The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-16
Worcester Bowlers Have
Made it Popular.

SOUND WITH the merry aim OF fclltf1S
balls and falling pins. ii III
The season is not yet fairly9on.s In
fact it viii be a month yet before each
member or the good-sized army OF To-
CAL peWlsrs us in the gaI9e, The1sey-
cry alley HI the six or seven local es 1
adjustments, as wet az those At the
private clubs, will be In use all through
the evenings. Last season was mem
orable in the history of candle pin
bowling in Worcester, and the coming
year promises to be equally interest
ing. Definite plans have not been for
mulated by the local cranks, but al
ready there is sufficient activity in the
ranks of the men to show that there
is to be no waning in popular interest.
Worcester, by the way, is the birth
place of the candle pin game; the local
bowlers are it's sponsors. Five years
ago, when every other city interested
in bowling was occupied with the reg
ulation pin game. now all but extinct
here, the Worcester bowlers had been
rolling at the small pins for a round
decade. They first discovered that far
more skill could be developed in bowl
ing candle pins than could possibly
be employed when the big pins and big
balls were being used.
Other cities, following Woroester's
lead, have swung into line, so that to-
day in many places there is as much
candle as regulation pin bowling. The
game is constantly increasing in popu-
larity and the proprietors of alleys in
other cities, where four years ago a
candle pin match was looked upon as
more or less of a curiosity, now find
that If they are to keep abreast of the
desires of their customers, their alleys
must be equipped with the smaller pin.
In Boston one finds both candle pin
and regulation pin bowling, with the
devotees of the former game slightly
in the majority. More Hubbftes tried
to knock down the smaller pins last
year than ever before. In the two Wor-
eeSter county places, Fitchbury and
Webster, the candle pins have the call,
presumably because of the close con-
nection of the bowlers with Worces-
ter and Worcester interests. But then
at Marlboro, less than 20 miles away,
very few candle pin games are rolled
There everybody takes to the big pins,
and the same is equally true at South
bridge, where candle pin matches are
the exception rather than the rule. At
Springfield there is a little candle pin
bowling, as there is regulation pin
bowling in this city. The city by the
Connecticut is thoroughly Interested in
the regulation pin game and looks up
on the candle pin bowler as a mere
yearhng-a man who has not the
strength nor the ability to be a success
with the big balls.
But all through the advance in
popularity of the game the local candle
PIN men have retained their position
at the top Of the list. The worlds re-
cords for five strings in competition
$50 pins, made by Hennessey, at the
time bowling on the Winthrop team
the record for 100 consecutive strings
and the l0-hour continuous candle pin
bowling record, all belong to the credit
OF men whose instruction in bowling has
been acquired in Worcester. Not only
are many bowling. records Held by local
men, but Worcester's candle pin bowl
ers, as a class, are far better than those
Of other cities. Glance over the sum
mary OF candle pin match in which
any one of a half dozen local teams are
participants and compare it with the
summary of match in Boston or
Providence and the superiority of the
local men will be apparent.
But it is not alone in the score that
the skill of local bowlers asserts itself
The men who play the game in this
city bowl in far better form than those
of other cities. There is less waste en-
ergy in their delivery. They do not run
up to the line with each ball as in the
case with so many of the visiting bowl
ers. Worcester men take a single step
before the ball leaves their hands
Again the cross ball, which expert
bowlers in other places are beginning
to take up, is a Worcester production,
Nearly all of the best local mon use
this ball a great deal.
In this connection it might be noted
chat there is a popular instrumentation
among bowlers between a cross ball and
a curved BALL. Many bowlers believe
they are using a cross ball when IN
reality a simple curved ball is being
employed. The effective points of con-
tact at frame are between the head
and quarters or between the quarter
and the adjoining pin The curved bah
and the cross ball each seeks to reach
that most effective point But the paths
pursued are different. The curved ball
starts down the alley straight, but
being delivered with a twisting motion
Of the wrist, soon begins to curve and
is still eurving when the frame is
reached.
The cross ball, on the other hand is
rolled without the sembIance Of a curve
but crosses from one side of the allev 10 |
the head or quarter pin in n
straight line. The cross ball is deliv
cred fairly, but moves down the alley
at an angle that remains cons4abt |
throughout. The cross ball is more ef- |
fective than the curved ball from tha |
reason that the different problems of
curved lines and their computation is !
absent. 10
The popularity of the candle pin game |
in this city is due to the large numbe,
of candle pin teams maintained in tbie /
city; inversely one reason for the an
sence of regulation pin bowling. on tbe
alleys is the lack Of regulation min
teams. The young man taking M
bowling as pastime naturallv az
pires to that Nranch of the snort i, |
which ne can acquire a reputation |
Candle pin bowling with the large
number of teams always on the Iooi, !
out Tor promising men, answers bie
wishes. He thus begins candle Mn
bowling in the hope borne manv tir9ae
of enthusiasm of youth, that event
ually he will be one of the leading car
die pin bewlers of the city. And If IL
Just IN the same way Nhat the leading |
bowlers at the small game have been
developed and risen to the front
local bowling alley proprietor. fila
a representative of The Spy, last even |
ing, that there were 10 candle MI,
games bowled to every inquiry for He
big pins. The proportion has heay
gradually growing larger each year
and this winter there bids fair to he
practically no big pin games. last
year the Junction Foundry team mn /
dertook to create an interest in big
pins, but a defeat Of over 600 nins i, |
one night put the Junction foundry |
bowlers forever out of the game. ike |
wise this season team from the Win
throps went up to Fitchburg to howl
big pins They were defeated bv 164
pms, and now they, too, have no use
for regulation size pins
There is talk of organizing the City