bases were full and a ball should be caught in a cap by one of the players fielding his position. The official umpire of the pending series of games, Ellis by name, was present, and the case was put up to him for a decision. He was asked what he would rule in such an emergency. He replied, "I don't know; but I hope I may never be called upon to decide that point in a close game."
A few weeks later we were playing the Athletics at Philadelphia. We always had a hard fight in the "City of Brotherly Love," and the contest this day was particularly close and strenuous, with the local crowd very bitter against the "Bean Eaters" because of the intense rivalry between these two leading clubs.
It happened that the Athletics got three men on bases in the last innings, when the opportunity to test the "cap catch" rule presented itself to my mind. Prompted by a spirit of mischief, no doubt, I suggested to George Wright, who was near me, playing at short, that this would be a good time to try out the "cap catch" rule if an opportunity presented. I had a slow ball at that time, the delivery of which was frequently followed by a pop-fly, find this I pitched to the batsman, with the result that, sure enough, he sent a nice, easy one over to short field. Wright, reaching for his cap, deftly captured the ball therein. He then quickly passed it to me, standing in the pitcher's box. Under the rule, the ball was now in play. I threw it home, from whence it was passed to third, second and first, and judgment demanded of the umpire on the play.
As a coincidence, it happened that the umpire on duty
