Minié ball

“ Behold the ball is mounted upon a little pyramid of mud which rejoices in the name of a tee, to the end that the smiter may get the more cleanly at it. A ball is only teed at starting from each hole; after each first stroke the player must hit the ball as he finds it. What an ordeal this is. All that crowd we saw before, ladies, &c., &c., and all kinds of cads, are drawn up in two parallel rows, leaving a vista of certainly not more than five yards. ”

“ If the striker’s ball be angled—that is, so placed in the jaws of the pocket as not to allow him to strike the previously-played ball—he may have all the balls except his own and the object ball removed from the table to allow him to try bricole from the cushion. In some clubs and public rooms an angled ball is allowed to be moved an inch or two from the corner; but with a ball so removed the player must not take a life. ”

“ The most perilous kind of ball of all was the size of a cricket-ball, but made of solid rubber, and deadly alike to batsman and fieldsman. For some reason or other the proper place in which to carry a cricket-ball was the trousers, or rather knickerbockers, pocket. The curious discomfort of this practice lingers in the p. 118mind. Soft balls are of no use in real cricket; but if you bore a hole in them and fill them with water they make very good bombs for practical anarchists. ”

“ Nine balls are used, generally one black, four white, and four red, the distinction between white and red being made only for the sake of variety. In the ordinary game, at starting, the black ball is placed on a point in the longitudinal middle line of the board, a few inches in front of the nearest [352] of the sockets, and the player places one of his eight balls on a corresponding point at the other end of the board, and tries to strike the black ball into one of the sockets with his own. ”

“ It should leave the crosse at the bend, or if the throw is short, a little below. The ball should have a ring painted around it, by which you can see the spin. If the ball and crosse are wet, the spin is greater. If a perfect twist could be given to the ball, so that it would spin from right to left, or left to right, when it is blocked, there is no doubt but that "blocking" such shots would be almost as risky as trying to catch them. Here is a chance for invention—how to make the ball twist on its own axis with certainty; for we do not say we have discovered the correct principle. ”

“ Its weak point is that even its best exponents send down many bad-length balls, which being on the leg-side are fruitful in runs; for, curiously enough, though a good-length ball on the leg-side breaking in is perhaps the most difficult of all to play, an over-pitched or short ball on that side, with or without break, is certainly the easiest to punish. ”

“ The balls should be about ten inches in circumference, perfectly spherical, and should weigh about eight ounces. They should be designated by different colors, either by painting the entire surface of the ball, or by a stripe of the color merely. But the first method is much to be preferred, as a ball needs all the protection it can have to preserve it from [15] the effects of the weather, and for this purpose nothing is better than good oil paint and varnish. There is a universal predisposition towards large balls by all novices in the game ”

“ It is an easy matter to pull asunder the hollow ball, and this in turn is palmed, and the solid ball passed to the end of the fingers, before the performer, again uncovering his hand, which he brings out palm downward, carelessly throws down the solid ball, as being that which he has just taken off the rod. This is the only part of the trick which requires any special dexterity, and any difficulty which may be at first found will quickly disappear with a little practice.233 When the ball comes apart, the rings are, of course, left on the rod. ”

“ Official Handballs used for the game of Handball differ somewhat in America and Ireland, where this is the national game. The American balls are made both of rubber and leather. The specifications for the balls of the Amateur Athletic Union of America call for a ball measuring 1-7/8 inches in diameter, with a weight of 1-5/8 ounces. ”

“ Suddenly his air of restraint vanishes: a shortish ball from the right-hander is cracked between cover and extra-cover with terrific force. Then the fun begins. In spite of two fielders in the country on the on-side, good-length balls outside the off-stump are remorselessly pulled. They travel to taste—some high, some low, but none come to hand—and they travel often. One drops clean over the ropes—a gigantic hit. Square-cuts, off-drives, and placings-to-leg almost jostle one another to the boundary. ”

“ For the forward, the ball should be caught in one of two ways: first, take the ball, whether punted or thrown, on either side, letting the arm on the side where you catch the ball be under the ball, and the other arm and hand hooked over the upper end of the ball, as shown in Fig. 4; second, a punt or thrown ball may be caught by receiving the ball in the groin, right-angling the body around it and placing both hands over it.
FIG. 11.
Dropping on the Ball.—There are two kinds of balls the player must learn to drop on—a moving ball and a dead ball. ”

“ Six or eight young men stand around in a circle, with their garments tucked up so as not to impede their movements. A light, hollow wickerwork ball is started by one of them, and the object of the game is to keep it going as long as possible. They must not touch the ball with the hand, but they show great skill and activity in catching it with the foot, either side of the ankle, the heel, the toe, the knee, the shoulder. ”

“ The wooden ball is lifted from the ground by means of the spoon-ended cue, and thrown towards the ring—the object of the player being to pass the ball through the ring; and he who succeeds in making any given number of points by fairly ringing his ball, or canoning against the other balls, wins the game. ”

“ To the inner surface of the ball is attached a weight which is secured in place by a piece of cloth glued over it. When this ball is thrown through the air with a whirling motion, it describes a curve like that indicated by dotted lines in the upper part of the engraving, so that it is difficult, if not impossible, to catch it. When the ball is rolled on a plane surface, it does not take a straightforward course, as would be expected from a well-balanced ball, but its course is very erratic, as indicated by dotted lines in the lower part of the figure. ”

“ In the act of doing this, the ball leaves the palm and is held between the forearm and the body; the hand, turned palm toward the audience, then pulls up the sleeve. You then blow on the left hand to vanish the ball, and show the hand empty.
To regain possession of the ball, all that is necessary is to reverse the motion of the arm, when the ball will find its way into the palm of the hand, and can be produced as fancy suggests.
If the ball is not produced, the above forms an excellent final vanish to any billiard-ball trick. ”

“ The introduction of the ball into the hat is effected as follows:—The ball, which has a hole of about two inches in depth by one in diameter bored in it towards its centre, is placed on the servante of the performer’s table in such manner that the hole above-mentioned shall slant upwards and outwards, at an angle of about 45°. To keep the ball steady, and to prevent its rolling off, some performers have a slight circular hollow scooped in the surface of the servante itself. ”

“ Get a turner to make a number of wooden balls, each the size of a thirty-two pounder cannon ball, and let a hole be bored in each which will admit [660] the middle finger. The balls are arranged hole upwards on a shelf on your table on the side opposite to the audience, so that the balls are nearly level with the top of the table. When you take a hat off the table, you slip your fore or middle finger into the ball just as you would into a thimble, and by bending the finger, bring the ball into the hat. ”

“ The game is played with a gutta-percha ball, about an inch and a quarter in diameter, and a variety of clubs, with wooden or iron heads, whose individual use depends on the position in which the ball lies. It is usual for each player to be followed by a boy, who carries his clubs and watches his ball, marking it down as it falls. ”

“ The back part of the metal ring is fastened to an iron bar which extends six inches from the pole or wall to which it is attached (Fig. 615) . The
Ball is round and hollow, composed of two layers, an inside rubber bladder and an 349outside cover of leather. The rubber is tightly inflated and the cover so laced that it cannot be caught or held by the lacing. The ball measures from thirty to thirty-two inches in circumference and weighs from eighteen to twenty ounces (Fig. 616) .
The usual
Set of Players is ten, making five on each side, though the game is occasionally played with more. ”

“ Whichever ball the company decides is to be passed into the other, he takes in his right hand, immediately afterwards taking the other in the left hand, which he holds aloft, following it with his eyes. Stretching back the right arm, as though to give an impetus to the ball, he drops it into a padded box, or basket, placed upon the servante to receive it, immediately afterwards bringing the right hand with a semicircular sweep upon the left, and rolling the ball the latter contains between the palms, as though to press the one ball into the other ”

“ The position which the object-ball may assume after being struck is unimportant, so far as that particular stroke is concerned; but in the management of the balls and the ability to leave them in a position favorable to the next play—or unfavorable to his opponent, if the player thinks it impossible to count himself—lies the strength and science of the game.
41 General Division of the Object-Balls. The spots on the horizontal line through the centre diameter of the ball, are the different fractional parts at which the cue-ball may be delivered, to effect certain results. ”

“ In selecting a ball for general games, including Handball Drills as herein given, it is desirable to have one slightly larger than for the official game and to get one with considerable resiliency; that is, a ball that will rebound from a hard floor to a height of about 3 feet when dropped from a height of about 6 feet. A good ball for this purpose will measure about 2-1/4 inches in diameter and weigh 2-1/2 ounces. They are of hollow rubber, sealed. Such balls will cost about $5 per dozen. For children's play of course cheaper balls can be had. ”

“ It is a lost ball. Every ball that goes into that tall grass is gone forever. I have never known any one to recover a ball that fell in that tall grass.”
Then he stepped proudly to the sand-box and made another tee.
“Hand me a ball,” he said, “and I will show you the proper way to hit it.”
I gave him a ball and he placed it carefully on the tee. Then he grasped his driver in both hands, snuggled the head of it up to the ball lovingly, drew back the club and struck the ball. I was not quick enough to see the ball go, but Millington was. ”

“ A game of "rounders" between a team from the Rounders' Association of Liverpool and an American eleven with Baldwin and Earl as the battery, and with Tener, Wood, Fogarty, Brown, Hanlon, Pfeffer, Manning, Sullivan and myself in the field was played. The bases in this game instead of being bags are iron stakes about three feet high, the ball the size of a tennis ball, and the batting is done with one hand and with a bat that resembles a butter-paddle in shape and size. ”

“ Each person has a stick about four feet long, curved at the lower end. A small hard ball, sometimes of wood, is thrown on the ground: the parties separate; some advance towards the ball, and others stand aloof to prevent it when struck from going beyond the limits assigned, which would occasion the loss of the game. ”

“ Thus in many other ball-games the ball is hit when it is further off from the striker’s foot—as in Golf, Racquets, Tennis, Lawn Tennis, Fives. In Cricket, except in such strokes as the pull and the cut, the ball should be hit when it is near to the striker’s foot. ”

“ As we suggested just now, a ball should occasionally be held in the otherwise idle fingers, a Lawn Tennis ball being at first preferable until the fingers have stretched and grown powerful. Various grips and movements should thus become familiar. A{201} box-full of old balls might be used in order to practise bowling or fielding: the Lawn Tennis ball exhibits the effects of a break or curl in the air far more clearly than a Cricket ball. The practice may be by the player himself against a wall, or with another player, a stump being put between the two, and a third player acting as wicket-keep. ”

“ Canons are made by the player striking two balls successively with his own ball fairly delivered from his spoon. Thus (says the most recent writer on the game) a clever player may make a large number of points—five, seven, or more at a stroke: two the first canon, two for a second canon, and three for the ring. This, however, is very seldom accomplished.
Considerable skill is required in throwing the ball, as the ring, turning freely on its pivot, twists round on being struck. To "make the ring," it is necessary, therefore, that the ball be thrown fairly through its centre. ”