Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-07-10
SUNDAY BAsE.BALL NUISANCE.
The Evil aud Immoral Tendency OF
sunday BASEBALL Playing and It's
Effect Upon the B0ys IA Youths
of the CITY.

Enect Opoh inc noya u tOuths
of the city.
Playing baseball is per Sc not neces-
sarily Objectionable, whether the physical
result be the development of muscle or
its development at the expense Of brain
power. Indeed, men Of muscle are not
generally men Of brains. Nature being
tso liberal With the one becomes nigardly,
With the other gift. When played with
moderation at the proper time and place
base ball is all right for those who desire
to engage in the business. Those who
do engage in it fer pleasure are boys;
those who engage in it for money are
men. Nine men are engaged at so much
per season 10 play for a club of persons,
who invest in the business as they would
in any other sporting game, and they, of
course, wish to make all the money they
eau out of the investment. In order to
do this it was discovered that it was
necessary to play the game on Sundays,
50 as to catch as %visitors all the
men and boys who during the week
are engaged in some business in stores,
manufacturing establishments, shops, at
trades aud other occupations Sunday
is the big day with the base-ballers. The
young men and boys who are busy dur
e .
log the week crowd into Central Park,
and there have to associate with the men
and boys who do no work, aud who fol-
low no honest calling the sbarpers,
thieves, csppers and steerers Of gam
bling houses, boodlums, sports Of the
lower grade, the great unwsshed, the
roughs who talk slang, use vulgar aud
p%rofane language, get drunk, and who
are always ready to get up a fight aud
establish themselves rs men Of muscle.
To the respectable man Of mature aye
the immoral tendencies Of base bail
playing on Sundays may have little or
no effect; but can this be said OF the
youths of industrious habits who are
employed in busine7s during the week,
and WAC visit Central Park GU S~uudays?
These boys, aged from ten to eighteen
years, soon learn 10 talk slang,
use vulgar aud profane language,
patronizs the bar on the grounds,
and by being thrown into com
partnership and in contact with the
rougha, rapidly become demoralized
They are induced to bet money on the
game to drink freely, because of the
bad example always before them, aud
because their parents or employers are
not there to check them in their down
ward career on the bighroad Of vice.
II they lose more money than they can
afford at the game and contract dissolule
habits of life, what employer is safe (;
what employers moneg.drawer is safe
what kind OF members OF society will
they become when they grow up to mans
estate ? By suppressing the Sunday
games the great temptation for those
boys and young men is taken away. Let
, them, if they want or need recreation on
Sundays, 90 out to Estiyal Park, where
they will meet the better class Of people,
where they will hear fue music which
will refine whatever is rough in their
natures, and where they will have to OBJ
serve the decencies aud proprieties of
life where no bad habits eau be picked
up, aud from which, it no good results
follow, certainly no bad results can be
secured.
The b~ase-ballists, well knowing that
Sunday baseball playing would De pro-
hibited inside the corporation, estab.
, lished tbs baseball park jast outside the
line, not far from the eastern terminus Of
the Vance street car line. But baseball
playing on Sunday is a misdemeanor
under the laws of the State, aud is pun
ishable by fine accordingly. Returning
from the baseball grounds on Sundays
many half drunk boys and young men
use language on the street cars most OBJ.
jectionable to other passengers, ladies'
especially. These boys and young men
| are not responsible for this, probably,
, but it shows the immoral tendencies and
( effects OF visiting Central Park on Sun
, days, The minds Of the young are easily
moulded for good or evil, aud during
{ youth habits of life are formed that grow
up with them through manhood and hold
I on to them through old age. 1t is by
this cause that Memphis to-day contains
about as fast a lot of boys and youths as
; is contained in any city on the cont.
; nent, and many an enlightenment abb
straction Of money, and disgrace cast
/, upon parents has resulted, facts which
the records of courts and the police
headquarters will prove eohelusively,
BaFlee's Soda and Mead, q
glasses for 25c, BPS Main ST,
lit
The type, material and workmen Of
: the LEDGER job Office are as good as the
l best, and hence we guarantee first class
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