s necessitated a third or decisive game, which was played in
Philadelphia October 6th, and this the Atlantics won by a score of 11 to
7.

The Atlantics in that year had Zettlein, pitcher; Ferguson, catcher;
Start, Pike and Smith on the bases; Pearce, shortstop, and Chapman, Hall
and McDonald on the outfield.

The newspapers throughout the country had by this time begun to pay
unusual attention to the game, and the craze was spreading like wildfire
all over the country, every little country town boasting of its nine,
and as these were for the greater part made up of home players, local
feeling ran high, and the doings of "our team" furnished the chief
subject of conversation at the corner grocery, and wherever else the
citizens were wont to congregate.

With the advent of the professional player the game in the larger towns
took on a new lease of life, but in the smaller places where they could
not afford the expense necessary to the keeping of a first-class team it
ceased to be the main attraction and interest was centered in the doings
of the teams of the larger places.

That the professional player improved the game itself goes without
saying as being a business with him instead of a pastime, and one upon
which his daily bread depended, he went into it with his whole soul,
developing its beauties in a way that was impossible to the amateur who
could only give to it the time that he could spare after the business
hours of the day.

This was the situation at the time that I first entered tile base-ball
arena, and, looking back, when I come to compare the games of those days
with the games of to-day and note the many changes that have taken
place, I cannot but marvel at the improvement made and at the interest
that the game has everywhere excited.

CHAPTER IV. FURTHER FACTS AND FIGURES.

The professional player of those early days and the professional player
of the present time were totally different personages. When
professionalism first crept into the ranks it was generally the custom
to import from abroad some player who had made a name for himself,
playing some certain position, and furnish him with a business situation
so that his services might be called for when needed, and so strong was
the local pride taken in the success of the team that business men were
not averse to furnishing such a man with a position when they were
informed that it would be for the good of the home organization.

Prior to th