Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-23
0LD-T|MER AIRS
HIS BOROUGH" AGAIN
Endeavors to Demonstrate the
Superiority of Base Ball
Forty Years Ago.

This reminds me Of double-ring circus
instead of the good old game of base ball
of years ago. calculated the Old Timer
at the double header extra-inning games q
the Lajoie and Stahl cohorts of a recent
date. Its all right to call it scientific
base ball, and scientific it is. but would
just like to see that old National team
turned loose out here for few games to
show these yelling bleacherites what
real game of base ball looks like. Why,
if it were possible toreincarnate that slug
ging mob of the NatioQal team of 1867 and
bring them once again in their elegant
uniforms to play against some of your
crack pitching staff it would be to the tall
tinpbers for the unfortunate slab artists of
modern times. just think of it. here I sit
watching two games of base ball played
by the same teams, and the actual time
OF both contests is something less than
four hours; but in the good old days we
usually took that time to play one contest.
We hear considerable talk nowadays of
Napoleon Lajoie. the king of batsmen and
second basemen. and Jake Stahfs wonder
full work at first base. In their way they're
all right and they handle the goods easy
and skillful, but what's to prevent them
doing it. anyway? They are equipped with
gloves that are sufficient to stop thirteen
Founders. and they ought to hide them
selves every time they make an error.
Played Without Gloves.
But reverse 1t ana send them back to
the halcyon days of the game. and they
would be among the also ran. Why George
Wright was equal to Lajoie and Billy
Fletcher would cause Jake to look with
envieus eyes at his work. You know there
were no catchers or players mitts then,
it was all bare hands; and Doug Allison
down at the post Office. can show you a
beautiful pair Of hands from the warfare
Of those days. They used ball in the
games called a bounding rock. and 1t was
so lively that an ordinary bunt would
send it afield like rifle shot, while
whack by George Fox would cause the
grass to sizzie as the ball sped toward the
FEEDERS. l have seen those bare-hand play
ers make just as clever plays as these
modern equipped giants Of the present
game, and must confess have also seen
them make just as many glaring errors:
but that's part of the game Just as much
as the other parts. In those days errors
did not figure in the score sheets, were
never mentioned, hence every player made
heroic attempts to take everything in sight,
and again. there Is where old base ball has
decided vantage over the present SCI
entific game. We gagged mans work by
the way he played and the amount of en-
thusiasm he put In it. never taking into
thought the misplays he made going after
=
artists scan the error column with more
eagerness than they do an invitation to
dinner. and 1t would elevate the tone of
the game II this factor was eliminated from
professional base ball.
An Old Game Recalled.
Two games In one afternoon makes me
think am stung when recall that game
played by the Nationals and Unions of st.
Louis on July 81, 1887. It was a contest
that took just four hours and thirty-nine
minutes to play, and the score was only
lib to % In favor of the Nationals 1t was
a contest worth seeing: and I say these
two that we have witnessed were like a
two-rlng circus as against a continuous
performance, and. as between the two
styles, hang on to the continuous as the
better. Without entering into a detailed
description of that notable game-and /
have 1t home in my base ball archives-the
publication Of the block score In vogue in
those days will show you what single
game was like. as against the modern
double headers, where generally It's draw,
each club winning one game and not prov
ing which Is the better. Here Is the score
OF that game: