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THE HISTORY OF BASEBALL Ar ·rHE OHIO s r A UNI VERSITY A Thes1s Presented In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by 1111am Coyer , B. S. " '"HE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 1948 Approved by aatfi)~ __, ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My deepest appreciation to my adviser, Dr. Arthur s. Daniels, for his interest, untiring efforts and his :many helpful suggestions in aiding the writer in preparing this thesis. To Wilbur Snipes, Athletic Publicity Director, The Ohio State University, for his cooperation in making avail­ able the use of the athletic publicity files and records. To Richard Larkins, L.w. St.John, Floyd Stahl, Carie Dudley,, William Dye, and Fritz Mackey whose infor~ation through personal interviews has added color and authenticity to this thesis. To Dr. Williard P. Ashbrook and Chalmers G. R1xa-0n, who have assisted the writer in the preparation of this thesis. To my wife, June, for typing the first draft of this thesis .. 780162 -----------··----- I' INTRODUCrION This study of the history of baseball at 'Ihe Ohio State Un1vers1 ty will be presented in the followfng phases: The general treatment of the origin of baseball; baseball at The Ohio State Uni vers1 ty prior to entrance into the \Ve stern Conference 1880-1912; early conference baseball under the dir­ ection or Professor L.W. St.John 1913-1929; and conference baseball at The Ohio State Univers1 ty during the years 1930- 1948. The Appendices contain the general information and by- • 0 ' laws governing the Potter Rurunakers Cup and a lis~ of the winners; coaches' tenure and records; complete baseball record of wins and losses; the captains of the Ohio State Baseball reams; and explanation and a list of baseball players, who '" have won the Western Confer~noe Sohola:rship Medal. ) 'rhe purpose, of this study is to trace the developnent of baseball-since it's inception as a varsity sport at The Ohio State University. rhe study- is planned as a part of an event­ ual and complete history of intercollegiate athletics at The Ohio State University. The sources of data used in this study were; Mak1o, 1880• to present; ',P1:1e History of The Ohio State University, Volumes I and II; The Ohio State Lantern, 1880 to present; ·rhe Ohio State ·Monthly, 1880 to pl'esent; and The Ohio State Athletic publicity l:•eoords and files for baseball, 1880 to present. Personal interviews with those persons having official knowledge of the h1st6ry of' baseball at The Ohio State University were used to aid the writer in presenting a ~oaplete story. r i I L .J TABIE OF cmlrE"MTS Page Introduction Chapter I Origin of Baseball -----------­ 1 Cfi...apter II Baseball at The Ohio State University prior to entrance into the Western Conference ·1980-1912 ~------~-~~-~-~------ 10 Chapter !II ~arly Conference Baseball under the direction of Professor L~W~ St.John, 1913~1929 -------- 24 Chapter IV Conference Baseball at The Ohio State University 1930-1948 ----- 39 Chapter V Su.m..lTI.ar·y ---~-fllliL----- ... --...... --""~----.... - 60 Bibliography ~.;;..·---------------- 61± Appandix A. General infor•mation and g1ft of deed governing the Potter Rumnake:rs Cup and a list of winners · ~~~--~-~-~----~~-~ 65 B. Ccaoh~s' Tenure. and Records - 68 c. Complete Baseball Reoords of Wins and Losses -~----------- """f 4:.• D. Captains of' The Ohio State Baseball Teams -------------- 100. E. Ba.se"ball Players , who ba ve won: the Western Conference Soholat·ship Medal ----------- 1~ I Chapter I ORIGIN OF BASEBALL In tracing the origin of baseball, it would seem likely ·that a writer about this sport, termed our "National Pastime" could discover documentary proof' of 1 ts beginning. ·-rhia is not the case. As· Menke says, "Baseball originated within the last 150 years, in the United States/ when there were repo1·t• era to chronicle happenings• ·for newspapers and magazines."' Yet no man alive, and none who has died.,, ever could name the 1 authentic year or tbe actual inv~ntor~ I'he o r·igin of the game is cloaked in oontr.ove rsy.. One of the most common theories is that baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday at Cooperstown1 . New York in 1839. Menke in his book, "The New Encyclopedia of Sports", says that this is wrong on all counts. He s ta tea ,that Doubleday probably never played baseball in his entire lifetime. The game was an est­ ablished sport long years be.fore 1839, and the chances are that the villagers of Cooperstown never .knew wQat a baseball 2 looked like until the Civil War or afterwa1'<is. 'Phe er·roneous t!'i.butas 1n this modern e_.r,a. oaJl'le. roout in this fashlon: Along in 1934, or 1935,. interest in the game of baseball was sagging. ':rhe outlook was none' too cheerful. It was deemed f1 t ting and proper by the executives, who were interested financially in the game, that something be done to .stimulate ccndi tions. The prime mover in the gesture to con... tinue baseball in the spotlight, in a bigger and better way, was Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the commis aioner. '! I. Menke, F.G., ·roe New Encyclopedia of Sports, p. 77._ 2. Ibid,, p.;, 78. -1- I' .L ----- -2- While all the executives were busy groping around for something that would aot like a shoj; of dig:t talis, one of the hunting set discovered a report about the origin of the game whi oh had been made in 1907, by A.G. Mills. It was covered with the.dust, and the encrusted cobwebs of the years, and was an aL'!lost forgotten document. But the boys read 1t,. and a few shrieked nEureka"-, since the :r-apox·t was like soma heaven sent gift which had arrived for the harrassed base ballers. 'l:he report gave the folks in balldom the chance to chant about how the game originated, and, best·ot all, it gave them oppo:r·tuni ty to bang tha cymbals in prolonged harmony. ·The report,, fixing 1839 as the founding year, s.fforded them, p.rior to -1939, op ... pol'tunity to prepare items about the forthcoming centennial and to get a lot of apac& in newspapers· about the game of baseball. FUnds were appropriated ·to build -a-,..-s)1i'1ne 1n Coopers­ town. 'Phere was a great deal of bal'lyhoo about the Hall or Fame. The baseball wr1 tars, loyal to Landla and Co~., went to work earnestly, and_ very indust­ riously, towards pepping up things for the sport, in their columns. Eaoh week,· the folks 1n on the oen­ tenn1al plan stuffed the newspaper~ full of pictures and stories concerning the plans and the program. 3 A.fter the turn of the 20th century, A.G. Spalding, who had been a titan in the early days of baseball, became ourious as to the origin of the game. The editor· of' Spalding's ttBaseball GuideH-, Henry Ghadwiok, told him it was nothing other than the American adoption of the English game of "rounders''. S1noa Chadwick was. of English birth, had been a oricke teer,. and a rounders player,, and thought all things with an English background were a bit super, Spalding pro- 4 ceeded to dispute the Chadwick version, as slightly biased .. Chadwick was' known as tt nia Father of Ba.seballn, because 3'. Ibid'~ .PP~"/78...;79. 4. I bid J p. I 79. ·L ----- -3- he was the original scorer for the game, and the pioneer writer. His first view of the sport dated ba.ok to the late 1840' s. In 190'( A.G. Spalding o.ff'ered a suggestion that a committee· be formed to find out when tbe game originated and who was responsible. A.O. Mills of New York, headed such a committee and subnitted a report on their findings December 30, 1907. ·rhe .Mills !•eport reads in part: As I have stated, my belief' had been that our National Ga111e of Baseball o.r1ginated with .the Kn1okerbocker Club, organtzed in New York in 1845 1 and whi eh club publicized oertain elementary rules 1n that year; but, in the interesting and pert1Dent testimony, for which we are indebted to Mr·. A.. G. Spalding,, appears a eir­ cumstantial statement by a- reputable gentlemen, ac,.. cording to whioh the first known diagram of the dia­ mond ind1aat1,ng positions for the players" was drawn 5 by Abne;r Doubleday in Cooperstown,. New York, in 1839"' The Knickerboc~ers were organized on September 13,, 1845,, and the officers elected were: D.F •. Gurry i President; W.H. Wheaton, Vice President; Vf.H. Tucker,, ~oretary and Treasttrer. The assemblage, having decided that baseball was to be the game, was awa:re that the sport always had been played under hapha,zard rµles, on ftt.ds of' any ohoos­ ing by the oa.ptains, and that the infield was not suitable :for good play. ·rhe result was the naming of a committee; headed by the youthful Alexandex­ Cartwr1ght, who was a draftsman and surveyor. The committee's job was to fonnulate some .atandal"d rules for baseball play. Cartwright studied the diagram whioh was introduced in New York in 1842, found it faulty, and also disoardt;td the ''baseball squarelt which had been guiding • ~wn FJall't, in Bos tot'!. 6 As the result of work performed.during the winter 1845... 1846, Cartwright designed his "baseball square", which with 5~ Ibid, p~, Bl. 6. Ibid, pp., 87~88. ----- - - -- --- -4- a few exceptions, such as positions for players, is the base­ ball diamond of today. Cartwright's associates worked out details for a regulation game. The f'1 :rs t a tandard rule a , wh1 oh we re to govern the game , were subm1 tted to the club, beginning early in 1846 were: Section 1.

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