, 1881-08-28
HaSE-RALL IN 1881.

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W BASEBALL IN 1881.
The generai public have reason for con-
cago is over. 'TIAe last man has had his turn
at the pat, has made Ills last run, has struck
the last foul, and has been put out to stay.
Let there he thanks that tho season is over,
and that for eight months to come the Ma
tional game will be played here no more.
The support given to this time-killlns
game III Chicago is something marvellous.
IN fact if it were not fQr.Chicago it would
not be possible to maintain what is called
''the League" at all. Various cities have
! long agu got sick of this game, and no longer
support ''tealn.'' Cincinnati, St. Louis,
New York. Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and
Baltimore do not "patronize the game"
! sufficiently to pay for keeping up hired
steam" of professionals.
The cities which are now represented in
the League" are Cleveland, Troy, Provi-
dence, Worcester, Boston, Detroit, Buffalo,
and Chicago; in other words, these are the
only places at which there can be drummed
I'D Il sufficient crowd Of idlers to pay ex-
pensc5.
Of these Chicago is the principal supporter
Of the ball game; the clubs from other places
come here in order to share the receipts, or
the 81 tsate-money,' and from their earnings
here eke out the scant receipts at the other
towns. 1t is not an unusual thing to have
1000 to G,0o0 idlers ut a game in Chicago; the
number has reached 5000, and rarely ever
less than {, GOO or 5000. At other places the
number Of visitors ranges from 500 to LOGO,
the latter being a fair maximum outside Of
Chicago.
The difference to the rural clubs is impor-
tant. The price of admission here Is half a
dollar, of which the home hired club re-
cciyes IS cents and the visiting club Is cents.
Thus the Chicago club has played aud will
play during the season forty-two games at
home and iorty-two games abroad. Estlmat-
ing the average game at Chicago to have
had 5000 visitors, the average receipts of
each game has been 81, 600, Of which the local
club has received 81, 100 and the visitors $500.
But the Chicago club must play also during
the season forty-two other games at other
places, where the average attendance is, to
put it literally, 600 persons and the receipts
$500, Of which the Chicago as the visiting
club receives $50 and the home club $40 per
''Inufling" performance.
1t will be seen, therefore, that the Chicago
hired club when it plays elsewhere receives
about per cent of what it receives at home,
and that the visiting club when it plays in
Chicago receives three or four times as much
as when it plays i'll its own city, or at any
point outside Of Chicago. as Chicago has
entertained each OF the other clubs six times
in this city, they have all had liberal share
Of iders' ilalf-dollars which Chicago has
always bestowed OH this game, while the
Chicago club has reaped but comparatively
scant harvest from its return visits to the
League cities. We are right, then, in saying
that were it not for the support given to base
ball in this city 1t would not be possible to
maintain this itinerating League. As it is,
the probabilities are that some of the clubs
will disband at the close Of the present sea-
son. and, unless new clubs be organized, the
baseball business will go to pieces. Last
year the Cincinnati club found it SO hard to
pay expenses that it demanded the privilege
Of selling liquor at the games, ana, this being
refused the club withdrew from the League.
The game has of late years unQuestionably
lost much of public interest throughout the
country. Whether this is due to any degen~
eracy in the playing, or any suspicion that
the games are crooked, or sold for betting
purposes, OF whether the public is getting
tired of it, we will not undertake to say; but
in this city there is interest enough i'll it still
to draw 5000 to 5000 persons away from
their business, If they have any, for half a
day when game is announced. Some Of
these persons have become veterans in their
attendance. They are really unhappy if
anything prevents the game. No considera-
ton of home or family, sick wife orchildren,
demands of business, or interest of employers |
can stay the ing to see the game every
time it is played. The season i'll Chicago Is, |
however, finished, and the city is to be con-
graduated that the nuisance is abated till |
next year.