1860.36

In Thick Gloves All Encased

Salience	Peripheral
Tags	EquipmentEquipment
Location
City/State/Country:	Philadelphia, PA, United States
Modern Address
Game	Base BallBase Ball
Immediacy of Report	Contemporary
Age of Players	AdultAdult
Holiday
Notables
Text	"Then "Bispham" comes next, you'd expect from his looks, He was given to study, addicted to books, And you'd little suspect there was much in the man, Till you saw him at play -- then beat him who can. His favorite position is on the first base, And he stands like a statue, always right about face, With his hands in a pair of thick gloves all encased, Which never miss holding the ball once embraced. And I pity the 'batter' who when the ball's fair, If its short, tries to make the 'first base' when he's there. The 'batter' itself may be good enough -- though He's sure to be put out, and his cake is all 'dough.'
Sources	a poem written (recited?) on Christmas Day, 1860. It is entitled "Owe'd 2 Base Ball: In Three Cant-Oh's!"
Warning	Primary source of poem not known. From a 19CBB post by Tom Shieber, Oct. 28, 2003
Comment	written for and recited at a Christmas Ball thrown by the Mercantile BBC of Philadelphia. In "Cant-Oh! III" the various players are mentioned. Earliest known rference to a player using a glove. Edit with form to add a comment
Query	Edit with form to add a query
Source Image	[[Image:\|left\|thumb]]
External Number
Submitted by	Bob Tholkes,
Submission Note	2/10/2015
Has Supplemental Text

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