New-York tribune., 1890-06-01
CHANCES Ar AMEEIcry SporTS.

Memorial Day marks the full swing Of tn"
season of outdoor sports IN TINS country
Previous t. the 3Oth of May each year there
is racing AT Gravcscnd and at other tracks III
various parts Of the United states. Thor" Is
trotting at "A number of places. The contests
for the baseball championship are well under
way. Many athletic game, have been decided
and in every variety Of recreation in the open
air certain amount of activity has been seen
afcld. But not until the end OF Ma! do the
various competition, and amu,omcniS in which
Americans find diversion reach the level at
which they are kept until the early iioNt>
come
Meyer has there been a Memorial Day
more favorable to all forms Of outdoor amusc-
mcnt than that which has just passed, and the
fullest advantage was taken of IT everywhere.
Great multiudcS gathered at Morris Iaik ID
see some Of the best thOroughbrcdS on this side
of the ocean display their relative merits.
There was troItng in several cities iacht
races. Zig and little ycNcd the waters of har-
bors and streams on both the Atlantic and
Pacific Coasts, Many cricket matches were
played. and the baseball club, in almost every
city. town and village of the nion thwackcd
ON the alert Lacrosse called ont its dcyotceS.
Oarsmcn were shooting to and fro in their
slender shells, and the great American public
was bent on enjoying itself " hen survey
is made Of the field Of sport no one can iall
10 be impressed with lis immense Development
i'm recent years. We see the proofs of this on
every hand. Almost every city has not only
a baseball club. but ono or more athletic organ
izations associations of bicycle riders and
tennis players. cricket experts and other
cotcrics Of men and youths who find pleasure
i'm tho friendly rivalrcS which are inScpaIablc
from such bodies. Not many years ago such
supcrb houses for athletic clubs as that Of the
Manhattan in New \ orl, and the recently built
structures in Boston Philadelphia and other
large cities were unknown. The membership
the resources, the aspirations and ambitions
of all such organizations have been immensely
expanded. This is true also of yachting and
rowing. The increase in the number OF yacht
clubs North. South East and West since the
war must be twenty fold. Similar multpica
ton of other clubs devoted to recreation and
competition may be noted on every hand The
amateur idea in many forms of sport has OBJ
tained remarkable asccndancy over the pro-
! fcSSional.
How limited is the interest displayed in
! this country in any method of professional
contest on the water for instance in compari-
son with the attention paid to the great annual
boat race between Harvard and Yale at New
| London. How little concern is shown for the
exploits and achievements of any professional
athlete in comparison with the fcatS of the col
| lege boys and with the games of such clubs as
! the Manhattan and Ncw-York and many others
that might be mentioned Professionalism is
still rampant in baseball but il has been carried
to such a height that the inevitable reaction
has already set in, and the most jealous
votareS of the game in previous years now
show but "a languid sympathy with the pros
poets of the various clubs for the divided and
diminished championships. It is "A healthy and
wholesome sign to see the clubhouscS of our
| athletic associations, of our amateur oarsmcn
| Of our yachtSmen, of our riders of BICYCLES our
tennis players, and all our other followers of
honest and sterling sport going up i'm city.
town and village. 1t is true that the feycrish.
delcteriOu> excess OF thoroughbred racing has
more than kept pace with the progress OF anna
tcur sports but this has been already carried
10 such an extreme that it must soon 20 back
and to a certain extent must 60 down. The
many millions Of dollars that have been in.