Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-21
JOHN MONTGOMERY WARD.
How the Famous Player Took His De-
gree and PLAYED Ball.

Athletics in college life have been given
much attention Of late by the faculties OF
the colleges. The subject has often been
hashed over, but at the close Of the last
foot ball season there was more talk than
usual It is gratifying to the lovers OF
athletics that 1t has been well settled that
athletics are an important and most useful
part Of the life Of the college man. The
value Of athletic games has been recog-
nized by the United States army officers
and hereafter they will be officially sane
toned at all the army posts.
A college man. according to the New
York Mail and Express. in talking on the
subject Of athletics as an aid to the mind
because they assist man to have sound
body, cited John Nd. Ward, the former base
ball player, as an example.
II was with him all day." said the
speaker. land / know the exact facts.
The man with the corpus sanum' and the
mems sana' was John Montgomery Ward.
He had been a student in a small college
In Pennsylvania, and had gone along to
about the end Of the junior year. when
his fathers finances went wrong. or per-
haps the old gentleman was taken away, I
don't remember which. and Ward yielded
to the opportunities OF the professional
base ball managers. who had watched his
pitching with envious eyes for several sea-
sons. and were determined to make pro-
fessional Of him II money would do It..
The time came when money was needed.
and Ward became pitcher on the Provi-
dence team. and pitched them into the
championship. But the fact that he had
never taken his degree ranked in him. and
as soon as he could he Joined the New
York team and entered Columbia.
His idea was to become q lawyer, and
he took the full law school course. But he
also found that by presenting his record
from Pennsylvania. and doing the extra
work OF the course in political science. he
could get his bachelors degree also-that
20 tHn ~ D O. ha Ia
winter doing double work, and next sum-
mer he played base ball and made enough
money to carry him through the next year
at college. 1t was pretty hard work. but
he did both jobs well. and that spring he
was made captain OF the New York team.
And that was in the time, now forgotten,
when the New York team amounted to
something. s.--,
when the base baM season opened Ward
was not seen on the diamond During the
early games, and in practice. ne was more
often absent than present About hun
dred thousand Of the cranks worried over
it. did. 1 asked him whether he was 60
ing to quit. All he would say was that
when the first league game came OF he
would be there.
The first league game was scheduled for
the 23d of May. One day about week be-
fore 1 discovered, to my despair, that that
was the day fixed for our final examina-
ton in our two years work in political
science. I went to Ward and told him the
fatal coincidence. He said maybe they
could do without him up at the Polo
Grounds. He'd see.
"On the morning OF the 23d of Nav we all
went into the examination room promptly
at 10 o'clock. At 1:30 John Ward got up
and handed In some thirty pages Of writing.
My paper was not quite finished, but fur-
ried after him as he left the room. found
out afterward that his was good enough to
give him his degree cum laude
From that room he went directly to the
old Polo Grounds. There were IL, 600 people
there before him; also his own team and the
Chicago team. which had come second to
his the year before. At 3 o'clock he went
on the field. At $3.50 the game began John
Ward captained the team and played second
base. It was one Of the closest and most
enervating games In the whole history Of
base ball. When eight innings were over
the score was a tie. Ward had not made an
error. and I had sat for two hours expect
ing him to drop In his tracks every moment
I'm the first half of the ninth inning he
made a stop and throw that converted
1900 lawyers, doctors, brokers and other
wise reputable citizens into $4,000 ma MACS
lunatics, dervishes and otherwise crazy
cranks. And when he came to the bat in
the last half of that Inning. with the score
still a tie. and Herman on second base John
Ward made line hit over second base that
brought in the winning run
Talk about mems sana! He was the
only sane man within five miles of 10th
street LOT an nour a1terWard. And when
his degree was handed to him, down at the
oiu Academy Of Music, where we used to
have our commandments. two weeks later
1 don't believe there were a dozen people
in the great audience that knew why he de-
served the applause he got or why one spe-
cial idiot In the parquet kept on leading the
cheering, as If there had just been another
base hit made at the Polo Grounds"
What a terrible thing 1t is" said the fat
man in the corner. ito think that the poor
devil now Is nothing but a successful law
yer and champion golf player"