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What makes the fielders run so fast?
The lively ball, the lively ball.
What makes the Boston Club run last?
The lively ball, the lively ball.
What makes the pitchers pant and blow?
What makes the hit column grow?
What makes the swatter the whole show?
Why nothing but the lively ball.
What makes the fielder's tongue hang out?
The lively ball, the lively ball.
What makes the rooters rave and shout?
The lively ball, the lively ball.
What makes our suppers all so late,
The patient weary housewife wait
Until the clock shows half-past eight?
Why nothing but the lively ball.
-"The Lively Ball," by Roe; The Sporting News, June 15, 1911
Two of our national pastime's most famous legends involve lively baseballs: (1) In 1911 the A.J. Reach Company introduced a ball with a new cork center which inadvertently made the ball livelier, and (2) the Dead Ball Era ended in 1920 due to the surreptitious introduction of the so-called rabbit ball.
Is there any truth in either of these legends?
In order to place them in their proper perspective we must first review the history of "dead" and "lively" balls. It may be surprising to modern fans, but the lively-ball controversy dates all the way back to the 1850s and '60s. In those early days pioneers such as Daniel Adams, John Van Horn, and Harvey Ross meticulously handcrafted each individual baseball.
Handcrafted Baseballs
Daniel Lucius Adams, a physician, was one of the original members of the New York Knickerbockers. In memoir published in The Sporting News on February 29, 1896, Dr. Adams related that in the late 1840s he personally made all the baseballs used by most of the clubs in the New York City area. Adams had volunteered to furnish baseballs as a courtesy to the clubs because "no one could be found to make or cover a ball." He, at some point aided by an unnamed Scotch saddler, provided this service for six or seven years. With a pronounced scarcity of baseballs, it was no wonder the clubs demanded that a single ball survive the entire match. Constructing baseballs was strictly a sideline for Dr. Adams, but he significantly advanced the state of the new art.
In 1859, John...