The Washington times., 1903-05-28
WHY DO MET GO TO BALL GAMES
Fascination in the Crack Of the Bat and
the Long Hit.

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 them holds a mass of people in
business hours, day after day, Tor {
season and season after season? Men
go wild over golf, and not a long time
ago Boston manufacturer failed be-
cause he could not keep at his desk
But everyone knows that the golf spirit
is on the wane. and that an attack OF
the fever has its limits-with some q
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, 1t is no exaggeration
to say that 1t is the one game which
holds rs clientele of enthusiasts year
after year with so little fluctuatIon thar
tue cause is mystery. For some years
there had been waning of interest, it
seemed, in the country, and many
thought the great American game was
about to be supplanted and 60 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 attendance at games in all leagues
major and minor has been unpreceden1-
ed a generation 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 1t which appeals to the American
temperament; for, though transplanted.
II has never prospered, except TO a Ger
tain extent in Australia and South At
rica. where the temperament is very
nearly American. The Spaniard has his
bullhght, and he Will throng to the
arena in thousands each Sunday TO see
the same old performance he has seen
scores of times before There is never
any doubt about the outcome; the bulls
always gore the horses, the banderillos
always plant the barbed sticks in the
bulls necks, and the matador always
kills the bulls. Now and then a bull
Will main or kill a toreador, but that is
so seldom that II cannot be that the
people go to see. 1t is the love OF COM
bat which stirs the Latin blood and the
Spanish cruelty which delights in the
spectacle of bloodshed and death. Wher-
ever Spanish blood is predominant there
one Will find the bullfght. It suits the
Spanish temperament. The Austrian
and 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 max
ing spare out of bad break; the Eng
CduuOl nc Hcdncu from his GOg-
ged game of cricket and heller SHELTER
sort of football. 1t Is all to the tenn
permanent. And what, then, is IL In
baseball which appeals TO the American
temperament
Perhaps there Is an answer TO this IN
a conversation which befelI in Cleveland
several years ago, when delays of travel
CHANGED TO bring four National I.eaRpe
teams together in the same hotel The
subject of any players popularity and
the cause was up. There were four OF
the most popular men in the same IN
the crowd. certainly four men who ought
to know. One thought the man who
made sensational catches IN the field and
startling stops IN the inheld won popu-
larity; another thought 1T was RELIABLE
ity and steadiness and base running;
third felt sure q mans carriage, quick
ness, and cleanness In movement ana
play did the trick, while fourth
thought 1t was put-outs and assists that
were the best pleasers OF the crowd.
You are all wrong" said another.
who had come up behind them IN
noticed 1.-The crowd likes the crack CT
the bat and the long hit. - Collier
Weekly.