as a Rugby player’s uniform.  The game is ordinarily played in running trousers with a full sleeved shirt and special shoes with leather pegs or cleats.  The stockings are rolled down just below the knee.  The association football goal net into which the ball is kicked is fastened to the ground and is made of tarred rope.  Thus far, the game has not been very popular in America, although a number of exhibition match games have recently been played by visiting English teams which attracted considerable attention.  As a game, soccer is fast and exciting, and splendid opportunities are given for team work; but for some reason it has not succeeded in displacing our American game of Rugby, although possibly it is more interesting for the spectator.

BADMINTON

An English outdoor game similar to lawn tennis but played with shuttlecocks.  The net is five feet above the ground.  The shuttlecock is a cork in which feathers have been inserted.  The shuttlecock is served and returned as in tennis and either two or four may play.  A badminton court is 30 feet wide and 44 feet long.

BANDY

A game very similar to hockey, except that it is played out of doors instead of in a covered rink and a ball is used in place of a puck or rubber disk.

The name “bandy” is sometimes applied also to shinney or shinty and in England it is also applied to our American game of ice hockey.

BASEBALL

The national game of America. (See chapter on baseball.) The game is played by eighteen persons, nine on a side, called “nines.”  The positions are pitcher, catcher, first base, second base, third base, shortstop, right-field, left-field, centre-field.  The first six positions are called the in-field, and the last three, the out-field.  The diamond or field where the game is played is a square plot of ground with sides ninety feet long.  At each corner of the square are bases called first, second, third and home plate.  A game consists of nine innings, in each of which both teams have an opportunity to bat the ball and to score runs.  The players bat in turn and attempt to reach the various bases without being put out by their opponents.  Each year the rules are changed in some slight particulars, consequently a beginner in baseball must be thoroughly familiar with the rules of the game before attempting to play.  The pitcher attempts to pitch the ball over the home plate to the catcher and the batsman endeavours to hit it.  If the ball after being hit is caught by one of the opposing players, or if it is thrown to the base to which the batsman is running before he reaches the base, he is “out.”  Otherwise he is “safe” and will try to make the next base.  If he completes the circuit of the four bases without being put out, he scores a run for his team or nine.  When a player makes the entire circuit without being forced to stop for safety he makes a “home run.”  A hit which gains him a single base only is called a “base hit.”  Similarly if he reaches second base it is a “two-bagger,” and third base, a “three-bagger.”