# America's National Game/Chapter 27

CHAPTER XXVII.
1888-1910
IT must be conceded that efforts to introduce Base Ball into England have not met with the full degree of success that American lovers of the game had hoped and prophesied. Although, as heretofore chronicled in these pages, the game had been presented by strong teams in 1874 and again in 1889, it was not until about eight years ago, in 1903, that regular Base Ball clubs began to be organized in England. This long delay was due, doubtless to two facts connected with the exhibition given in 1889. The day upon which that game was played was characterized by a typical London fog, rendering it very difficult for the crowd to note the fine points of the game, and not easy for players to present the sport in the most attractive way. But even at that, Base Ball was played in such a skillful, scientific and altogether energetic manner as to discourage our British cousins from undertaking it at once. Perfectly satisfied with cricket, and not feeling the need of a new sport, the American pastime was soon forgotten.
However, it is impossible to keep Americans from playing their national game, and it happened that certain of our countrymen living at the time in England got ​together for practice, and, on the occasion of a visit of Buffalo Bill's "Wild West," played a game with his cowboys. This game—played in the rain—attracted a large concourse. It was won by the cowboys by a score of 13 to 5.
Although this game was played at London, it was in the North and Midland counties that the sport first took on regularly organized form in the way of scheduled games between contesting teams. This was because of the fact that Base Ball in England seems to appeal rather to the mining and factory men than to the denizens of the metropolis.
It is not known just how many clubs are playing the American game in England to-day; but probably twenty-five would cover the entire number.
The strongest supporters of the game in England are the large American business firms, such as the Messrs. Fuller, the great confectioners; Messrs. Dewar, of whisky fame; J. Earle, of the Remington Typewriter Co., and many of the first music-hall artists here, Americans by birth; and last, but no means least, Mr. Francis W. Ley and H. Newton Crane, for many years American Consul at Manchester, and more recently a practicing barrister in London. These gentlemen assist the game, both in a monetary sense and by personally attending the games and bringing their friends. One of the music-hall "mummers" is said to have spent close upon £2,000 ($10,000) pushing the game forward. The amount of their subscriptions it would not be politic to state, but it can safely be said that they all give about the same ​sums. There are practically no English manufacturers supporting the game. Of course it has not paid its promoters, but they did not take it up as a money-making scheme, nor with any idea of benefiting their pockets. The assistance they have given has been solely through a love of the game, and of pushing it in England, and bringing it before the English public as a sport worth studying and playing. The public at present do not know enough of the game to criticise it.
The progress of the American national game in British provinces has been slow but sure—except in Canada, where it gained a footing in its early days, rose rapidly, and has for many years been regarded as the National Game, fairly outclassing lacrosse and all other forms of field sport in popular favor. It was impossible that it should have been otherwise. The term "American," though frequently employed as referring to possessions of the United States alone, covers all the continent, and that which has been long considered strictly our own bids fair soon to become the Game of All-America, for it will not be many years before Base Ball will have supplanted bull-fighting in Mexico, in a measure, as it has cock-fighting in Cuba, while it is likely to drive out the field sports of all South America, so rapidly is it gaining in popularity in the little republics there.
The Canadian people, in spirit and temperament, are very like our own. Though Britons, they have absorbed Yankee characteristics from being brought into commercial competition with business men of the United States. As a result, just as British field sports were found too ​slow for us, they have failed also to keep pace with the vigorous, wide-awake instincts of our neighbors to the North. Canada, in proportion to her population, is just as full of Base Ball fans as is our own country. They play ball, talk ball, and speculate on results of pennant races and league contests just as we do.
The chief drawback to the game in Canada is the presence of a sparse population in a widespread territory. This means a country of magnificent distances, with long and expensive railroad jumps for league teams, and a consequent discouragement to the investment of capital in professional clubs.
And yet, notwithstanding all the hindrances, wherever there is a congested population in Canada the game flourishes. Toronto, Montreal and Hamilton are centers of Base Ball interest and enthusiasm in the East, while in all the smaller cities adjacent to these are strong teams of high-class players. In the Far West, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Victoria, in fact, all cities of consequence, maintain clubs. It is quite noticeable, too, that when Canadians have a team in a league whose schedule crosses the border the pennant is not always left on this side of the line. British Americans had a way, long years ago, of annexing Base Ball trophies, as exemplified by the victory of the Tecumsehs, of London, in 1877, and only four years ago, in 1907, the Toronto Club defeated Buffalo for the Eastern League pennant.
In a recent able and comprehensive paper on Base Ball in Canada, Mr. J. P. Fitzgerald, of Toronto, has some exceedingly interesting facts. He shows that some ​of the best material in the big States leagues came from over there. He mentions Arthur Irwin, Tip O'Neill, Bob Emslie, Dr. Pete Wood, saying that these were all old-timers who made good when the game was young. But now the good ones, like bargains at a country auction, are "too numerous to mention." Catchers Clarke, of Cleveland; Gibson, of Pittsburg; McLean, of Cincinnati, and Archer, of Chicago, are all "Canucks." Pitchers Grohan, Hardy, Graney and Hollingsworth all claim Canada as their native heath. Congalton, of Boston; O'Hara, of Baltimore, and Jimmy Cockman, of Newark, belong across the border.
The opposition of Britons everywhere to professionalism in the realm of sport has militated to some extent against the quality of the game in Canada, for the reason that ambitious youngsters, as soon as they prove fit, come to the States, where, if they are up in the game, they find ready employment at good salaries.
The trip of the Chicago and All-America teams to Australia, in 1888, planted Base Ball seed in a fertile soil, where the sport has been growing in popularity ever since. It is difficult for one who has not visited the provinces of Great Britain to understand how slow the people of those countries are to take on any new thing, especially anything that had not its origin and development in the mother country. The peoples of Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania are nearly all of British derivation. Either English, Scotch, Welsh or Irish, they know little else than that which they have derived from British sources. Taught from infancy to revere and play the sports of ​their native land, or the land of their fathers, and religiously believing that Great Britain is the greatest country on the face of the earth, they look, and quite naturally, it must be admitted, somewhat askance at innovations in that line emanating from other shores. So strong and elemental is the tie which binds in this respect, that we find the peoples of the Antipodes sending their wool to England to be made into hats, caps, clothes, and then returned as the manufactured article, to be bought at high prices, and, after the twofold voyage across the seas, to be worn by the people of those far-distant possessions. Accustomed to pay tribute to the mother country in this way, Australians have seemed never to think that they might themselves reap the benefit of their natural resources, and at the same time give employment to thousands of skilled workmen, by establishing manufactories of their own. I refer to this matter—quite foreign to the text—to explain why a sport that has in a short time made such headway in America has been so slow to advance in the great island continent of the South Pacific.
And yet, while Base Ball has not supplanted cricket in Australia, and probably never will, it is making fine progress and becoming exceedingly popular wherever played. There are teams in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Ballarat, and many other prominent cities of Australia.
Following is an extract from a letter written by Mr. Harry W. Hedley, an Australian, shortly after the world's tour of the American ball players in 1888. It will be of interest as giving the opinion of one who was certainly ​not prejudiced in favor of our pastime as against those of his own country:
"Permit me to acknowledge receipt of your very interesting and instructive letter on Base Ball which appears in this week's Leader, copies of which I hope you will duly receive by this post, and to thank you for your reference to my very cursory treatment of the subject written after seeing the game played by its able exponents, whose visit to us last Summer will always remain a pleasant memory with Australians who made their acquaintance. That the game in its thoroughness and "go" is essentially characteristic of Americans can quickly be seen, and as an old cricketer I recognize in it many features the study and practice of which would, I feel sure, benefit our cricketers in connection with their own national game. Some thirteen years ago, when I was captain of one of our suburban cricket clubs (St. Kilda), we had a caterer, an American, C. S. Jewett, who introduced Base Ball to us, and we played several enjoyable games with the American Christy Minstrel troupes who visited Melbourne, but I need hardly tell you that when I saw men like Anson, Ward and others on the diamond, and talked ball with such as A. G. Spalding, George Wright and my jovial friend, Harry Palmer, I discovered for the first time how very little I had known previously of your great game. Some of our cricketers who have taken to it have developed fairly good form, and Harry Simpson has done his utmost to thoroughly establish the game in Australia, but I have no desire to paint a picture in unduly roseate colors, and am therefore constrained to admit that it has hardly taken the hold upon our public which seemed probable immediately after the departure of the Chicago and All-America teams, and while their remarkably skillful displays were fresh in the memory of our people. I may tell you, however, that we Victorians have during the past few years been suffering from a terribly strong overdose of horse racing, five and six days' racing continuously in every week, and week after week, without intermission of any "off" season. I am happy to say that there is a prospect of racing reform being extensively carried on with a view to materially curtailing the number of meetings, and when that desirable consummation has been reached I hope for an increased interest to be displayed in other field sports which (cricket and Base Ball included) have suffered from the general attention paid to the turf with its more exciting attraction in the shape of betting. Our great Winter game, as you are doubtless aware, is football, neither Rugby nor Association rules, but a game played under rules of Australian origin. Being an Englishman by birth, though an Australian by the acclimatization of nearly a lifetime, I have no prejudice in comparing our game of football with the other two named. The Australian game was, ​in fact, evolved from the other two, and is, I have no hesitation in saying, a pronounced improvement upon both. Our footballers are all young fellows, who either attend the schools and colleges or work at their trades—artisans, clerks and others, clerks and tradesmen preponderating—and all our matches are played on Saturday afternoons, the Saturday half holiday being an established institution with nearly every class of the community.
"Base Ball, I am certain, will not supplant or even rival either football or cricket in public esteem in this country, but I quite agree with you and with Spalding, Palmer and others who think they may become kindred sports."
That Mr. Hedley's prophecy was not too bright, the following recent letter from Mr. Leonard I. Lillyman, showing conditions of the game in Australia at the time of the visit of our fleet, in 1908, will amply attest:
"Twenty teams play regularly in Sydney in Base Ball and there are a like number in Melbourne. These are under the control of the New South Wales Association and the Victorian League, respectively.
"Last season we introduced the game in South Australia and Tasmania, and efforts have been made to introduce it into Western Australia, and I have not a doubt that they will be as successful as other efforts have been to popularize the American sport.
"For the benefit of those in the United States who take an interest in what we do, I would like to say that we play the game here for the pure love of it. Professionalism is entirely absent, and would be stamped out as soon as it made its appearance. Those who take part are generally devotees of cricket, which is played in the summer months, and consequently we are compelled to play ball in the winter, which accounts for a good number of lame arms among our pitching brigade. We only play once a week and on holidays, and if we do get but little encouragement we know that we are progressing all the time.
"The standard of Base Ball in Australia is steadily improving each season, and the visit of the United States fleet to our shores gave our players a much-needed practical lesson in the finer points. Up to last season we had been self-taught—taught by studying the rules as they are laid down in Spalding's Guide, with the assistance of a casual visitor from the United States, who would be willing to impart any knowledge of which he was possessed. It was eagerly devoured by our players, who were only too glad to obtain it, and in turn they imparted it to their comrades.
​"I am told that the quality of Base Ball which is played in Australia at present is quite up to the standard of amateur Base Ball in the United States.
"The pitchers of the ships of the United States fleet were too much for our batters, but I fancy that it would not have been very long before we would have been able to hit them all over the diamond. The speed with which they threw the ball was something new to us, and we are ready to admit that we know very little of the art of throwing. We are going to learn to attain pace, and I hope to be able to tell your American readers that in a few years we possess a 'Mathewson' among us.
"When the fleet landed its sailors for games with our clubs we were all delighted. It seemed like putting an American League of Base Ball clubs among us to instruct us in the game which we had played with so much enjoyment.
"The teams of the fleet played four contests in Sydney. Two were against New South Wales and two against All-Australia. In three of these contests the Americans won. They lost the second game to the All-Australia nine, but it was a well-played contest and the enthusiasm and applause which resulted while it was going on well repaid us for our efforts in behalf of Base Ball and certainly gave pleasure to the American visitors who took part in the games against our boys.
"The field work of the American players was slightly better than ours. They seemed to know better how to handle themselves to look after certain plays, and of course that was to be expected in view of the long training which they had as compared with the teaching that had been given our boys in the effort to bring up the game to a proper standard in Australia.
"We could not help but observe the work of their pitchers with admiration, because it gave us an inkling of what pitching was like in the United States and was totally different from our conception of delivering the ball to the batter. McCreary, Scott and other pitchers of the American fleet, who were put in the box against us, were batted very little because of the pace with which they delivered the ball. On the other hand, the batters from the fleet did not prove to be so wonderfully effective against our pitchers.
"I desire to inform the ball players of the United States of the excellent sportsmen whom we met in the fleet players. All the games were most enjoyable, and right through the series we found our opponents grand fellows, and just as splendid sportsmen as were Lieut. Weaver, U. S. S. ' Connecticut,' and Midshipman Cohen, U. S. S. ' Kansas,' who had charge of the teams representing the fleet. To both of these gentlemen we are greatly indebted for much information and for the assistance given to further the game of Base Ball in New South Wales."
​Speaking of Base Ball in Natal, the Natal Witness, of Pietermaritzburg, Natal, says:
"The presence of a number of Strathcona's Horse in the city induced the Canadians in our midst to seize the opportunity of indulging in the American national game—the first played in the city. Accordingly teams were selected from the regiment and Canadian residents, and they met on the Polo Ground on Saturday to try conclusions. The result was eminently successful to all concerned, an excellent afternoon's sport being witnessed, and it is quite on the cards that future matches will be played. There were a number of spectators, who had not previously seen the game, but who became interested in it, and admired the dexterity of the players. The match throughout was well contested, the civilians coming off victorious by 13 runs to 9. Lieut. Stevenson captained the losers, and displayed considerable ability in the pitcher's box, while on the civilian side Hargraves and Ward creditably shared the same position, and the batting of Ferguson, Hargraves and Myles was a feature.
"Mr. Hugh V. Ferguson, formerly of the Globe, but now of the Times, of Natal, who was one of the civilian team, writes: 'If we have but the opportunity to play a few more games I fancy Base Ball will catch on here in Natal.'"