The Washington times., 1903-09-07
BASEBALL PROSPERING
NEAR THE NORTH POLE
KlOndike Is Mad Over the
National Game.
BIG CROWDS SEE CONTESTS
TheaterS and Concerts Find the Sport a
Demoralizing Competitor-Four
Teams Battling for Pennant.

Klondike is baseball mad. The Ameri-
can national game has so enraptured
the great Canadian camp under the red
flag of Britain that gold is for the time
relegated to second place in the heart
of the Yukoner.
Four swift teams. composing the Daw-
son league, the most nOrtherly on the
continent, have created great interest.
Dawson has been in delirium of ex
element the last week over contests on
the diamond.
The four teams of the Dawson base
ball league have battled with White
Horse for the supremacy of the north.
The capital of the Klondike has in-
ished with the GREATEST number of games
won to its credit, but the White Horse
team has proved itself a valiant oppo-
nent. Dawson teams won five out of six
games.
The White Horse team played well
each game and was defeated only after
splendid efforts and largely through
hard luck.
Aside from the Dawson White Horse
matches. the regular league games be-
tween the Dawson teams attract the
greatest interest.
| During the matches of the last week
! 2, 600 persons saw each contest.
The big grandstand was crowded at
every game and hundreds lined all sides
! of the grounds. AT the regular Dawson
! league games the attendance averages
| 800 to 1900.
First Baseball League.
The invasion of baseball into the Klon-
| dixie is notable.
The game, though played on British
| soil. has been introduced favorably to
| thousands who are not from the States
and who have been educated for the first
/ time to like the sport.
Games were played in Dawson irregu-
! larly in past season, but this is the first
year that a duly organized league has
taken up the national game.
All games in the Dawson league are
played at night More properly, they are
played after O'Clock in the evening. g
time that would be classed as night tr
most parts of America. where the peo-
pie patronize the game.
The midnight sun of the sub-arctic
summer permits the players 10 see the
| ball as well during the evening as in the
| daytime.
In the month of June games could be
played as successfully at midnight as al
midday.
Games Played After Hours.
! One reason of the big attendance al
/ Dawson is the fact that the game eau
| be played after business hours Many
of the big stores as we'll as shops and
other places are closed after 8 O'Clock
and the outdoor recreation seems 10 have
a more peculiar fascination than shows
or indoor attractions of any other class
| Theaters. concerts and balls find the
baseball games demoralizing competi-
tors.
The Dawson league teams are known
under the names OF Civil Service, Anna
rants, Idyle Hour, and Gandolfos.
The Civil Service team is backed BY
and composed mostly of men in the civil
service employ. that is, in branches OF
the territorial and Federal governments
The Idyle Hours are put IN the field By
the Idyle Hour Club. one of the most
| progressive young mems clubs of the
city. The Amaranths are fostered by q
| young mems social club OF the sam.
name. and the Gandolfos are backed by
! Joseph r. GandOlfos. one of the most
| entertaining of Dawson business men.
The keenest rivalry exists between the
| four teams and the race for the bunt-
| ing is being holly contested.