|
|
|
|
|
Welcome
To
Lamar County
Alabama
Genealogy and
History |
SPORTS
Home
1886 - , Dec. 2 - Lamar
News
MAKING BASEBALLS - The interesting fact was learned by a New York Mail
and Express reporter that the hides of about 1020 horses and the
skins of at least ten times as many sheep are cut up into coverings
for baseballs in this city every season. By one manufacturer alone
three tons of yarn are used a year for the inside of baseballs. The hide and skin used in
perfectly white, being alum tanned, and comes from Philadelphia. Out of one horse’s hide the
coverings for twelve dozen balls are cut, and out of one sheepskin
three dozen. Two strips
of the leather are required for each ball, cut wide at the rounded ends
so that they fit into each other when put around the yarn ball. Each piece, for a
League ball, is seven inches long, by two inches wide at the rounded
ends. The pieces are
cut with a die. Old
fashioned blue Shaker yarn is used for the inside of a League ball,
which is wound tightly around a small rubber ball, weighing exactly
one ounce. The improved
League ball ahs now double coverings of horsehide, which is regarded
as a great improvement.
It is also stitched with gut. The balls are made entirely
by hand and it requires no little skill to shape them perfectly
round. This is done by
placing them in an iron cup about the size of the ball and striking
it with a mallet at different stages of the winding. Men do this work; they
easily make ten dozen League balls in a day and from forty to fifty
dozen ordinary baseballs in the same length of time. Their wages are $2.50 a
day. Women saw the
coverings together on the ball; this requires considerable skill and
strong finger muscle; they can sew from two and a half to three
dozen League balls a day, and from 14 to 16 dozen of the cheaper
grades; they are paid by the piece, ninety cents a dozen for the
League work and ten cents a dozen for the others. They earn about $12 a
week. The balls are
sewed with that is known as Barker’s flax, which comes in red, blue,
orange, and pink colors.
The finest balls are sewed with pink. Horsehide covered balls are
made in fourteen different varieties.
1888, March 16 - The Vernon
Courier
BASEBALL, THE NATIONAL
GAME
Our town has two baseball clubs, organized for the
season. One composed of
the young men of town, the other of the students of the High
school. The former
club, the Vernon Athletes, is composed of the following
gentlemen:
B. M. BUIE, President and Pitcher; J. S. MCEACHIN, Captain
and Back Stop; WILLIE SUMMERS, Treasurer and Second Baseman; R. J.
YOUNG, First Baseman; WALTER NESMITH, Third Baseman; J. P. MORTON,
Short Stop; FAYETTE PENNINGTON, Right Field; W. A. BURNS, Centre
Field; W. R. BRADLEY, Left Field, and J. E. MORTON, T. J. GUYTON,
and EMMIT GUIN, extras.
The following gentlemen compose the “College
Nine:”
G. B. WIMBERLY, President and First Baseman; D. S.
SUMMERS, captain and Back Stop; W. K. BROWN, Treasurer and Pitcher;
WILLIE HULL, 2nd Baseman; DEWITT MORTON, 3rd
Baseman; ETHEL MACE, Right Field; JOHN MATTHEWS, Left Field; J. T.
BROWN, Centre Field; LUTHER MORTON, Short
Stop
1888 - June 22 - The Vernon
Courier
The boys are still practicing playing baseball and
getting ready to cross bats with the Fayette boys next
Monday.
1888 - July 13 - The Vernon
Courier
FAYETTE VS. VERNON
The expected game of baseball between the young men of
Fayette and Vernon was played in
Vernon on Tuesday last. The Bandannas came over
Monday evening, and were handsomely entertained by the ladies of
Vernon Monday night as at the High
School building.
The game was called Tuesday morning at 8 o’clock, and after a
pleasant and interesting game the following score sheet was the
result:
Fayette Bandannas – SANFORD, 4; R. F. PETERS, 3;
BANKHEAD, 2; BLACK, 2; WINDHAM, 2; CANNON, 1; ROBERTSON, 1; T. M.
PETERS, 2; SEYMOUR, 2.
Total, 19.
Vernon Athletes – J. P. MORTON, 8;
W. SUMMERS, 9; MCEACHIN, 9; PENNINGTON, 8; D. SUMMERS, 7; D. MORTON,
7; MACE, 8; HALEY, 5; WIMBERLY, 8. Total,
69.
As the above shows, the Vernon Boys were again the victors,
coming out fifty ahead of the visiting club. This is an excellent record
for the “Athletes” and they must work hard to keep it
up.
After the game the clubs were given a sumptuous basket diner
by the ladies of Vernon, which was
evidently enjoyed, served, as it was, by the hands of Vernon’s
fairest daughters. A
musical entertainment was enjoyed Tuesday night, and on Wednesday
morning the Fayette “Bandannas” turned their faces homeward. They are a fine looking body
of young men, and made many friends in Vernon by
their manly and courteous conduct. Three cheers for the
“Bandannas.”
It is useless for the Courier to bestow any praise on the
“Athletes.” For they are just such material as compose the “rose and
expectancy of our fair state.”
They may well be proud of victory when such men as the
“Bandanaas” cross bats with
them.
The game was umpired by MR. JOHN BELL, of Fayette. His decisions were accurate
and just in every instance, and were accepted without a murmur by
the players.
A large crowd was in attendance, and a sumptuous dinner was
served to all. The editor being informed that the would be welcomed
around the basket of Mrs. LAURA COBB lost no time in finding the
place, well knowing the character of the delicious viands it
contained, and while the ball players were playing a good knife and
fork melody, the editor was waltzing to the music with the finest
cake of the season.
| |
