Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-29
EARLY DAYS OF
COLLEGE BASE BALL

THE annals of base ball for the District
SO far they relate To the gam, back in
It's earlier days would not b. in a complete
SHAPE unless some mention was made of
the part played by Georgetown College In
tive development of the game. r"mtrked
An old G Georgetown student the other day.
This thought was brought To me In the
recent Chicago serbs, when observed two
of its graduates DIR. Harry White and DR..
HUI Hart. going through the preliminary
practice before the game. and my memory
carried me back to whom a student |
had seen the game first played on the did-
mond Of the college. 1t was long ago and
the participants in those games have been
called to many places of trust from the
Supreme. Court bench down through every
piac- where trust and the franchise Of man
could elevate them.
1t Is remarkable, but it is nevertheless
true that since the formation Of base ball
Georgetown. Colege. has turned out
more tirSt-CiaSS players than "ne-hatf OF
the big universities combined. players VINO
have made their mark in til. base ball
world before it became professional and
since. when the game beam, living for
its players | could name hundreds who
became Industrious in the making of base
ball history WHO We're Georgetown students
1t was late In 1855 that the gam. was
first adopted tS the coilcgIans. In the WIN
ter Of that year near.y every on OF the
classes organized teams, baUlSfIEG t'"ir ola
gam. of hand ball when they emerged for
practice IN the spring OF 1856 Each class
gave an appropriate nam 10 ITS team. hut
among them all the StpnewaIS and Brick
steps proved themselves the D-St teams.
and on the days that they played there vas
n run on "BTotAcr Pats pl.S, as each
student rooter deemed it his duty to bet
on. of Pats pies the result
'rhs fast playing of thcse g 'orgetown
boys soon attracted the attention of the old
National Base Ball Club, and the late
Senator German ard Col. Frank Jones. its
chief officers used to make frequent visits
To the campus to watch the boys play
They were much taken with several of the
players and made efforts to have them
inir the Nationa! club after college days
were over. but they could secure only one
q yuumgstcr by the name of George FOX.
Right here l want to pay my tribute to
that yuungster. for he was the greatest
player that. kid. ever got into big
company and when / say this ! can get
scores of the old fellows. those who have
followed the game year after year. nave
seen sta after star. but none or these
ever came up close enough to BE- rival
even OF George Fox He Joined that famous
team OF 1898 and 1861. and at once became
the central figure of that great aSgrega-
ton of .base ball players, though George
Wright. Harry Berthrong. Billy Williams.
Parker. Fletcher and Studley Were among
the number
Ed Deiehanty of the past and Flick. Lum-
ley Ciyner and Stone of the present. but
no one of them compared with Fox as q
batsman. Talking about long hits over
these modern fields with short fences
around them. why. they would have been
easy for Fox and his mighty bat Years
ago when the White Lot was used. the old
slush canal used to run south OF the lot.
around the Monument and between the Ma
tionai grounds and the canal there was a
row IT willow trees in deep center field
Fox planted one over there. the bali hound
ing into the canal. This distance can be
estimated when il is stated that II was about
"A tiTth further removed than the center field
fence is at National Park In the game at
Indianapolis the Sentinel described i hit OF
Fox rs going over two hundred yards be
fore hitting the ground. which shows that
the hoy was certainly wonder with the
stick and We old has beeuS have never yet
sen any one his equal
The first recorded game Of base ball at
Georgetown College took place March -.
1866 between the StOnrwal!s and Quick
steps IT IL Interesting to CLAN q over the
names Of the pia ycrs and recall the inches
th..S. Youngsters OF those days filed III the
public mind in later years White, the
catcher of the Stonewalls. is on the Su-
prcm. Court bench. Semm"s becaTn" Ia
nous in the navy; CamdNeT one OF Ne"
York'S greatest lawyers, I.auas was promi-
neut in southern politics: Fox became d
great ball player. and Bustamdnte also be
cam. famous AZ a ball player, pitching on
the uions of this city and aftrrward intro
durius the game in Cuba. On the Quick
stru side Mallory is {. senator from
Florida Collier the owner of Collier $
W..-kly Abeli of the Baltimore sun and the
Murc. IT, hers mine owners OF Pennsyl-
VIG
y ding of these names will recall
many ant memories by the graduates
s,..sf