PREFACE.

SPALDING'S BASE BALL GUIDE for 1895 is the twentieth annual edition of
the work issued under the auspices of the National League. It is also
the fifteenth annual edition published under the editorship of Mr. Henry
Chadwick, he having first entered upon his editorial duties on the GUIDE
in 1881. Moreover, it is the fourth annual edition issued under the
government of the existing major League, which League was the result of
the reconstruction measures adopted during the winter of 1891-92; and
this latest issue of SPALDING'S LEAGUE GUIDE in several respects, if not
in all, surpasses all of its predecessors. New features are presented
in its pages this year which are of special interest; the most
noteworthy being the new record of every game played in the League
championship series---won, lost or drawn---from April 19 to September
30, 1894, inclusive; the names of the opposing pitchers in each game;
being a record never before published in any base ball manual, this
alone making the GUIDE of 1895 a model book of reference for the whole
base ball fraternity. Added to this are not only the full statistics of
the League season of 1894, but also special articles on the latest
scientific points of play developed in the professional arena; together
with editorial comments on the leading events of the past season---now
regarded as one of the interesting features of the book---and the scores
of the model games of 1894, etc. A new chapter is "The Reference Guide,"
devoted to statistics valuable as references. In addition to which is
the new code of rules which went into effect in April, 1895, and the
editorial explanatory appendix, revised by President Young of the
League; the whole making the GUIDE the model base ball manual of the