The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-03-08
Grand Stand and Field.

A baseball lover in Brooklyn here ex.
presses anxiety lest n ~well-known abuse
connected with the diamond may not have
been adequately dealt with at the recent
National League meeting at st. Louis:
ITO THE EpiroR OF THE suS-Sir' I am q great lover
OF the national game and have taken a great deal of
interest in the proceedings of the convention at st.
Louis. particularly that portion looking to the elimi.
nation OF rowGyism from the game. So far as the
action of the managers In that respect goes l think
they have done well, but there Is an almost equally
Objectionable feature that seems to have been but
lightly touched upon, and that is the rowdyism in
the grand stand.
Fortunately. owing to the distance from tho audi.
ence, much of the offensive language heretofore too
frequently used by the players has not reached
their ears. Not so in the case OF the individ.
ual who pays his 80 cents apparently for tho
sole purpose Of stationing himself conspicuously
in the audience. and. with stentorian voice.
greatly augmented by aid of q megaphone. shouts
over the head and into the ears of lis follow
auditors such refined pleasantries as Rotten + why
don't you give EN- the game?' Take him out = How
much did they pay you?' 'Robber! Robber = and
more OF the same sort. only more offensive, kept up
with an absolute disregard OF the presence OF ladies or
the annoyance they cause to the lovers OF the game.
II witnessed many games at Eastern Park last sea-
son. the pleasure Of which was wholly destroyed by
those megaphone fends. usually accompanied by Q
number OF callow youths whose sole ambition seemed
to be to initiate their elders in making themselves as
great a nuisance as possible, and It not infrequently
happened that rowdyism on tho neld was suggested
and encouraged by these rowdies in the grand stand.
I'm q theatre or any public hall such Objectionable
characters would not be tolerated for Q moment.
Why should they be in an audience that pays to wit.
ness q game of ball ? The managers have gone only
half way In their commend able work. I shall be glad
to see them carry It 10 its conclusion. B. ". @.
BROOKLYN, March T."
Rowdyism has fourished in the grand
stand certainly; yet the League men took
the proper means Of suppressing 1t by
suppressing %rowdyism on the field. On the
well-known principle that passions ami
mating the leaders of a mob soon come to
possess the entire body, the players spirit
of rebellion against the umpire's author
ity caught the spectators, and the benches
became echoes of the playground. With
rowdyism squelched there, however, with
the umpire's authority again recognized
as absolute and his decisions as undebata.
BILE, the habit of criticising him will die out
among the onlookers SO completely that
the few disturbers of the peace who fail
to learn that baseball is again to be a we'll
hammered sport will be easy marks for the
police, and in a short while order in the
grand stand will be as perfect as it is on
the field.
An American crowd is by nature the
fairest.minded crowd in the world. Such
parts of it as assemble about the ball
grounds are bound to come to their senses
when the cause of their recent perversion
has been removed. When the axe is laid
at the root the leaves wither and the
branches fall.