, New York _Sun_:--"I have read it carefully and with much
interest. It is the best piece of base ball literature I have ever seen,
and I congratulate you on the work."
Tim Murnane, Sporting Editor _Boston Globe_:--"You have given to the
world a book of inestimable value, a classic in American history; a book
that should be highly prized in every home library in the country."
Francis C. Richter, Editor _Sporting Life_, Philadelphia:--"From a
purely literary standpoint, your work is to me amazing. Frankly, I would
not change a line, for the reason that the story is told in a way to
grip the reader and hold his interest continually."
_Los Angeles Times_ (editorial):--"Spalding's book has been out six
months and ninety thousand copies have been sold. We understand there
will be other editions. America has taken base ball seriously for at
last two generations, and it is time enough that the fad was given an
adequate text book."
Caspar Whitney, Editor _Outdoor America_, and one of the leading
authorities in the world on sport:--"You have made an invaluable
contribution to the literature of the game, and one none else could have
made. Moreover, you've done some very interesting writing, which is a
distinct novelty in such books--too often dull and uninteresting."
_New York World_:--"Albert G. Spalding, who really grew up with the
sport, has written 'America's National Game,' which he describes as not
a history, but the simple story of the game as he has come to know it.
His book, therefore, is full of living interest. It is a volume
generously illustrated and abounds in personal memories of base ball in
the making."
_New York Sun_:--"There is a mass of interesting information regarding
base ball, as might be expected, in Mr. Spalding's 'America's National
Game.' It is safe to say that before Spalding there was no base ball.
The book is no record of games and players, but it is historical in a
broader sense, and the author is able to give his personal decisive
testimony about many disputed points."
_Evening Telegram_, New York:--"In clear, concise, entertaining,
narrative style, Albert G. Spalding has contributed in many respects the
most interesting work pertaining to base ball, the national game, which
has been written.
"There is so much in it of interest that the temptation not to put it
down until it is completed is strong within the mind of every person who
begins to read it. As a historical record it is one of those volumes
which will go further to straighten some disputed points than all of the
arguments which could be advanced in good natured disputes which might
last for months."
_Providence_ (R. I.) _Tribune_:--"The pictures of old time teams players
and magnates of a bygone era will interest every lover of the game, and
no doubt start many discussions and recollections among the old timers."
_New York Evening Mail_:--"Were it possible to assemble the grand army
of base ball fans in convention, their first act probably would be to
pass a vote of thanks to Mr. A.G. Spalding for his work 'America's
National Game'."
_Columbus_ (Ohio) _Dispatch_:--"Never before has been put in print so
much of authentic record of this distinctly national game, and it will
be long, if ever, until so thoroughly interesting and useful a volume is
published to cover the same field."
_New Orleans Picayune_:--"The pictures of old time teams, players and
magnates of a bygone era will interest every lover of the game. Homer
Davenport, America's great cartoonist, has contributed drawings in his
inimitable style of various phases of the game."
_Indianapolis Star_:--"From cover to cover, the 542 pages are filled
with material for 'fanning bees,' which the average 'fan' never before
encountered. It is an interesting volume for anyone who follows the
national pastime and a valuable addition to any library."
_Buffalo News_:--"No book on base ball has ever been written that is
superior to this one by A.G. Spalding. The book is admirably written,
yet without any frills. Many of the more notable incidents recounted in
this book are having wide publication by themselves."
_Brooklyn Times_:--"The book is practically a compendium of the salient
incidents in the evolution of professional base ball. Mr. Spalding is
pre-eminently fitted to perform this service, his connection with the
game having been contemporaneous with its development, as player, club
owner and league director."
_Washington_ (D. C.) _Star_:--"This work appeals with peculiar force to
the public. Mr. Spalding's name is almost synonymous with base ball. He
has worked to the end of producing a volume which tells the story of the
game vividly and accurately. Taken altogether, this is a most valuable
and entertaining work."
_New York American_:--"One of the best selling books of the season has
been 'America's National Game,' by A.G. Spalding. The first edition of
five thousand copies has been sold out (in two months) and a second
edition of five thousand is now on the press. As a Christmas gift from
father to son, it is most appropriate."
_Cincinnati Enquirer_:--"As a veteran of the diamond, well qualified to
do so, Mr. Spalding has committed to print a professional's version of
the distinctly American game. This well known base ball celebrity has a
store of familiar anecdotes embracing the entire period of the game as
now played and the reader will find it most interesting."
_Teacher and Home, New York_:--"Every live father of a live boy will
want to buy this book. It is said of some of the 'best sellers' that
they hold one to the end. This book holds the reader with its anecdote,
its history, its pictures; but it will have no end; for no home--no
American home--will be complete hereafter without it."
_Buffalo Times_:--"A.G. Spalding, with whose name every American boy is
familiar, has been prevailed upon to commit to print events which were
instrumental in guiding the destinies of the National League during the
trying period of its early days. To write upon base ball in a historical
manner, and yet not fall into the habit of quoting interminable
statistics, is a feat that few could accomplish."
_Cincinnati Times-Star_:--"'America's National Game,' A.G. Spalding's
great book upon the diamond sport, is now upon the market and receiving
well merited attention. It tells the story as Mr. Spalding saw it, and
no man has been in position to see more. When 'Al' Spalding, the sinewy
pitcher of nearly forty years ago, came into the arena, the game was
young, and through all the changing seasons that have seen it mature
into full bloom, its closest watcher and strongest friend has been the
same 'Al' Spalding."
_Cincinnati Time-Star_:--"The book is at once a history, a cyclopaedia
and a most entertaining volume."
_New York American_:--"'America's National Game' tells for the first
time the history of the national game of base ball."
_Portland Oregonian_:--"The book is of rare interest and has such
personal value in the story line that one hardly knows where to begin in
making quotations from it--all the stories told are so admirable."
JOHN T. NICHOLSON, Principal Public School 186, New York:--"It's a great
book."
REV. W.A. SUNDAY, Evangelist:--"No one in America is better qualified to
talk of base ball, from its inception to its present greatness, than
A.G. Spalding."
WM. L. VEECK and ED. W. SMITH, of the Chicago _American_:--"We have
found much enjoyment in reading the book, and it is very valuable in our
work."
W.H. CONANT, Gossamer Rubber Co., Boston, Mass.:--"I have read the book
with great pleasure and it produced a vivid reminiscence of the striking
events in base ball, so full of interest to all lovers of the game."
JOSEPH B. MACCABE, Editor East Boston (Mass.) _Argus-Advocate_, and
ex-President Amateur Athletic Union:--"I want to express my gratitude,
as a humble follower of manly sport, for the compilation of this
historic work."
JOHN A. LOWELL, President John A. Lowell Bank Note Company, Boston,
Mass.:--"I have read the book with great interest and it certainly is a
valuable compilation of facts relating to the history of base ball, the
great national game of America. I prize it very highly."
WM. F. GARCELON, Harvard Athletic Association, Cambridge, Mass.:--"I
think 'America's National Game' is not only intensely interesting but
most valuable, as giving the history of the game. Better still, my nine
year old boy is looking forward to the time when he can get it away from
me."
GUSTAV T. KIRBY, President of the Amateur Athletic Union:--"Not only as
a historical sketch of this great national game, but also as a technical
dissertation on base ball as it was and is, this book will not only be
of interest but of benefit to all of us Americans who are interested in
sport--and what American is not interested in sport?--and being
interested in sport, chiefly in base ball."
EVERETT C. BROWN, Chicago, ex-president of the Amateur Athletic Union of
the United States:--"It is very seldom that any history of any sport or
anything pertaining to athletics approaches the interest with which one
reads a popular work of fiction, but I can truthfully say that I have
read the story of the great national game with as much interest as I
have read any recent work of fiction."
THOMAS F. GRAHAM, Judge Superior Court, San Francisco:--"'America's
National Game' contains matter on the origin and development of base
ball--the greatest game ever devised by man--that will be of the utmost
interest to the base ball loving people, not only of this, but of every
English speaking country; and I am sure it will perpetuate the name of
A.G. Spalding to the end of time."
SPALDING'S OFFICIAL ATHLETIC LIBRARY
SPALDING'S OFFICIAL BASE BALL GUIDE
Thirty-seventh Year
1913
EDITED BY
JOHN B. FOSTER
AMERICAN SPORTS PUBLISHING COMPANY
21 Warren Street, New York
CONTENTS
A Remarkable Base Ball Tournament
A World's Series Problem
American League Averages, Official
American League Season of 1912
Base Ball Writers of the South
Base Ball Worth While?
Base Ball Playing Rules, Official
Index to Playing
Ready Reference Index to
Base Ball Playing Rules, Spalding's Simplified--
Ball
Ball Ground
Balls, Providing
Balls, Soiling
Base Running Rules
Bat, Regulation
Batting Rules
Benches, Players
Coaching Rules
Definitions, General
Field for Play, Fitness of
Field Rules
Game, Regulation
Gloves and Mitts, Regulation
Ground Rules
Innings, Choice of
Players, Numbers and Position of
Players, Substitute
Pitching Rules
Scoring Rules
Scoring of Runs
Umpires' Authority
Umpires' Duties
Uniforms
Club Rosters of 1912, Official
Diagram, Correct, of a Ball Field
Editorial Comment
Elementary School Base Ball Tournament
Introduction
John Tomlinson Brush
National League Season of 1912
National League Averages, Official
National Association of Professional Base Ball Leagues--
American Association
Appalachian League
Blue Grass League
Border League
Canadian League
Central Association
Central Kansas League
Central League
Cotton States League
Eastern Association
Illinois-Missouri League
Indiana-Illinois-Iowa League
International League
Kentucky-Ind.-Tenn. League
Michigan State League
"Mink" League
New York State League
New England League
Nebraska State League
North Carolina League
Northwestern League
Ohio and Pennsylvania League
Ohio State League
Pacific Coast League
South Atlantic League
Southeastern League
Southern Association
Southern Michigan Association
Texas League
Tri-State League
Union Association
Virginia League
Western Canada League
Western League
New Faces in the Old League
Notes
Schedules--
American League
International League
National League
Northwestern League
Southern Michigan
Texas League
The Spalding Base Ball Hall of Fame
The World's Series of 1912
The Umpires
NOTICE--To give adequate representation to College and School Base Ball
Teams, which heretofore has not been possible in the Guide owing to lack
of room, "Spalding's Official Collegiate Base Ball Annual" will be
issued in February. It will contain complete college records, pictures
and information exclusively pertaining to College Base Ball. Price 10
cents.
INTRODUCTION
In preparing this issue of SPALDING'S OFFICIAL BASE BALL GUIDE for the
season of 1913, it has occurred to the Editor that the season of 1912,
and the period which followed its completion, have been filled, with a
great deal of unusual and uncommon vicissitude.
In the first place the personnel of the National League, the oldest Base
Ball organization in the world, has been greatly changed by reason of
death and purchase of one franchise. New owners have brought new faces
into the game, and when the National League starts on this year's
campaign there will be some younger but equally as ambitious men at the
heads of some of the clubs.
The players have effected an organization. That, too, is an incident of
interest, for it is well within the memory of the Base Ball "fans" of
this day what happened when another organization was perfected in the
past. For this organization it may be said that the members promise that
it will be their object to bring about better deportment on the part of
their own associates and that they will work their best for the
advancement of Base Ball from a professional standpoint. If they do this
they will be of benefit to the sport. If they work from selfish motives
it is inevitable that eventually there will be a clash, as there was in
the past.
The last world's series which was played was the greatest special series
of games which has been played in the history of the national pastime.
There may have been single games and there may have been series which
have attracted their full measure of interest from the Base Ball "fans,"
but there never has been a special series so filled with thrills and
excitement as that between the New York and Boston clubs. The GUIDE this
year enters into the subject thoroughly with photographs and a story of
the games and feels that the readers will enjoy the account of the
contests.
Some innovations have been attempted in this number of the GUIDE which
should interest Base Ball readers. Attention is called to the symposium
by prominent Base Ball writers which brings up a subject of interest in
regard to future world's series. There are other special articles,
including something about the Base Ball writers of the South, who have
decided to organize a chapter of their own.
The year 1912 was one of progress and advancement on the part of Base
Ball throughout the world. To-day it not only is stronger than ever as
America's national game but it is making fast progress in other
countries because of the attractiveness of the pastime.
The Editor of the GUIDE wishes its thousands of readers an even more
enjoyable Base Ball year in 1913 than they had in 1912. This publication
is now one of worldwide circulation, and carries the gospel of Base
Ball, not only across the Atlantic ocean, but across the Pacific ocean
as well. One of these days it may be its province to report a series for
the international championship, and then Base Ball will have become the
universal game of the world, a place toward which it is rapidly tending.
THE EDITOR.
EDITORIAL COMMENT
BY JOHN B. FOSTER.
PROGRESS OF AMERICA'S NATIONAL GAME
Two more nations have been conquered by the national game of the United
States; a whole race has succumbed to the fascinations of the greatest
of all outdoor sports. Both France and Sweden have announced their
intention of organizing Base Ball leagues. That of Sweden is well under
way. Indeed, they have a club in Stockholm and there are more to follow,
while the French, who have gradually been awakening to the joys of
athletic pastime in which they have hitherto chosen to participate in
other ways, hope to have a new league by the expiration of the present
summer.
There is no doubt as to their intention to play Base Ball. They are
making efforts to procure suitable players from the United States to
coach them and the French promoters of the sport are determined that
their young men shall be given every opportunity to take advantage of
the game of which they have heard so much, and have seen so little.
Last year in the GUIDE it was the pleasure of the editor to call
attention to the fact that the Japanese had so thoroughly grasped Base
Ball that they were bent on some day playing an American team for the
international championship. It is not probable that such a series will
take place within the next five years, but not improbable that it will
take place within the next decade. When the Japanese learn to bat
better, and with more effect, they will become more dangerous rivals to
the peace of mind of the American players. They have grasped the general
theory of the game amazingly well, and they field well, but they have
yet to develop some of those good old fashioned "clean up" hitters in
which the "fans" of the United States revel.
This season it comes to the attention of the editor of the GUIDE that
more progress has been made in China in regard to Base Ball than in any
fifty years preceding. True, there was not much Base Ball in the fifty
years preceding, but now there is. There is a league at Hong Kong. There
are Base Ball teams at Shanghai and other cities.