The theory of the game is not unlike that of 'Rounders,' in that bases have to be run; but the details are in every way different.
"To play base-ball requires judgment, courage; presence of mind and the possession of much the same qualities as at cricket.

To see it played by experts will astonish those who only know it by written descriptions, for it is a fast game, full of change and excitement and not in the least degree wearisome.

To see the best players field even is a sight that ought to do a cricketer's heart good; the agility, dash and accuracy of tossing and catching possessed by the Americans being wonderful." This, coming at that time from a paper of the "Field's" high standing was praise, indeed, but the fact remains that the game itself, in spite of all the efforts made to introduce it, has never become popular in England, for the reason perhaps that it possesses too many elements of dash and danger and requires too much of an effort to play it.
Commenting after our return to this country upon this tour and its results, Henry Chadwick, the oldest writer on base-ball in this country and an acknowledged authority on the game, said: "The visit of the American base-hall players to England and the success they met there, not only in popularizing the American National Game but in their matches at cricket with the leading Cricket Clubs of England, did more for the best interests of base-ball than anything that has occurred since the first tour through the country of the noted Excelsior Club of Brooklyn in 1860.

In the first place, the visit in question has resulted in setting at rest forever the much debated question as to whether we had a National Game or not, the English press with rare unanimity candidly acknowledging that the 'new game of base-ball' is unquestionably the American National Game.

Secondly, the splendid display of fielding exhibited by the American ball players has opened the eyes of English cricketers to the important fact that in their efforts to equalize the attack and defense in their national game of cricket, in which they have looked only to certain modifications of the rules governing bowling and batting, they have entirely ignored the important element of the game, viz., fielding; and that this element is so important is a fact that has been duly proved by the brilliant success of the American base-ball players in cricket, a game in which the majority of them were mere novices, and yet by their ability as fielders in keeping down their adversaries' scores they fully demonstrated that skill in fielding is as great an element of success in cricketing as bowling and batting, if it be not greater, and also that the principles of saving runs by sharp fielding is as sound as that of making runs by skillful batting.