Cats Playing Baseball

(Note:  Opening Day for the Minnesota Twins.  Time for another anthropomorphic baseball post that will, I fear, be a fair approximation of the challenges faced by manager (for now) Ron Gardenhire)

------------------------

I can imagine Dogs Playing Baseball.  Yes, yes, there is that lack of opposible thumbs to get past, but at least dogs are able to stand on their hind legs for short periods of time and can be trained to "stay" and "go" on the command of their Master and presumably of their First Base Coach.

Cats on the other hand, well, the phrase "like trying to herd cats" pretty much sums up the prospects of a group of them ever cooperating in a joint effort.

But for the cat lovers of the world, I present a snippet from an 1880s patent medicine almanac.  This is a two part panel entitled Our National Game, which I split into halves to fit better:

Lots of interesting little details.  Note the third baseman cheating by holding the runner by the tail.  And the shortstop with a bottle in hand.  And the policecat.  I also rather wonder about the figure just to the right of the batter.  Not an umpire, perhaps a sports writer given the pen, paper and glasses.  The title of this image "A Fe-line Hit" would in modern parlance be more like  "A Fe-line Drive".

And chaos ensues.....

Hmmm.  I can't figure out the two objects in the lower right corner.  Just barely seen in the first panel.  Lamps?  End tables?  A bit of historical detail lost due to lack of context.