, 1891-06-07
BASEBALL RANKS
Men Whose Particular Fad Is
the National Game.
GENERAL DIxwELL. OF BOSTON.

Nick Engel, Dewolf Hopper, DIgby
Bell, Maurice barrymore and Others
Are HapPIest When Gazing at the DIA-
mond.
TIL world is full Of cranks. and some of
them are dangerous enough to be kept
under lock and key. But the cranks /
shall write about are Of an entirely differ
ent character, and they are mostly well to
do men, and others who have, through the
nature of their business, a good deal OF
spare time on their hands. They all have
a fad, and that fad is baseball. They love
it as a horse loves his oats.
There are various kinds of cranks
There is the studious crank. there is the
quiet crank, there is the noisy crank. and
he is sometimes the most disagreeable.
only know of one exception to the rule.
Of course, the army of cranks who sit on
the bleacheries and shout their approba-
tion do not come under the ban of noisy
cranks. The species referred to is an al
together different bird.
The intention is not to pick out anybody
as a prize crank, for in their way the
cranks are all on a level, with one excep-
ton, in their love of the game.
This one exception is a peculiar case.
He is q man who has nothing on earth to
do, and who seems to rave devoted him
self heart and soul to baseball. 1t il true
that he has some interest in business vent
ures, but they do not worry him in the
least. The man is Arthur L. Dixwell, of
Boston. He is commonly known as Gen.
eral DiXwell, but he is entirely innocent
of military glory.
Dixwell at one time was a minority
stakeholder in the Boston club; and when
the Boston management declined one sea
son to sell season tickets. Dixwell was very
indignant. He set up what he called a
'gen'ral petition" The old man bothered
everybody SO much about this petition that
they got to calling him "Old General Pc
tition." This finally dwindled down to
General" and Mr., Dixwell has since been
known AS General Arthur Dixwell. Odd
ly enough he accepted the title with equa-
nimity, and thousands OF people really
think he is a general.
The general has always been a great
friend Of the ball player. In the days
when ball players were glad to play for
800 a month they often became short, but
always found the general "A good lender.
The trouble was that many OF them failed
to return the loans, and the general lost so
extensively that after a while he closed
the bank. The general always presents
every new Boston player with u new bat
bag; and every now or then, when the
bat bags get worn out or pretty well used
up to hNhNAoA h"n n stb MAUI IOT All
hands.
Dixwell is not a rich man, but he has a
good income, something like six or eight
thousand dollars, and when the Brother
hood revolt came he stood by the Players
and was persuaded to invest a large sum
of money. He will probably get something
out of the sec, 900 now in a receivers hands
in Cincinnati. The other of his invest
ments is stock in the Boston american
association club. 1t is doubtful II he will
ever get many dividends from that hold.
ing.
Dixwell keeps books of records of all the
Association and League players. He even
has duplicates-one made from the scores of
the Boston Globe, and the other made from
the scores OF the Boston Herald. He does
this, he says, so that he can compare them
at the end Of the year. This alone shows
the true simplicity OF the man. He spends
"A great deal Of time on these figures, and
fairly revels in them. He goes to all the
games, keeps himself very quiet in a front
seat, and it is only when the Bostons make
a good play, score a run, or win the game
that he is heard from; then he lifts his
head and shouts, Hit hill hill This is Dix
well as he is-a good natured old man, al
most crazed on baseball, and yet, withal, a
man who can talk intelligently with you
on many other topics.
The rest of my eastern cranks are intel
ligent men, who love the game and make
a fad out Of it. They never fail to go to
the games, il they can do so without inter.
fering with business. The owner of one
of our most popular racquet clubs, whose
name withhold, and another crank known
as Mr.. Chapman, always sit together in a
box, without any outside demonstrations
of approval. They are my studious cranks;
they never miss a game, and they are al
ways figuring II there is not some way to
win a game or improve the team. Their
calculations seldom pass beyond them
selves. Both of them, last summer, got an
idea that | knew pretty much everything
that was going on the inside. / frequently
visited them in their box and told them
what | knew, which was generally very
little.
Among the enthusiastic cranks may be
named Nick Engel, Digby Bell, Jimmie
Adams, DeWolf Hopper, and a dozen
others of their class. There is an impress
sion abroad that Mr.. Engel, who is a boni-
face, is only a crank for business purposes.
This is entirely untrue. know him pretty
well, have travelled to Philadelphia with
him a great many times to see games, and
know him to be a Simon-pure crank. He
would rather see a ball game than eat the
finest dinner, and that is saying a good
deal, for Nick is a good liver. He never
misses a game. Nick has another fad, and
that ID the monograph die has an ele-
giant machine, and he is ready to keep it
grinding out tunes all day for you II you
listen to them. He is n close observer of
the games. and | only know of two harder
losers than Nick. They are Hopper and
Bell. They never miss a game where the
New York team plays if they can help it.
Hopper watches the game closely. and
makes a running comment upon the play
ing. In fact he talks so fast that few OF
those near him can understand what he
says.
Bell is very quiet. He sits with his cane
clasped in his hands up under his chin and
watches the game intently. From time to
time during change of innings Bell makes
many cutting m regarding the
game. His face is the best indication OF
his feelings. He has one of the most ex-
pressive faces of any actor on the stage.
When the Giants are losing, Digby's face is
intense in its unspeakable regret, and
sometimes disgust. When they are win
ming and have a dead sure thing, the moon
itself is not more refulgent than Digby's
round set face.
Another great crank among the actors is
Maurice Barrymore. He is crazy about the
game, and always tries to get a seat among
the reporters, by whom he is much liked.
w. l. HARRIS
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