The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-07-15
WHY DO MEN co TO BALL cAMEs7
Fascination in the Crack Of the Bat and
the Long Hit.

IL
the Long Hit.
Some people will say that men 60 for
! recreation, says Golfers Weekly. True
/! enough. but that is platitude, shal.
, low generality. There are all sorts of
recreations. But. what one Of them
holds a mass of people in business
! hours, day after day, for a season,
and season after season? Men 60 wild
over golf, and not long ago Boston
; manufacturer failed because he could
, not keep at his desk. But every one
knows that the golf spirit is on the
wane. and that an attack of the fever
has its limits-with some month,
with others a year-and there is a
! very large class Of immunes. Taking
baseball in it's own class, that Of the
out-of door sports, it is no exaggeration
to say that it is the one game which
! holds its clientele of enthusiasts year
! after year with so little huctuation
! that the cause ia a mystery. For some
years there had been waning of In
terest, it seemed, in the country, and
many thought the great American
game was about to be suprlanted 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 be-
fore, and so far the attendance at
games in all leagues major and minor
has been unprecedented. 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 it which appeals to the American
| temperament; for, though transplanted,
| it has never prospered, except to q GER
tain extent in Australia and South Al.
rica, where the temperament is very
| nearly American. The Spaniard has
his bullfight, 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 ban.
derillos always plant the barbed sticks
in the bulls necks, and the matador
always kills the bulls. Now and then
q bull will main or kill toreador, but
that is so seldom that it canlct
be that the people go to see. II
| is the love of combat which stire
the Latin blood and the Spanish
cruelty which delights in the spectacle
of bloodshed and death. Wherever
Spanish blood is predominant there one
will find the bullfight. 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 a spare out Of bad break, the
Englishman cannot be weaned from
his dogged game of cricket and helter'
skelter sort of football. 1t is all to
the temperament. And what. then, is
it in baseball, which appeals to the
American temperament?
Perhaps there is an answer to this in
q conversation which befell in Cleve.
land several years ago, when delays Of
travel CHANGED to bring four National
League 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 game in the crowd, GER
tainly four men who ought to know.
One thought the man who made sensa-
tional catches in the field and startling
stops in the infield won popularity;
another thought it was reliability and
steadiness and base running: a third
felt sure a mans carriage, quickness
and cleanress in movement and 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 un-
noticed. 1.-THE crowd likes the crack
Of the bat and the long hit"