BASE-BALL (so-called from the bases and ball used), the national summer sport of the United States, popular also throughout Canada and in Japan. Its origin is obscure. According to some authorities it is derived from the old English game of rounders (_q.v._), several variations of which were played in America during the colonial period; according to other authorities, its resemblance to rounders is merely a coincidence, and it had its origin in the United States, probably at Cooperstown, New York, in 1839, when it is said, Abner Doubleday (later a general in the U.S. army) devised a scheme for playing it. About the beginning of the 19th century a game generally known as "One Old Cat" became popular with schoolboys in the North Atlantic states; this game was played by three boys, each fielding and batting in turn, a run being scored by the batsman running to a single base and back without being put out. Two Old Cat, Three Old Cat, and Four Old Cat were modifications of this game, having respectively four, six, and eight players. A development of this game bore the name of town-ball and the Olympic Town-Ball Club of Philadelphia was organized in 1833. Matches between organized base-ball clubs were first played in the neighbourhood of New York, where the Washington Baseball Club was founded in 1843. The first regular code of rules was drawn up in 1845 by the Knickerbocker Baseball Club and used in its matches with the Gotham Eagle and Empire clubs of New York, and the Excelsior, Putnam, Atlantic and Eckford clubs of Brooklyn. In 1858 the first National Association was organized, and, while its few simple laws were generally similar to the corresponding rules of the present code, the ball was larger and "livelier," and the pitcher was compelled to deliver it with a full toss, no approach to a throw being allowed. The popularity of the game spread rapidly, resulting in the organization of many famous clubs, such as the Beacon and Lowell of Boston, the Red Stockings of Cincinnati, the Forest City of Cleveland and the Maple Leaf of Guelph, but owing to the sharp rivalry between the foremost teams, semi-professionalism soon crept in, although in those days a man who played for a financial consideration always had some other means of livelihood, as the income to be derived from playing ball in the summer time was not enough to support him throughout the year. In spite of its popularity, the game acquired certain undesirable adjuncts. The betting and pool selling evils became prominent, and before long the game was in thorough disrepute. It was not only generally believed that the matches were not played on their merits, but it was known that players themselves were not above selling contests. At that time many of the journals of the day foretold the speedy downfall of the sport. A convention of those interested financially and otherwise in the game, was held in 1867 in Philadelphia, and an effort was made to effect a reformation. That the sport even then was by no means insignificant can be seen from the fact that in that convention some 500 organizations were represented. While the work done at the convention did not accomplish all that was expected, it did produce certain reforms, and the sport grew rapidly thereafter both in the eastern and in the middle western part of the United States. In the next five years the [v.03 p.0459] interest in the game became so great that it was decided to send a representation of American base-ball players to England; and two clubs, the Bostons, who were the champions that year, and the Athletics, former champions, crossed the Atlantic and played several exhibition games with each other. While successful in exciting some interest, the trip did not succeed in popularizing base-ball in Great Britain. Fifteen years later two other nines of representative American base-ball players made a general tour of Australia and various other countries, completing their trip by a contest in England. This too, however, had little effect, and later attempts to establish base-ball in England have likewise been unsuccessful. But in America the game continued to prosper. The first entirely professional club was the Cincinnati Red Stockings (1868). Two national associations were formed in 1871, one having jurisdiction over professional clubs and the other over amateurs. In 1876 was formed the National League, of eight clubs under the presidency of Nicholas E. Young, which contained the expert ball-players of the country. There were so many people in the United States who wanted to see professional base-ball that this organization proved too small to furnish the desired number of games, and hence in 1882 the American Association was formed. For a time it seemed that there would be room for both organizations; but there was considerable rivalry, and it was not until an agreement was made between the two organizations that they were able to work together in harmony. They practically controlled professional base-ball for many years, although there were occasional attempts to overthrow their authority, the most notable being the formation in 1890 of a brotherhood of players called the Players' League, organized for the purpose of securing some of the financial benefits accruing to the managers, as well as for the purpose of abolishing black-listing and other supposed abuses. The Players' League proved not sufficiently strong for the task, and fell to pieces. For some years the National League consisted of twelve clubs organized as stock companies, representing cities as far apart as Boston and St Louis, but in 1900 the number was reduced to eight, namely, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York, Pittsburg, Philadelphia and St Louis. Certain aggressive and dissatisfied elements took advantage of this change to organize a second great professional association under the presidency of B. B. Johnson, the "American League," of eight clubs, six of them in cities where the National League was already represented. Most of the clubs of both leagues flourish financially, as also do the many minor associations which control the clubs of the different sections of the country, among which are the Eastern League, the American Association, Western League, Southern Association, New England League, Pacific League and the different state leagues. Professional base-ball has not been free from certain objectionable elements, of which the unnecessary and rowdyish fault-finding with the umpires has been the most evident, but the authorities of the different leagues have lately succeeded, by strenuous legislation, in abating these. Of authorities on base-ball, Henry Chadwick (d. 1908) is the best known. Entry: BASE
The Greeks, however, were not altogether satisfied with the cosmopolitan character of the revival of these celebrated games of their ancestors, and resolved to give the revival a more definitely Hellenic stamp by intercalating an additional series, to take place at Athens, in the middle of the quadrennial period. Their action was justified by the success which attended the first of this additional series at Athens in 1906. This success may have been partly due to the personal interest taken in the games by the king and royal family of Greece, and to the presence of King Edward VII., Queen Alexandra, and the prince and princess of Wales; but to whatever cause it should be assigned it was generally acknowledged that neither in France nor in America had the games acquired the same prestige as those held on the classical soil of Greece. In 1906 the governments of Germany, France and the United States made considerable grants of money to defray the expenses of the competitors from those countries. These games aroused much more interest in England than the earlier ones in the series, but though upwards of fifty British competitors took part in the contests, they were by no means representative in all cases of the best British athletics. The American representatives were slightly less numerous, but they were more successful. It was noteworthy that no British or Americans took part in the rowing races in the Bay of Phalerum, nor in the tennis, football or shooting competitions. The Marathon race, by far the most important event in the games, was won in 1906 by a British athlete, M.D. Sherring, a Canadian by birth. The Americans won a total of 75 prizes, the British 39, and the Swedes and Greeks each 28. Entry: ATHLETIC
GYMKHANA, a display of miscellaneous sports, originally at the military stations of India. The word would seem to be a colloquial remodelling of the Hindustani _gend-khana_, ball-house or racquet-court, by substituting for _gend_ the first syllable of the English word "gymnastics." The definition given in Yule's _Glossary_ is as follows: "A place of public resort at a station, where the needful facilities for athletics and games ... are provided." The name of the place was afterwards applied to the games themselves, and the word is now used almost exclusively in this sense. According to Yule the first use of it that can be traced was, on the authority of Major John Trotter, at Rurki in the year 1861, when a gymkhana was instituted there. Gymkhana sports were invented to relieve the monotony of Indian station life, and both officers and men from the ranks took part in them. The first meetings consisted of promiscuous horse and pony races at catch weights. To these were soon added a second variety, originally called the _pagol_ (funny races), the one generally known outside India, which consisted of miscellaneous races and competitions of all kinds, some serious and some amusing, on horseback, on foot and on bicycles. Among these may be mentioned the usual military sports; such as tent-pegging, lemon-cutting and obstacle racing; rickshaw racing; tilting at the ring sack, pillion, hurdle, egg-and-spoon, blindfold, threading-the-needle and many other kinds of races depending upon the inventive powers of the committees in charge. Entry: GYMKHANA
The organization of university sports in America differs from that at Oxford and Cambridge, where there is no official control on the part of the university authorities, and where a man is eligible to represent his college or university while in residence. In nearly all American universities and colleges athletic and other sports are under the general control of faculty committees, to which the undergraduate athletic committees are subordinate, and which have the power to forbid the participation of any student who has not attained a certain standard of scholarship. For some years prior to 1906 no student of an American university was allowed to represent his university in any sport for longer than four years. Early in that year, however, many of the most important institutions, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Pennsylvania, entered upon a new agreement, that only students who have been in residence one year should play in 'varsity teams in any branch of athletics and that no student should play longer than three years. This, together with many other reformatory changes, was directly due to a widespread outcry against the growing roughness of play exhibited in American football, basket-ball, hockey and other sports, the too evident desire to win at all hazards, the extraordinary luxury of the training equipment, and the enormous gate-receipts of many of the large institutions--the Yale Athletic Association held a surplus of about $100,000 (£20,000) in December 1905, after deducting immense amounts for expenses. The new rule against the participation of freshmen in 'varsity sports was to discourage the practice of offering material advantages of different kinds to promising athletes, generally those at preparatory schools, to induce them to become students at certain universities. Entry: ATHLETIC
Vases were used as measures, as in the case of a small one-handled cup in the British Museum (see fig. 15), found at Cerigo (_Cythera_) and inscribed with the word [Greek: hêmikotylion] or "half-kotyle," equivalent to about one-fourth of a pint. Another vase found at Athens is supposed to represent the official [Greek: choinix] or quart, having a capacity of 0.96 litre; it is inscribed [Greek: dêmosion] or "official measure," and bears the official stamp of the state. Conversely many names of vases, such as the _amphora_ or the _kotyle_, were adopted to indicate measures of capacity for liquid or dry commodities. Earthenware vessels were used for storing both liquids and food, for the preparation of foods and liquids, and for the various uses of the table and the toilet. That the painted ware was used at banquets or on great occasions we learn from scenes depicted on the vases themselves, in which vases painted with subjects appear in use. In connexion with athletics, they were given as prizes, as in the case of the Panathenaic _amphorae_, a class of vases given for victories in the games held at Athens at the Panathenaic festivals, where, however, they do not represent prizes so much as marks of honour corresponding to modern racing cups. Vases were also used as toys for children, as is proved by the discovery of many diminutive specimens, chiefly jugs, in the tombs of children at Athens, on which are depicted children playing at various games. They also served a purely decorative use as domestic ornaments, being placed on columns or shelves; or, in the case of flat cups and plaques, suspended on the wall. Many of the later Greek and Italian painted vases are very carelessly decorated on the one side, which was obviously not intended to be seen. Entry: GREEK
At the present day athletic sports are usually understood to consist of those events recognized in the championship programmes of the different countries. Those in the competitions between Oxford and Cambridge are the 100 yards, 440 yards, 880 yards, 1-mile and 3-mile runs; 120 yards hurdle-race; high and long jumps; throwing the hammer; and putting the weight (shot). To the above list the English A.A.A. adds the 4-mile and 10-mile runs; the 2-mile and 7-mile walking races; the 2-mile steeplechase; and the pole-vault. The American intercollegiate programme is identical with that of the Oxford-Cambridge meeting, except that a 2-mile run takes the place of the 3-mile, and the pole-vault is added. The American A.A.U. programme includes the 100 yards, 220 yards, 440 yards, 880 yards, 1-mile and 5-mile runs; 120 yards high-hurdle race; 220 yards low-hurdle race; high and broad (long) jumps; throwing the hammer; throwing 56-lb. weight; putting 16-lb. shot; throwing the discus; and pole-vault. Of these the running contests are called "track athletics," and the rest "field" events. Entry: ATHLETIC
The earliest games of which we have any record are those at the funeral of Patroclus, which form the subject of the twenty-third Iliad. They are noteworthy as showing that Greek games were in their origin clearly connected with religion; either, as here, a part of the funeral rites, or else instituted in honour of a god, or as a thank-offering for a victory gained or a calamity averted, or in expiation of some crime. Each of the great contests was held near some shrine or sacred place and is associated with some deity or mythical hero. It was not before the 4th century that this honour was paid to a living man (see Plutarch, _Lysander_, 18). The games of the _Iliad_ and those of the _Odyssey_ at the court of Alcinous are also of interest as showing at what an early date the distinctive forms of Greek athletics--boxing, wrestling, putting the weight, the foot and the chariot race--were determined. Entry: GAMES
The protectress of cities was naturally also a goddess of war. As such she appears in Homer and Hesiod and in post-Homeric legend as the slayer of the Gorgon and taking part in the battle of the giants. On numerous monuments she is represented as [Greek: areia], "the warlike," [Greek: nikephoros], "bringer of victory," holding an image of Nike (q.v.) in her outstretched hand (for other similar epithets see Roscher's _Lexikon_). She was also the goddess of the arts of war in general; [Greek: stoicheia], she who draws up the ranks for battle, [Greek: zosteria], she who girds herself for the fray. Martial music (cp. [Greek: Athene salpinx], "trumpet") and the Pyrrhic dance, in which she herself is said to have taken part to commemorate the victory over the giants, and the building of war-ships were attributed to her. She instructed certain of her favourites in gymnastics and athletics, as a useful training for war. The epithets [Greek: ippia], [Greek: chalinitis], [Greek: damasippos], usually referred to her as goddess of war-horses, may perhaps be reminiscences of an older religion in which the horse was sacred to her. As a war-goddess, she is the embodiment of prudent and intelligent tactics, entirely different from Ares, the personification of brute force and rashness, who is fitly represented as suffering defeat at her hands. She is the patroness and protectress of those heroes who are distinguished for their prudence and caution, and in the Trojan War she sides with the more civilized Greeks. Entry: ATHENA
The Briton does not lose his love of sport upon leaving his native soil, and the development of athletics in the United States and the British colonies has kept step with that of the mother-land. Upon the continent of Europe sports have occupied a more or less prominent place in the life of the nations, but their development has been but an echo of that in Great Britain. A great advance, however, has been made since the institution of the modern Olympic games. Entry: ATHLETIC
The Scottish people have, like the Irish, ever delighted in feats of strength and skill, especially the Celtic highlanders, the character of whose country and mode of life have, however, prevented organized athletics from attaining the same prominence as in England. Nevertheless, the celebrated Highland games held at Braemar, Bridge of Allan, Luss, Aboyne and other places have served to bring into prominence many athletes of the first class, although the records, on account of the roughness of the grounds, have not generally vied with those made farther south. Entry: ATHLETIC
What then, it may be asked, about athletic games and sports, which hurt nobody, have no connexion with the chase, and give pleasure to thousands of spectators? Here the difference is, that the event which excites the spectator's interest and pleasure at a race or match or athletic contest is not a wholly unreal or simulated event; it is less real than life, but it is more real than art. The contest has no momentous practical consequences, but it is a contest, an [Greek: athlos], all the same, in which competitors put forth real strength, and one really wins and others are defeated. Such a struggle, in which the exertions are real and the issue uncertain, we follow with an excitement and a suspense different in kind from the feelings with which we contemplate a fictitious representation. For example, let the reader recall the feelings with which he may have watched a real fencing bout, and compare them with those with which he watches the simulated fencing bout in Shakespeare's _Hamlet_. The instance is a crucial one, because in the fictitious case the excitement is heightened by the introduction of the poisoned foil, and by the tremendous consequences which we are aware will turn, in the representation, on the issue. Yet because the fencing scene in _Hamlet_ is a representation, and not real, we find ourselves watching it in a mood quite different from that in which we watch the most ordinary real fencing-match with vizors and blunt foils; a mood more exalted, if the representation is good, but amid the aesthetic emotions of which the fluctuations of strained, if trivial, suspense and the eagerness of sympathetic participation find no place. "The delight of tragedy," says Johnson, "proceeds from our consciousness of fiction; if we thought murders and treasons real, they would please no more." So does the peculiar quality of our pleasure in watching the fencing-match in _Hamlet_, or the wrestling-match in _As You Like It_, depend on our consciousness of fiction: if we thought the matches real they might please us still, but please us in a different way. Again, of athletics in general, they are pursuits to a considerable degree definitely utilitarian, having for their specific end the training and strengthening of individual human bodies. Nevertheless, in some systems the title of fine arts has been consistently claimed, if not for athletics technically so called, and involving the idea of competition and defeat, at any rate for gymnastics, regarded simply as a display of the physical frame of man cultivated by exercise--as, for instance, it was cultivated by the ancient Greeks--to an ideal perfection of beauty and strength. Entry: I
HURDLE RACING, running races over short distances, at intervals in which a number of hurdles, or fence-like obstacles, must be jumped. This has always been a favourite branch of track athletics, the usual distances being 120 yds., 220 yds. and 440 yds. The 120 yds. hurdle race is run over ten hurdles 3 ft. 6 in. high and 10 yds. apart, with a space of 15 yds. from the start to the first hurdle and a like distance from the last hurdle to the finish. In Great Britain the hurdles are fixed and the race is run on grass; in America the hurdles, although of the same height, are not fixed, and the races are run on the cinder track. The "low hurdle race" of 220 yds. is run over ten hurdles 2 ft. 6. in. high and 20 yds. apart, with like distances between the start and the first hurdle and between the last hurdle and the finish. The record time for the 120 yds. race on grass is 15(3/5) secs., and on cinders 15(1/5) secs., both of which were performed by A. C. Kraenzlein, who also holds the record for the 220 yds. low hurdle race, 23(3/5) secs. For 440 yds. over hurdles the record time is 57(4/5) secs., by T. M. Donovan, and by J. B. Densham at Kennington Oval in 1907. Entry: HURDLE
LEAGUE. 1. (Through Fr. _ligue_, Ital. _liga_, from Lat. _ligare_, to bind), an agreement entered into by two or more parties for mutual protection or joint attack, or for the furtherance of some common object, also the body thus joined or "leagued" together. The name has been given to numerous confederations, such as the Achaean League (q.v.), the confederation of the ancient cities of Achaia, and especially to the various holy leagues (_ligues saintes_), of which the better known are those formed by Pope Julius II. against Venice in 1508, often known as the League of Cambrai, and against France in 1511. "The League," in French history, is that of the Catholics headed by the Guises to preserve the Catholic religion against the Huguenots and prevent the accession of Henry of Navarre to the throne (see FRANCE: _History_). "The Solemn League and Covenant" was the agreement for the establishment of Presbyterianism in both countries entered into by England and Scotland in 1643 (see COVENANTERS). Of commercial leagues the most famous is that of the Hanse towns, known as the Hanseatic League (q.v.). The word has been adopted by political associations, such as the Anti-Corn Law League, the Irish Land League, the Primrose League and the United Irish League, and by numerous social organizations. "League" has also been applied to a special form of competition in athletics, especially in Association football. In this system clubs "league" together in a competition, each playing every other member of the association twice, and the order of merit is decided by the points gained during the season, a win counting two and a draw one. Entry: LEAGUE
The new king was physically almost as fine a man as Edward I. He was, however, destitute of any serious purpose, and was, as Dr Stubbs says, "the first king after the Conquest who was not a man of business." He cared for nothing but amusing himself, and found his chief delight in athletics and in the practice of mechanical crafts. He was not so much vicious as foolish, and wanting in all serious interests. He had so little confidence in himself that he was always in the hands of some favourite who possessed a stronger will than his own. In the early years of his reign Gaveston held this role, acting as regent when Edward went to France--where, on the 25th of January 1308, he married Isabella, the daughter of Philip the Fair--and receiving the earldom of Cornwall with the hand of the king's niece, Margaret of Gloucester. The barons soon grew indignant at Edward's devotion to his "brother Piers," and twice insisted on his banishment. On each occasion Edward soon recalled his friend, whereupon the barons, headed by the king's cousin Thomas, earl of Lancaster, went to war against king and favourite, and in 1312 treacherously put Gaveston to death. Edward was not strong enough even to avenge his loss. He was forced to stand aside and suffer the realm to be governed by the baronial committee of twenty-one lords ordainers, who, in 1311, had drawn up a series of ordinances, whose effect was to substitute ordainers for the king as the effective government of the country. But in all the ordinances nothing was said about the commons and lower clergy. Parliament meant to the new rulers an assembly of barons just as it had done to the opponents of Henry III. in 1258. The effect of their triumph was to change England from a monarchy to a narrow oligarchy. Entry: EDWARD