El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-08-10
Pel0ta, the Spanish Ball Game
Thomas CrendenHe Says it is Far
Scientific Than Baseball and Introduced Here Would
Become Popular.

The following description of the
Spanish game of pelots is furnished by
ex-Gov. Thomas T. Crittenden, whose
residence in the City of Mexico. as
United States consul. gave him plenty
opportunity to judge OF it's merits:
There Is not q more scientific and In
teresting game played anywhere than
pelota.
1t is as much more scientific than
baseball, as baseball Ia than the old
fashioned town ball that all men over
in their young manhood. 1t ia pecu-
liarly Spanish game, and what makes
it stranger it's players are alone from
the province of Basque, and the sue
cesful players are all Basque the world
over.
1t is more like racket than any other
game. An Englishman seeing 1t for
the first time pronounced it in his en-
thusissm, "glorified racket" It has
although a more difficult game to play,
requiring at all times the greatest
activity and vigilance.
If person has any knowledge of
hand ball or racket he or she can east
ly understand how pelota is played.
The game can be played with three on
side, but Ia more often played with
two on side and sometimes player,
against player. each for himself.
Such games are called pardiOs. In
order to simplify this article 1 will
describe a game of four players, two on
each side:
1t is difficult game to describe to
one never having seen 1t, but l will
attempt to do SO from memory. The
court or fronton. as called, in which
the game is played, is $50 feet long, 40
feet wide. The track or space from
front to rear wall is made OF
asphaltum.
The front wall against which the
ball is thrown or served from basket
is 60 feet high, the corresponding wall
in the rear is as high. The playing
wall must be of solid masonry with a
face of smoothly chiseled stone or
brick laid in cement, for so great is
the impact of the balls, that even the
best cement is often ground to powder.
The whole ground Is enclosed by walls
to exclude the outsider and to pro-
tect the insiders VINO have paid their
entrance fee of 81.
The court has no right hand court
in one sense of the word. In it's place
there rises tier on tier of seats, private
boxes, prOmenaGes and all the access
series of a spectacular show, or all Of
this may be on the Inside wall.
The bulldog Is sometimes covered in
by wire netting of large meshes.
Above and over this there is placed on
an elevated floor or rafters some kind
Of substance penetrated by light, and
under all this there is free room for the
circulation of the air. This substance
or cloth or whatever it is called, also
excludes the rain.
The player or pelotaro stands IS feet
back from the front wall, and serves
the ball against it.
This player ia called in Spanish the
"delantero," or front man, or more
frequently he is called "the server"
and he is required to have a sure eye,
agility and Judgment. for sometimes it
Is his game ito smash" or knock the
ball just above the line, 18 inches
above the ground-sometimest to hit it
so hard that it will fly backward the
whole length OF the court, $50 feet.
His partner standing behind. the
back man, ss he is called, must be en-
dowedswith exeeptionalsspeeda and fore
sight, and must be able to guage what
his opponent on the other side is going
to do with ball, by either giving it
"a smashing lick" or one that will just