The Washington herald., 1908-01-12

ana Gus SleNeTS were rolling match
games in the old Germania alleys On the
Bowery, the tenpin game is only in its
iGfaney.
Since those old days the patronage .h4s
increased in this greater city alone from
a few dozen 10 25000O active bowlers, the
basement alleys have given place to first
floor corner rentals of $500 per year.
there has been the most marvellous inl-
provement in equipment Of continuous
alleys. mneralite balls. automatic pin
spoilers. and yet few bowlers have ever
solved the problem Of how to roll a per
feet score Of 800.
With nearly 100 tournaments now in
progress in this city. in which the 1000
individual bowlers represent a club men,
bership of nearly 10000, there is not one
who can legitimately lay claim 70 the
title Of champion by reason Of having
defeated all other competitors in an open
tournament. II is a game that knows no
distinction between the amateur and pro-
fessional. and although 10000 is an
nuaIly distributed in prize money in in
dividual, two. and five men team tourna-
ments, about the principal work OF the
alley owner is to prevent the entry Of
mushroom teams Of pot hunters who
might win all the money.
Luck in the Game.
The element Of luck in bowling has
probably had as much to do in making
the game popular as anything else. This
is seen in a dozen different ways. An ap-
parently perfect strike hit will leave up
bad split, and the mechanical impossi-
bility Of laying two alleys on which a ball
seemingly delivered in the same way on
each set Of strips will produce exactly the
same result. makes the game difficult The
beginner who manages to make his ball
follow a line toward the headpin for, per
haps. twenty feet before going into one
of the cutters, has no greater difficulty
to overcome than he Of the 20 class who
is trying 10 discover the most effective
ball under certain conditions.
BowleTs have found that the ball
started from the TighJ-hand corner Of
the alley and delivered with the New
York hook is the best, but few OF the
beginners know how 10 deliver the ball
ming motion Of a top and at the same
time curve from the right so as TO enter
the bunch between the Is pins and by
the spinning motion sweep them all from
the alley. Ii is this churning-Up motion
which makes the hook effective, and %
secure il the old method of delivering the
ball with the thumb and f1ngeT-hOles in
a line toward the pins thumb TO the
'front.' has been abandoned. The new
method is to hold the ball as above de-
scribed. but in the backward swing the
thumb is turned toward the body, and
when withdrawn is TO the extreme out
side. Sounds easy. doesn't IL? Well, its
accomplishment is just about as easy as
the spit ball, and the perfect delivery or
the few bOwleTs who have solved the nook
is every bit as clever a scientific accom-
plishment as that Of the great slab artists
in baseball
New Bail Big Help.
The present almost universal use Of the
mineralite or composition ball. which is
made upon the same plan as the pool
ball. has given the pin knights an aver
age OF twenty-five pins over the old lig-
mum vitae sphere which fattened and
shrunk and cracked under use and eli
matte conditions Other Improvements
have been made in obtaining well sea-
soned wood and pins Of even weight, for
the day has passed when the bowler will
accept cheap pins. and only the alley
owner who is in the game for what is IN
It will give his patrons poor lumber and
pins with bottoms returned in the lathe.
The phvsical culture side Of bowling is
one of great interest Every bowler in
the Greater New York event Is in one or
moro other tournaments and also engages
in frequent match games All roll from
fifteen to twenty games on an average
every day from September 10 May, yet
none has ever been forced to quit from
overtraining, which cannot be said Of any
other sport
II is only when one tries 10 compute
the amount Of energy expended upon the
strips that a comprehensive idea is form
ed of the tremendous amount Of physical
strength developed in bowling. Take, for
instance, the exercise of the eighteen men
in rolling one round OF scheduled games.
All use a fun 16-pound ball Of wood or
mineralite composition In eleven games
this ball would be swung on an average
of eighteen times in each gamem, or q
total weight Of 3,16S pounds for each
bowler. This is STOPS pounds, or 80 tons,
for the eighteen bowlers-
Some Interesting Figures.
During the tournament each bowler. II
he should be obliged to roll the full
eleven games in each series, would roll
in S74 games, but, making the maximum
800 games for easy computation, with IS
frames per game. the IS would actually
lift ]. .565, 200 pounds, o. 7S6 tons,
Delivery of the ball is not the only
exercise bowler gets on the alleys, Tho
walking to and from the ball racks and
the customary three steps taken at the
foul line. figured on the same basis as
the lifting. gives each bowler about 1920
feet in each series. or more than . miles
during the Tournaments, and a total or
over 400 miles for all the contestants.
If each bowler should average 200 pins
nar game. or 900 for each series. his
total for the 800 games would be 100000.
Each pin weighs 81 pounds, whien makes
a total of 250g0 pounds Of wood pushed
into the nit. Per Sc, the total amount Of
lumber moved by the IS bowlers is
% $50 600 pounds. or more than l,lsO tons.
which means quite a little amount or
work for the pin settlers.
The distance the balls travel is also
very interesting feature. The length OF
the alleys is 70 feet. which, with the re-
turn. Is about 80 feet since the return
rack is 10 feet longer than the drives. In
each game of 10 frames-2 balls to each
frame-the ball travels an average OF
about $50 times (allowing for strikes), 150
feet or 3, 80 feet. In a series of II games
this is increased to a, 80 feet or Il miles.
For 300 games this means f.025.0O0 feet.
and for Is bowlers nearly 90.00oO00 feet or
6 600 miles, which is going some.
wesleyan Defeats Harvard.
Cambridge. Mass. Jan. 1.-THE Wes-
1n,,arn haskef hall team dafeafed IIarvarf