Evening star., 1898-08-27
Good Progress Has Been Made in the
Last Ten Years.
SCORE CARDS NOT POPULAR
Prizes Offered and All Players Are
Amateurs.
SPECTATORS LIKE BIG SCORES
From the Strand Magazine.

! late themselves on the great strides which
their favorite game is at present making
| in England. Dozens of different games are
| Included in that compendious expression
| sport, but very few Englishmen will ad-
| init that any form of it comes up to
cricket although in the winter months,
which are off months as regards cricket
| many VIII indulge in a somewhat violent
| Irritation with foot ball. The prospects of
| the game have wonderfully increased since
| its introduction to England in the year 1874,
| just twenty-four years ago TWenty-four
| years certainly seems rather long infancy
| for any game, but it cannot honestly be
| said that base ball was properly brought
| to the attention of the great British public
| until five years ago. The game played in
| 1874 was between the Bostons and Phia-
delphia Athletics, who We're making a tour
| through the country, giving number of
| exhibition games. But, as was wofully ap-
| parent afterwards. they did not go the
! right way to work to show the game in the
most favorable light. Their play was ad-
| mittedly skiful, but as a matter of fact
| it was too much so, and the spectators
were una bic TO follow and understand it,
and the chances of base ball taking even
| loWly little place among the various amuse-
! mentS of the English were few indeed. AS
I far as arousing any interest in it was
| concerned, the game was acknowledged to
| be a failure by all, including the players
| themselves. And SO for fifteen years all
! efforts TO make it popular in England were
| abandoned.
| It's Real Introduction.
In 1889 what may be called the practical
''sendof' of the game took place, and
would undoubtedly have been a success but
! for one thing-the weather. The presence
| of the Prince of md
the match took place at the historic Ken
nington Oval, which, during the summer
| season, is now devoted exclusively to
| cricket. and where all the great matches
between the champion counties are played.
| But the English were accompanied to the
ground by one of their world-famous fogs,
and an occasional ghostly figure fitting to
| and fro was all that could be seen. To
| those who thoroughly understood the game,
| it was magnificent exposition; but those
assembled were for the most part novices,
| and knew as much about Americas ma
| tional sport the average schoolboy does
| of politics; and, as an exhibition game, the
extent o. its success in populariZing base
| bail was about equal to that achieved by
| the Bostons and Philadelphia Athletics
| fifteen years previous. But the ice had
broken, and the oval match was talked
| about The presence of royalty helped in
measure, and some Americans who hap
| peneG at the time to be resident in England
| base ball enthusiasts-taught a few Eng
| lish friends how to play and the ball then
| set rolling has not yet stopped.
| Steady Progress In London.
The game made steady progress in the
north Of England and in the midland coun-
| ties, but in the south, strangely enough,
where the first exhibition game wes given,
| it languished. Any game which is worth
while playing always finds a welcome
among the hardy miners and workers in
the great manufacturing towns of the
| north. and it very soon became popular
| there. In 1898 the National Base Bail As
| sociation of England was started, and in
| the following year the London Base Ball
| Associa ton was formally incorporated. In
| this year there were five base ball clubs in
| London-the Us, Remingtons, Electrics,
| PoStmen and Thespians, the then cham
| pion team. The games now played are all
| of them seriously contested, and quite
| aside from the prizes to be won, which are
many of them very valuable, the honor of
| becoming the champion team of the year
is much coveted and hardly fought for.
| Of course, the greatest supporters and
players of the game in London are the res
| ident Americans but the number of Eng
| lish converts are increasing every day, and
| are assisting to promote the game in
| every way in their power. When they
compare it TO cricket, it is not at all TO tho
| advantage of the latter. One way in which
| they think it decided improvement en-
| cricket is the number of times player
goes in to bat.
Base Ball VS.. Cricket.
A team of cricketers, watching a game in
progress at The Crystal Palace grounds
| were 5omewhatt amused at what seemed
| to them the extreme simplicity of it all,
| al consequently, as means of showing
what a superior game cricket was to base
| ball, declared they could play base ball far
better thai any base baller there could
| play cricket A match was arranged. and
| the cricketers were allowed to play seven
teen men against their opponents nine. In
addition to this they We're given the ad-
vantage of five put outs per inning, but
in the end only managed to secure six runs
to forty-seven. As might have been ex-
pected. their Scoffing was changed to admi-
ration; they Immediately, showed an incli-
! nation to understand the game thoroughly,
and many of them are now among the
leading English exponents of the game.
Several intercricket and base ball games
| We're play ed during the season. chiefly aris-
ing from the foregoing incident.
The interest which the general public
now take in the game is deep-seated, and
1t is to be hoped lasting. Especially is this
so in the north. AT first it was as much as
could be done to get an English audience
by a liberal supply of paper" but now
adays they pay their shillings as Willingly
to see base ball match as they formerly
did for cricket. Even the small boy in
England has learnt the game. One thing
in connection with the game the public
have not tackled, and that is the score
card. Most of the spectators refuse to
trouble about 1t. They like the excitement
ana fun. and the little intricacies of the
score card are ignored for the time.
/ The scoring-board was Iut up long after
the game had been successfully played in
Ell gland, and although the English people
understood the intricacies of the diamond
they had yet to learn the more puzzling in !
tricacies Of the scoring-board. For days
during the most interesting games the at
tention of the crowd was riveted upon this
remarkable puzzle. even to the detriment
of the fine play on the diamond At last,
however, they began to understand, and at
present the scoring-board, in the latest
American style, is prominent feature of
all the English grounds.
Big Scores in Favor.
Base ball sports" know that the quality
of game Is shown by the number OF runs
made by the opposing teams. and that the
smaller the score the better the game usual
ly is. Consequently in the games between
the National League teams, whera the
science of base ball is shown to the high
est degree, the scores are generally small,
ard often nins innings are played without
a single run being put up on the boards