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Floodlit Game Successful Down South

An experiment in modernity is expected to stoke discussion during the winter between the ’09 and ’10 baseball seasons as two Central League stalwarts, Coventry City and Oldham Athletic, played a match at the latter’s ground with temporary floodlights installed. The game launched at half eight in the evening sharp, lasted one hundred and seventeen minutes precisely, and ended up with a three runs to none victory for the Latics before an interested but inevitably sleepy throng of some four thousand, many of whom seemed more interested in the initial spectacle than in the game itself.

The lighting was fairly good especially for the batsmen and the infielders, although there were some pockets of darkness that presented problems for outfield play. In the first innings City batsman Armstrong hit a line drive that travelled directly to Oldham right fielder Dickenson, who simply missed it and let it go by for a three. He may not have seen the ball in the darkness, or perhaps he lost the ball as it sailed into the lights. However, play mostly settled down except for the odd turn here and there, and a missed opportunity to catch a foul ball for the third out in the seventh innings before the Latics scored two tallies. All in all, playing the game under artificial light is most definitely not the same as playing in natural daylight.

Nevertheless, the promise of regularly fixed floodlit games has become a distinct possibility, something the League would quite like to establish in a bid to make the game of baseball available to more people, in order to stoke greater gate receipts. The League will certainly discuss it with some interest at its meetings in December, although it’s not likely to be adopted for some years, let alone 1910.