Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-07-09
SUNDAY BASEBALL APOLOGISTs
what the Defenders OF the vfOlatOrs
Of the habbaIh Have 20 Say In Pa

- 0@O0A1AI
what n Defenders OF the v~fOIators
Of the sabbath Have TO Say in Pa.
o of Leather Pounding"
The arguments offered in support of
Sunday basel ball playing at Central
Park are quite amusing and illogical
They ignore the fact that playing base.
ball on Sundays is a misdemeanor pun,
ishable by law; they ignore the fact that
the roughs, who form a large number Of
the spectators, drink, use vulgar and pro.
fame language on the grounds and con.
duct themselves as rowdies always do
when they feel safe from arrest; they
ignore the fact hat the cheers, yells aud
Objectionable language Of the roughs are
most annoying to more respectable peo-
pie who attend these Sunday base ball
contests, as well as to other citizens who
are forced to reside neal the park or to
pass by the place on Sunday after
moons; they ignore the fact that funerals
pass by the baseball park on the
way out TO the beautiful silent city of
the dead, charming Elmwood, where re-
pose the ashes Of the loved and lost.
How grating TO the ear Of m%ourners must
be the yells which issue forth from Cen.
trail Park; and what q mockery it is of
the melancholy procession passing slow
ly by outside. The apologists talk about
baseball being a national game, IKE that
of "crcket" in England. They talk
aud write about the Olympic games of
the Greek, and Roman chariot races,
which were encouraged because they
had a tendency to develop the physique
Of the people" This historical anaohro-
nism is very amusing, and the learned
apologist a " sacrifice batter" no doubt
shows his ignorance OF Greek aud Ro-
man antiquities, in not knowing that the
Olympic games were solemn games
among the Greeks, dedicated to Olym.
plan Jupiter, and celebrated once in four
years at Olympia. They were religious
ceremonies, and not conducted for the
development Of muscle in a picked
nine. But il muscle is to be developed
among the people, is it absolutely
necessary to play base ball on Sunday ?
1t can be played during the six days o.
the week, and all the muscle necessary
to be developed can be developed during
that period Of time. The apologists must
be trying to get up a kind Of muscular
christianity by Sunday baseball playing.
We can see the development Of muscle
in the eighteen players, who squat, frog
like, on their launches arourd the dia-
mond field watching imaginary balls fly
ing through the air and sdmiring fly
balls, grouuders and daisy cutters. 1t is
all right to play baseball during the
week, but playing the game on Sun
days is where the objection to the game
comes in with foic.. The people who on
Sundays sit for four hours on seats
and bet on the result Of the game, or
who ~patronize the bar, or who use vulgar
and p%rofane language, do not, we
opine, develop much muscle or add
to their physique or physical energies
by witnessing the eighteen PROBES.
sional players batting AID catching
balls or running bases. The a~polegists
can have no sympathy with that big
otry Of opinion which would prescribe
Sunday baseball playing" Of course
not; who expected them to have any
sympathy with anything that tended to
prevent Sabbath. breaking2 The national
game and national necessity lodges will
not do when applied 20 Sunday baseball
playing. The religious, the christian,
the moral, the respectable people, do not
believe it to be right. Is Sunday base
ball playing a thing fit for a lady to wit
ness2 We opiue not, and the boldest Of
its ~apologists will not assert that it is a
thing which their mothers, wives, sisters
or sweethearts ought to patronize and
witness. The baseball clubs Of the lead.
ing colleges and universities do not play
on Sundays, as the ~apologists would
have the public to believe. Sunday base
ball playing is an offense against the law,
and it is a thing which should be pre-
vented by law.