The Washington times., 1905-05-21
The language
Of Baseball.

a eaptioas Eastern editor recently
committed the egregions b1under of
asking the baseball writer of the Kan
sas City Journal what he means by the
following:
Tinker led Of for the Cubs and
ozoned. Evers slammed a clean single
to left and went TO third on King S
solitaire 20 the same place. Eling pur-
ioined second. Pfeffer sauntered on four
wide ones, and the TO Let signs were
pulled down from ali the bases
With characteristic courtesy and for
bearance the Kansas City Man replied
| as follows:
i In our minds eye we can picture
this Eastern editor as he is. OF course.
he wears whiskers, and they are prob
ably red and cut Van Dyke. He parts
his hair IN the niddle-if he has any
hair-and wears big, round glasses, He
| was the pet of his family and spent his
| early youth in some nice. refined Boston
nursery and never, never played "one-
oid-cat'' in the alley with boys OF his
own age. He never climbed q telegraph.
pole to witness the home team pedal
the bags for a winning game and could
| not have experienced the triumphant
| Joy Of chasing a fol bal. outside the
fence which, wheg garnered. entitled
| him TO q seat on the bleaehsrs.
As the years CT his adolescence
passed this editor always kept at his
work during the long. sultry days OF
summer and never longed for a breath
OF fresh air, the blood-stirring sight OF
| the big green diamond. and the blessed
privilege of roofing for the home team
and hurting picturesque maledictions at
the robber umpire. The editor was stu
dions and carefully avoided sneaking
out to the ball park on a Saturday after
noon and telling his condding wife aft
erward that the reason she could not
reach him 1T his office was because his
telephone was ont Of order. Oh, no.
Our captious brother editor was a mod
eI. The result Is that he has allowed
the world to go by him. He sits in ise-
lated ignorance of the greatest Ameri-
can instItution-basebali.
The absolute poverty Of written lam
guage tc express human emotions was
probably first exemplified when the
stylus and his papyrus pad tried to de-
scribe the first cocoenut-twirling game
between the "Megatherium Mud Eaters
and the "Megalosaurus Giants" From
that time to this the language of sport
has always been In advance of the
ages 1t has outstripped the classical
lists. who are bound by rote and rule.
The baseball writer, with his sleeves
rolled UP and his trasty typewriter eat
ing on a roll of paper Is a maker of
language His is natures own method.
He gets close to his readers because
he is sublimely free from hampering
grammatical form and his vocabulary
Is evolved as he goes along. 1t weaves
itself from the woof of eBeircling smoke
from his malodorous pipe, and as he
, gayly sails out into the boundless realm
| of his red and green imagination he
coyiy picks the choicest idioms and fits
from flower to flower in the glorious
gardens of budding synonym and bloom
| ing metaphor.
The baseball writer writes for those
who understand his linguistic vagaries
and Tevel in the seeming confusion of
his complex pbraseology. He is the
journalistic free lance, who denies the
right of precedent and rides roughshod
over the stichier for literary finish He
knows his readers and they know him.
When he says, Thinker led off for the
Cubs and ozoned" every legitimate,
thirty-thiri degree fan" grasps imme-
/ diately the graphic picture thus painted.
Let the baseball writer alone. In his
very frenzied philology he contributes a
vivid and refreshing contrast to the
monotonous news pages and the weary
ing precision of the nice, round editorial
sentences. And we who also write for
living must confess to a sneaking ad-
mration for his boldness. his origin
aIity, and the easy familiarity of his
style.