The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-08-13

|
| pelota.
1t is as much more scientific than
baseball as baseball is than the old
| fashioned town ball that all men over
| 40 have played in their boyhood. 1t is
| peculiarly Spanish game. and what
makes it stranger it's players are alone
| from the province of Basque, and the
successful players are all Basques the
world over.
1t is more like racket than any other
| game. An Englishman seeing it for
| the first time pronounced it in his en-
| thusiasm, "glorified racket" 1t has
also some of the features of handball,
although a more difficult game to play.
requiring at all times the greatest ac
! tivity and vigilance.
If person has any knowledge of
| handball or racket he or she can easily
| understand how pelota is played. The
| game can be played with three on a
| side, but is more often played with two
| on a side, and sometimes player
against player, each for himself.
| Such games are called pardios. In
order to simplify this article l will de-
| scribe game of four players, two on
| each side:
1t is a difficult game to describe to
one never having seen it, but / will at
tempt to do so from memory. The
| court or fronton, as called, in which
the game is played. is $50 feet long
| ~ ltel Wlue he TRACK Ut space 1IOTl
front to rear wall is made of asphalt
| UNI.
! The front wall against which the ball
| is thrown or served from basket is
60 feet 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 compact of
the balls that even the best cement is
often ground to powder. The whole
| ground is enclosed by walls and is in
| the shape of parallelogram to ex-
clude the outsider and to protect the in
| siders who 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, promenades and all the Access
sories of a spectacular show, or all of
| this may be on the inside wall.
The building is sometimes covered by
| a 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 un-
! der 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 rs feet
| back from the front wall and serves the
| ball against it. '3
This player is called in Spanish the
| "delantero," or front man, or more fire.
/ quently he is called the server and
| he is required to have a sure eye, agil-
| ity and judgment, for sometimes it is
| his game ito smash or knock the ball
just above the line, IS inches above the
! ground-sometimes 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. as he is called must be endowed
| with exceptional speed and foresight,
and must be able to gauge what his
| opponent on the other side is going to
| do with a ball, by either giving it "a
smashing lick" or one that will just
| land it above the line on the wall.
When the ball is served by the
| delantero one of his opponents, the front
| or rear one, must return the ball before
| it has struck the ground more than
| once, or catch it in the basket on the
| fly and return it against the wall. In
! a strongly contested game each OF the
| players is active in catching and re-
| turning the ball against the front wall,
| from his respective place of action.
| When the server or his partner misses
| catching the ball his side goes out and
| the other side takes the ball in hand
| for the purpose of serving. l have
seen the ball played backward and for
4 ward between the opponents for three
minutes at a time, with terrific speed,
! endurance and activity.
! Such playing often pumps" a man
| out and sometimes he falls exhausted
| and the game is checked for his re-
| covery.
The games often last from one and
| one-half to two hours sometimes two
| and half hours. In the hand of a skill
! full player there is considerable advant-
age in having charge of the ball, as the
player can serve 1t with limited or
greater force, SO throwing the ball
| 1. 70 hoy hon nd
only a few feet from it, or to any dis
lance within so feet.
The game is played for % or IS
points, and each time the ball is missed
counts a point against the side missing
it. The ball is about the size of a ten
mis- ball, made of strips of rubber drawn
until it becomes transparent and is
therefore quite lively indeed in its per-
Torrance when dashed from one of
those baskets against the solid wall.
The bat or basket is a doubly curver
wicker work instrument, two feet long
by four inches wide, quite ungainly In
its appearance, requiring much training
in its use to become graceful and pro-
ficient. Each player wears in his right
hand this basket called "cAlstera
of horn-shaped construction 1t Is
fastened on above the wrist and curves
inward like the palm of the hand. 1t
ends in a tip with a very sharp curve.
tireIy against the impact of the ball,
and enables the player to drive it with
tremendous force.
An athletic and muscular player can
send the ball in this basket to the 'front.'
wall, and bring it to the back wall a
distance, as before said, of $50 feet,
after one bounce only. This ugly-look
ing basket is useful in enabling man
not only to throw the ball from its tip
end with great force. but also to pick
low one out of the corner or catch
one high in the air.
One curious feature about the game
is that two umpires watch il end pre-
vent the players from speaking - 10
another, less they should alto .-
suit in order to profit by the bst
This is very popular game with all
classes in the City of Mexico, especial
ly the better class, the lower class hot
being able to raise the entrance fee. and
this game is not as enticing to them
as a bull fight, which they see at a
smaller. sum. Thousands attend this
game every Sabbath afternoon, and