Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-10-05
OUR "BAGKWOOHS BELLE" "
SHE ATTENDS A BASEBALL GAME AT
SANTA ROSA.
How the National Game Appears ID One
Who Encounters Its Mysteries for
the First Time.
Regular Correspondence of the SUNDAY UNION
Hush hark a deep sound
Strikes like rising knell;
Did ye not hear it?

1t is Sunday in Santa Rosa, and the
deep sound is the Mare Island Band that
accompanies the Vallejo Baseball Club to
enter in combat with the Santa Rosas in
their own territory. Fully 800 people ar
rived on the special train, and marching
up Fourth street the procession was quite
imposing. The music rolls out in great
waves in the calm Sabbath air, and the
pleasing strains of popular air compels
even unwilling ears to listen. These
bursts Of uproarious hilarity that tear the
holy qs.ist of Sunday are not right they
are like unto a plea space in a stick of
nonpareil; but in the words Of that good
old proverb, "What are we going TO do
abou. it?' On the same principle that
some parents take the children to the
circus to see the animals, went to the
game to furnish an account Of 1t for the
edihcation of the public. A match re-
ported by one who does not know an
''innin'" from an "outin.'' or the home
plate from the home missionary plate,
must necessarily be bristling with interest
for all who understand the proceedings
thoroughly.
We are all on a street car and ready to
start; the town and his wife are there.
The little machine that has trundled along
the track empty many trips through the
week, with no occupation for the factotum
combination driver, conductor, peanut
agent and time tabla), except to larrup his
little buff mule with a butterfly net, is now
doing a land-office business Like some
oyer-ripe pod that has burst asunder and
spills its contents, they hang out and over
and around, and even on top, and all
wearing the most iovial humor imaginable.
Swinging around the curves the car creaks
and groans like ship wrestling with the
breakers, and fairly threatens to wrench
the beams apart. The hangers-on, who
have abandoned themselves TO the jollity of
the occasion, are almost flung off like
meteor that takes trip through space, but
with grab for firmer hold and cheer
full howl the car goes rattling down the
stony street {" ".
Everybody is cIamoring and elbowing to
get there first, and the grand stand is
rapidly filled. The "crank's stand" is a
private cage erected by devotees of the
game, and dedicated to the cranques whose
tastes are centered in this sport Needless
to mention, it was packed and jammed to
overfowing, three Deep with throats that
were Justify enthusiastic. The small boy
was out en- masse. As it is said of the
poor, "Ye have him with ye always"
Some unfortunate few had not amassed
the sum necessary to gain admittance at
the gate of the enchanted spot 90 cents.
but with enviable enterprise he managed
to be there.
At one corner of the great corral is a
windmill and tank, and adhering to its
surface like barnacIes on a ships hulk,
these little objects were dotted thickly.
In a tall tree were perched as many more,
like monkeys that chatter and swing in
the branches OF the tropical forests. On a
roof half mile away two men squatted,
like Mohammedans at prayer on their
housetop. To enjoy game half mile
distant, clutching the shingles with tooth
and nail, with the September sun trick
ling down in torrid little shafts, one
should be entitled to a little throne in the
cranks' corner.
The grand stand was a sea of faces, to
use a stereotyped phrase. \ stoveplpe hat
and side-whiskers that were almost cleri-
cal would jostle in close proximity to young
buttcnhole and a smile that sought dill.
gently for responsive glance. Long
rows of vehicles are drawn up, and every
once in so often a policeman goes flying
across the fields, his long blue coat-taiis
stirring the drowsy air, and bodily lifts
some dainty phaeton out of the sacred
precincts of the chalk line. A pilgrims
dusty-shod foot in a temple of the Per-
and commotion than for some sacrilegious
outsider to stroll into the bounds of the
mystic ring.
A youthful tornado in a straw hat
drawls, "P'nuts o-o-nly a nickel-a-bag,"
and the echo of his tender song is, "Aw,
gwout to the graveyard n sell EN-"
The atmosphere is trife sitting until
breeze comes lettering along and drops
in to stay minute and see how the game
goes. when it fits on over the hills and far
away. The air Is languid and lazy, and
the blue haze settles down more dense as
the hours creep on. To, the east lies the
little city in its Sunday clothes. The very
air takes on quieter mood on the seventh
day. The spires of the church houses
point upward through the blue, a warning
finger to the riotous revelers. The city
sits at the foot of the rugged hills, which
are very beautiful TO look upon 1t slg-
gests one of the amphitheaters of old,
when instead of youths in fantastic dress
who tear around the field for amusement, it
was srail human life pitted against a cruel
beast. the hills are our walls, tall and
magnificent: the great dome of heaven is
our canopy, blue and measureless. What
more could one desire? A flock of black
o,,d xubaalc nuarhaad rnv- IN
orderly precision, now swooping down
edgewise, and again rising in great black
cloud and away.
Under this lazy and fascinating inAu-
ence my thoughts had deserted the pres
ent, but was recalled to reality from the
dream Of gladiators and chariot races, and
made TO feel frightfully modern by my
companions beating the planks and giving
utterance TO demoniacal yells. Penitent
at having been so absent-minded, l turned
my wandering attention toward the dia-
mopd. where the white and black uniforms
OF the Nalleios and the mottled-gra and
red Of the Santa Rosas were drawn up in
battle array As | have remarked, | was
an unskilled spectator, but enjoyed it as
much as those WHO we're educated and
ardent 10 the death. When pair Of
plump red legs went skimming like
swallow over the dusty path, the applause
was a deafening roar, and the major
part of the onlookers clawed the air like
cyclone windmill in Colusa county north
wind. it was safe to surmise the Santa
Rosas had done something smart. When
youth in white acquitted himself credit
ably the Vallejo delegation rose up as one
man and hoRled. What they lacked in
numbers they made ap in enthusiasm. L
found myself perehed on the extreme edge
of the pisnk seats of the "parquet," grasp
ing NV brown umbrella spasmodieally
with nv lisle-thread mits and uncon-
sciously waving my cotton baniana, SO
thoroughly imbued was | With patriotism
and partisanship for nay own city.
A plsyer out in the middle of the field
would curl himself up in double-bow
knot, like rattlesnake about to spring |
and after gyrating in the air and blufhng |
a while would throw the ball real hard at |
a fellow on corner who held shillalah
and posed like the jack of clubs. Some
times he hit it, and sometimes he would
not, and the umpire would hold up two
II .,,,,afhfr,n lilo oIUpI