to be lax in the enforcement of the rule. In most cases, where the demand of the captain of the club possessing a legitimate pitcher was not too strong, the umpire permitted the unlawful delivery of the ball rather than stop the game and disappoint the crowd.
It should not be understood that no modifications of the straight arm delivery had been made previous to 1884. There had been several changes, but each resulted in partial failure. The original Knickerbocker rules of 1845 required that
"The ball must be pitched and not thrown for the bat."
In 1860 the rule was revised by the original National Association of Base Ball Players, providing that
"The ball must be pitched, not jerked nor thrown to the bat."
In 1875 another change provided that
"The ball must be delivered to the bat with the arm swinging nearly perpendicular at the side of the body, and the hand in swinging forward must not be raised higher than the hip."
The National League, in the first year of its existence, in 1876, made a change providing that
"The ball must be delivered to the bat with the arm swinging nearly perpendicularly at the side of the body, and the hand in passing forward must pass below the hip."
In 1878 the National League again changed the rule, requiring the pitcher to deliver the ball
"Below his waist."
In 1883 the National League once more revised the rule, requiring that the ball should
"Be delivered below the pitcher's shoulder."
None of these changes were satisfactory. The requirement that the ball should be delivered with the arm swing-
