On a cold and blustery day in November 1887, a group of Chicagoans were eagerly awaiting inside the Farragut Boat Club for the telegraphed results of the Harvard-Yale football game. George W. Hancock was one of their number, and while waiting he created a game that used a boxing glove for a ball and a broomstick for a bat. This game was known as indoor base ball, and it was the predecessor to the sport which would later be called softball. This delightful collection from the American Memory Project at the Library of Congress contains 35 of the official indoor base ball guides published between 1889 and 1939. The guides include editorials from baseball writers on the state of the game, a selection of photographs, and of course, a slew of statistics. The guides are fun, informative, and who knows, they might serve as the timely spark to start a revival of this pastime.