The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-05-17

Fascination I'm the Crack of the Bat
and the Long Hit.
Golfers Weekly.

Golfers Weekly.
Some people will say that men go for
recreation. True enough, but that is a
platitude, shallow generality. There are
all sorts Of recreations. But what one Of
hours. day after day, for a season. and
season after season? Men go wild over golf,
and not a long time ago a Boston manu-
facturer failed because he could not keep
at his desk. But every one knows that the
golf spirit is on the wane, and that an at
tack of the fever has its limits-with some
a month. with others a year-and there is
a very large class of immunes Taking
baseball in its own class. that of the out-of-
door sports, it is no exaggeration to say
that II is the one game which holds Its
clientele of enthusiasts year after year with
so little fluctuation that the cause is a mys-
terry. For some years there had been
waning of interest. it seemed, in the coun-
try, and many thought the great American
game was about to be supplanted and go
to join bicycling, croquet and all such, since
the days of the turkey shoot and the barn
raising; but this season there is greater
enthusiasm all over the country than was
ever known before, and so far the attend
ance at games in all leagues major and
minor, has been unprecedented. A genera
ton has come and Is going since the great
Ward was known from ocean to ocean
and still the game lives, the great American
game.
That means that there is something in it
which appeals to the American tempera-
ment; for, though transplanted, ii has
never prospered. except TO a certain extent
in Australia and South Africa, where the
temperament is very nearly American. The
Spaniard has his bull fight, and he will
throne to the arena in thousands each Sum-
day 10 see the same old performance he has
seen scores Of times before There is never
ways gore the horses. the banderillos al
ways plant the barhed sticks in the bulls
necks. and the matador always kills the
kill a toreador. but that is SO seldom that
II cannot be what the people go to see 1t
is the love OF combat which strs the Latin
blood and the Spanish cruelty which de-
lights in the spectacle of bloodshed and
death Wherever Spanish blood is predomi-
nant there one will find the bull fight 1t
suits the Spanish temperament. The Aus
TRAN ard the Russian love their racing
and all that pertains to horses, the German
is fond of the crashing pins of the strike
and the nice calculation OF making spare
out of a bad break. the Englishman can
not be weaned from his logged game of
cricket and helter-skelter sort of football.
1t is all TO the temperament. And what,
then, Is IL in baseball which appeals to the
American temperament?
Perhaps there is an answer to this in a
conversation which befell In Cleveland sew
eral years ago: when delays of travel
CHANGED TO bring four National League
teams together in the same hotel. The sub
ject of any players popularity and the
cause was up. There were four of the most
popular men in the game in the crowd GER
tainly four men who ought to know One
thought the man who made sensational
catches in the field and startling stops In
the infeld won popularity; another thought
II was reliability ana steadiness and ba Sc
running: third felt sure mans carriage.
.quickness and cleanness in movement and
play did the trick, while fourth thought
IL was put-oNs and assists that were the
best pleasers Of the crowd.
You are all wrong. said another who
had come up behind them unnoticed '.The
crowd likes the crack of the bat and the
long hit