Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-20
BETTING ON BASE BALL
Little Gambling in Washington
on the Game.
1T is Different ELSEWHERE
Handbooks Are Patronized in Other
League Towns.
COMBINATION BETS POPULAR
Big Odds Against an Eight-Team
Ticket-Women Among the In
vestors in st. Louis.
COMBINATION BETS POPULAR

! vestors in st. Louis.
| While Washington Is uncommonly fond
| of base ball the Washington fans do not
| make the national game a betting medium
| to any extent worth considering. The dero-
| tees of the sport here enter into certain
inconsiderable bit of wagering on the
| games played by the local club at nome
| and abroad. but this takes the form OF bets
| between friends the odds being made mu-
tuaily satisfactory. and the sums ventured
generally small. This isn't to say that
| there isn't a very large betting element
| in Washington. In proportion to its pop
| ulaton, there is probably as great per-
centage Of men addicted to the betting
habit In Washington as in any other Amer
! lean city. The bulk of this gambling eie-
ment in this town is made up of men who
! send their hard-wrung coin along on the
ponies not only during the Bennng ses-
sions. but throughout the year. no matter
| at what tracks the horses are racing. A
\ determined but MOLLY unsuccessful effort
has been made by the District authorities
| to wipe out the raft Of handbook makers
| who cater to-and fatten on the substance
! of-the dreamfuIy fond ones who tumble
! their dog's-eared dope on the horses and
| fancy that they know how to pick the VIM
ners. But handbook maker has yet
| started book here on the base ball re-
| suits. and It isn't likely that any such book
| could be made to pay in Washington.
| Washington fans have never looked upon
base ball as a betting proposition to that
| extent
! 1t Is distinctly different however. with
respect to a number of the other cities
Of the two major league circuits: Base
| ball handbooks are made and heavily pat
| roniZed in nearly all OF the other towns.
! In such cities New York Chicago and
Philadelphia. while the landlords are made.
| their opcrations less noticeable than In
| such cities as Pittshurg ST. Louis. Cleve-
land. Detroit and Cincinnati. Pittsburg.
| perhaps. is the town in which the greatest
| amount Of betting is done upon the ball
games. but Cleveland runs the smoky burg
a good second in that respect, and st. Louis
| pulls up close third
Much Betting in Cincinnati.
| While Detroit is not good base ball
town in respect to gate receipt figures.
there is plenty of gambling upon the games
in the pretty but somewhat melancholy
| lake CITY, The Cincinnati fans venture
their coin very literally or recklessly, az
| the matter may be viewed. upon the ball
| games fact to be noted. by the wav
/ is that rowdyism on the part of base ball
| crowds increases just in proportion to the
! amount of betting that is done on the
games in the towns where the rowdvfSm
| occurs The rooters in such places have
| a financial as well as sentimental interest
| in the outcome of the games upon which
| they have waeered their money. and the
financial interest is in such cases pretty liza
| bic to lay the sentimental interest by the
heels. causing the hettors to take the re-
| hufTs of fortune or sunposititiouslv poor
decisions on the part of umpires bitterly
| to heart.
In cities like Pittshurg Cleveland and
Cincinnati the base bail handbook is a big
part of the days business for the base ball
| hugs In scarcely any of the cities where
| base ball handhnoks are made are the nricc
| kers bothered in the least by the author
| titles. and the base ball handbook is wide
omen in saloons. cigar stores. hotel Hobbies
and rioht on the main streets in front of
| the bulletin boards when the results of the
games are being nosted bv innings
The fans in such towns bet chiefly on the
games in which the home club is one of the
actors but the handbook odds include all
| OF the games of both the big leagues in
| their betting onerations particularly in
| front of the bulletin boards,
Combination Bets
Combination bets on two teams re pop
ular. On the B. Johnson circuit some of
| the punters take daily chance on landing
| a winning combination on all four possible
| winning teams in the American League.
and in the cities of both leagues some of
| the hopeful bettors even shoot al the moon
| by trying to pick the winners of all the
eight games in the two mai or leagues. on
which proposition. Of course. the comhna-
! ton price is invariably very large. Only
| few of these eight-team combination bets
are put over in the course of season in
any of the cities. but the fellow who lands
i, one of them has right to be bit gloat-
| full. for the figure given him Is often
good as so or 100 to 1,
In each of the cities one big handbook
nTnh ino ma 70 Ia nrjn q n
the teams chances. and all Of the smaller
| fry of handbook men follow the chalk of
| the main outfit. Word of the price offered
against the local clubs chance for the day
gets around the town about 10 O'Clock In
the morning, and the prices against all of
the teams chances are available by noon.
The main handbook combine which makes
| the prices has regular system of dope.
which takes into consideration what pitch
ers are liable to do the heaving for the day.
the condition Of the teams players, batting
Slumps. and on.
To match this expert way of sizing up the
situation. the base ball bettors themselves
have system of dope Just as elaborate as
the past performance dope packed around
by the form players the horse races.
The man who bets on the games every day
! has his base ball dope book handy i'm his
pocket, and before he gets his coin down
he runs over the much-bethumbed pages
thereof from which he can tell at a glance
how many games each pitcher has Won
from individual clubs since the beginning
OIL Tue season, the NUMBER OF hltS made OH
him by such and such a club during the
past few games. and thus on. He knows
just how strong the club he is betting
against is on the day of the game. how
many cripples the club Is carrying. the
names OF substitutes for regular players
and their form-everything appertaining to
the game-down to the minutest detail He
even takes into consideration the state of
the weather IN the town where the game
is to be played, just as race track dopesters
calculate upon the condition Of the track
over which their picks are going to rum
Larry Lajoie, for example, claims that his
club can't play decent ball in Washington
during the dog days, on account of what
he as the extreme heat here-though one
remembers some pretty hot summer days
in Cleveland. at that-and Larry's state
ment goes with the betting fans in their
calculations upon the Cleveland clubs mid
summer games in this town
Study Their Dope Sheets.
The base ball dopesters are to be seen
fumbling their dope on their way downtown
in the street cars in the morning and 1t
would seem that most of the young fellows
carry small pair of scissors in their waist
coat pockets for the purpose of cutting the
base ball dope out of the sporting page on
their way to work. Regular base ball dope
book covers, of leather. are sold in the