Cat (Kat)

Glossary of Games

Curated by Larry McCray and Jeffrey Kittel
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Game	Cat (Kat)
Game Family	Fungo Fungo
Location
Regions	US, Europe
Eras	1800s, Predecessor
Invented	No
Tags
Description	For a recent description of Cat/Old-Cat, see Supplemental Text below.  Per Culin. A batting game played with a six-inch, pointed wooden “cat.” The cat is pitched to a batter standing near a four-foot circle. The batter is out if he hits a caught fly or if the ball falls, unhit, into the circle. If put out, the batter goes to the end of the sequence of fielders, and the pitcher becomes the new batter. A batter can accrue points based on the distance from the circle to the where the hit ball lands. A version described by Newell[39] allows the batter to elevate and hit any cat that is pitched outside the circle. Note: A Dutch book printed in 1845 also describes "Kat:" See http://protoball.org/1845.29. "The Kat is a piece of wood about 6 inches long, 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide at the midpoint and comes to a point at both ends making the form of a double cone. The Kat is placed on the ground in the middle of a big circle and a player uses a "ball stick" to hit one end of it to launch it into the air. As it comes down he tries to hit it out of the circle. If he fails to hit it or doesn't hit it out of the circle he steps off and the next player takes his turn.  If he's successful he's assigned a certain number of points depending on how far he hit it."
Sources	Stewart Culin, "Street Games of Boys in Brooklyn, N.Y.," Journal of American Folklore 4, no. 14 (1891). page 233.
Source Image	[[Image:|left|thumb]]
Comment	Edit with form to add a comment
Query	Are Twentieth Century forms of Old-Cat know in New York City or other US locations?  Edit with form to add a query
Has Supplemental Text

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Old cat (also known as ol' cat or cat-ball) games were bat-and-ball, safe haven games played in North America. The games were numbered according to the number of bases. The number of bases varied according to the number of players. Only one old cat continues to be commonly played in the 21st century.

One old cat, one eyed cat, or the contracted one-o'-cat was the basic version of the game, with a pitcher or giver; a batter or striker; a catcher, and sometimes another fielder or two. The striker, upon hitting the ball thrown by the giver, attempted to run to a single base (often the giver's position) and back again. The fielders tried to sting the striker-runner with a thrown ball while he or she was not touching the base. The striker would also be put out if the struck ball were caught in the air, or if they swung three times at the giver's deliveries and missed. One old cat, like scrub baseball, was a game of individuals—one against all—and not a team sport. Each base touched before 'out' (or just home) would score a point, although score was often not kept.

In his book Base-Ball, John Montgomery Ward wrote that to initiate a game of one old cat, players called out a number to claim a position: one, two, etc.—one being the striker, two being the pitcher, and three the catcher. When an out was made the striker moved to the last position (e.g. five), five became four, four moved to three, three moved to two, and two took a turn as striker—the coveted position. Ward said that if more players were available for the game, there would be two batters opposite each other (as in cricket), and they ran to the opposite base when the ball was hit. This was two old cat. [1]

Three old cat had a triangular base layout and three strikers, while four old cat had four strikers and four bases in a square pattern. The Mills Commission, formed in 1905 to ascertain the origins of baseball, recorded many reminiscences of people playing three and four old cat in their youth. Baseball historian Harold Seymour reported that old cat games were still being played on the streets and vacant lots of Brooklyn in the 1920s.

Albert Spalding suggested that four old cat was the immediate ancestor of town ball, from which baseball evolved. David Block's recent research indicates that old cat games evolved alongside baseball, as informal or practice versions when there were not enough players for a full game. The Detroit Tigers used old cat as a training exercise at least as late as their 1928 spring training trip to San Antonio, Texas, under manager George Moriarity.

One old cat is seeing a resurgence as a batting and fielding training game for younger little league and girl softball teams. Two games are played simultaneously on one diamond, one on the home third line and the other on the first-second line. Because the game is faster-paced than baseball and includes position rotation as a normal element, the chief objection young people voice about baseball, idle time in the field or waiting to bat, is directly addressed. The usual version is one-against-all and otherwise similar to that described above except, for safety, no stinging. The game is also well played with light plastic substitute balls where space is restricted.

 -- Wikipedia entry as of 2/2/2021.

cat-ball

[Note: Parts of this entry were previously at cat n 3c.]

cat-ball n [ cat n 3c + ball, presumably to distinguish this from similar games played with a wooden cat n 3a]

Dictionary of American Regional English:

Cat ball--Any of various bat-and-ball games involving a variable number of bases according to the number of players available, the general type of which one old cat n 1, two old cat n 1, etc., represent varieties. Also called cat n 3c

1824 in 1954 DE Hist. 6.159, If I could only prevail upon the rest of your visitors to change their love of quoits, for . . . the vulgar sport of cat-ball, I rather think I should become famous in the sporting annals of the coming summer.1832 Norwich Courier (CT) 2 May [3]/6, Be it ordained by the Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council of the city of Norwich . . , That if any person or persons shall play at ball, cat ball, or sky ball, or at ball generally, . . in any of the public streets of said city, the person or persons so offending shall forfeit and pay . . the sum of two dollars. 1859 Kanzas News (Emporia KS) 1 Jan [3]/1, Many are the learned disquisitions we have listened to in regard to the merits and demerits of “base ball,” bull-pen, cat-ball, etc., with the proper mode of conducting the game. 1871 Monongahela Valley Republican (Monongahela City PA) 9 Nov [3]/3, Oh Doctors! is there not some vaccine matter or purgative drug by which the violence of this epidemic [of baseball playing] may be reduced to a milder form? say to “Round-Town” or “Cat-Ball”[?] 1873 Carson Daily Appeal (Carson City NV) 23 Mar [3]/1, Some “sports” were engaged in a game of what used to be called “cat ball” yesterday afternoon, on Capitol Square. 1882 Weekly KS Chief (Troy) 5 Jan [2]/2, The game that Mr. Eggleston calls “two-hole cat,” “three-hole cat,” etc., was, in our day, simply called “cat ball.” It was “two-cornered cat,” or “three-cornered cat,” or “four-cornered cat.” . . On each corner stood a boy with a paddle, and behind him a “catcher.” In this game, the players were not divided into sides, but each one played for himself. The “catcher” at one corner pitched the ball to the striker on the next one, and so on around. Whenever the ball was hit, the boys with the paddles must change corners, each one running to the next corner to the right. 1916 Jackson Daily News (MS) 29 Aug 2/2, Let the boys come barefoot, and in their shirt sleeves, and let them bring their bats and balls, for we are going to play as well as work. At recess and noon, we will play cat ball, ‘bull pen’ and ‘hot pepper.’ 1928 Cincinnati Enquirer (OH) 19 Aug news sec 16/4, The child . . told Major Seebohn that her mother had left the house at 8 o’clock Friday and returned at 11 to beat her with a cat-ball paddle. 1931–33 LANE Worksheets seMA, Cat ball. . . An old game; the ancestor of baseball. 1954 Harder Coll. cwTN, Catball. . . A bat and ball game that requires a minimum of four players. Perhaps receding and even old-fashioned. c1960 Wilson Coll.csKY, Catball. . . A simple ball game, usually played with two batters and a certain number of strikes before the batters change places. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. EE11, Bat-and-ball games for just a few players) 14 Infs, chiefly Sth, S Midl, Cat ball; GA77, Cat ball—two or three players; NC60, Cat ball—[you] “play cat”; SC46, Cat ball—four could play; town ball—when you had a full team on both sides; (Qu. EE33, Other outdoor games) Infs AR18, 47, Cat ball. 1966–69 DARE Tape [NC22, [FW:] And how about these other games like cat ball you mentioned? How did you play that? [Inf:] Well we would choose sides. If we didn’t have but four people, there’d be two on either side: one would be out in the field and the batter would have to catch his own ball in the back, run after that. And we had bases, three bases, and when we would get those two out, why, then it would be the other side’s team [=turn]. Just kind of like baseball. We would make everybody be out, you see, before we would stop the inning;] NC60, Gittin’ out and playin’ cat, we’d call it cat ball. 1980 Foxfire 6 308 swNC, We called it catball. You get you a wad of paper and wad it up just as tight as you can about one third the size of the ball. Then you wrap it with yarn just as tight as you can. It made a good ball. I believe you could knock it better than the baseballs they play with now.