Base Ball in the Past.

At this time when the notices for meetings of the base ball candidates begin to appear, and the men are thinking of limbering up for the coming season, it may be of interest to look back to the time when base ball first began to be played at Harvard. Base ball was first introduced here by the class of '66, during its freshman year. On June 17, 1863, the '66 nine played Brown '65, and won by a score of 27 to 17. The nine then rested on its laureis until the summer of '64, when a match was played at Portland on July 4, for a prize of $75, which was offered by the citizens of Portland. In this game also the '66 nine was victorious, this time by a score of 40 to 13. The other classes also formed class nines at this time, but it was not till the spring of 1865 that any attempt was made to organize a nine representing the whole college.

In the spring of '65, however, a nine was formed which played nine matches. It won seven of these games, - two from the Tri-Mountain Club of Boston, two from the Lowell Club of Boston, one from the Granite Club of Holliston, one from the Charter-Oak Club of Hartford, and one from Williams. The two games which it lost were, - one to the Lowell Club of Boston, and one to the Atlantic Club (professionals) of Brooklyn. In these nine matches Harvard scored 361 runs, to 258 for her opponents, an average of 40 runs to a game for Harvard, and 28 for her opponents!

The Harvard base ball grounds at the time of these early games were on the Delta, and it appears that they were very unsatisfactory, for they were not only very rough, but people were constantly using the paths, and getting in the way of the players, for the public did not understand the game as thoroughly as it does now, and did not treat the players with such respect. When Memorial Hall was built, however, the ground between "Becky Jarvis" field and Lawrence Hall, that is that part of it where the Jefferson Physical Laboratory now stands, was levelled and made into a very good field, much to the satisfaction of the base ball enthusiasts.