The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-03-11
; Billiards and the Balk Line :
ny FRDER1c J. nAsKIN.

BY FRDERIC j. IIAsKIN.
To-day In Chicago January meets
December in the billiard world. Willie
Hoppe. just past his majority. Will CON
test for championship honors with Jake
schaefer. literally grown gray in tha
| game. But young Hoppe Is not pre-
sumptious, for all that. From the age
OF sixteen he has been a star per-
former at billiards In 1906 Hoppe did
playing the 1871 balk-line game. He
1 met Laurice vignaux, perhaps the best
| player Franco has ever. produced. and
made that brilliant cue artist bite the
dust of defeat That was In January.
In March he met George +. Slosson. the
veteran of them all, and still player
OF the championship class, and won the
worlds championship at the 1S-1 balk-
ent opponent In October, and trailed
| his banner in defeat. With this Won
der:ul record Of successful playing, he
went abroad, and collected some scalps
| there.
He has played some championship
games at the 1872 balk-line. but he
has not been as successful in this az
in the other game. He forfeited his
abroad, and Sutton, in turn. lost 1t to
/ Schaefer. from whom Hoppe Is trying
to regain 1t. Schaefer has perhaps lost
| some of his form in recent years. but
/
He has held haif-dozen champion
| ships in his time. and in winning the
4 present one he made worlds record
for the highest run ever scored by 4
! billiardist-100 at the 1871 balk-lne.
Baik-line billiards is an evolution
mortal the game of billiards seems
hard enough as played by the ordinary
/ man. To think of playing. a whole
game without a single slip looks like
an impossible feat. TO the amateur
1t probably is. But the professional
long ago learned the high art Of
cushion nursing" and found therein
a means of CARRYING game on TO the
end without the loss of "a point. Then
came the balk-lne. 1t was invented 10
render cushion nursing impossible.
Lines were drawn parallel to the four
sides of the table. iirst at one dis
lance and then at another. These lines
leave eight spaces on the table. and
when both balls lie within one of those
spaces the player is limited in the
4 number of shots to which he Is entitled
thereafter. The further away from the
cushion the balk-line Is drawn. the
more difficult does the game become.
The leading professionals. now play
I with the eighteen-inch balk.line. Some
years ago the fourteen-inch line was
the standard with them. but even that
had to be increased TO meet the grow
Hing skill of the players, The ISL
game is the most difficult professional
game played.
1 Another form of play eliminates the
balk-line. but Is about equally diff
cult 1t is known as cushion billiards.
Three. cushion billiards Is now about
the most scientific game of this kind.
Tho object of the player Is TO make the
cue ball take three cushions before
striking either one or both OF the
sssn ha force S oeek@a etc., al f
have. the ball pursue its calculated
course, Is to do that which beginner
would call impossible, and yet at a
recent New York amateur tournament,
fifty points were made In hundred
innings.
Z The game Of billiards has been maxi
ing wonderful strides in responsibility
: in recent years. In times gone by II
game" the billiard table having been
a prominent feature of the old time
tavern and tippling house But bill
lizards and pool are essentially not
was ever successful player with the
cue and the ivory balls. Steadiness OF
! hand and eye. imperturbable temper
and exact dynamic calculation are ABB
! they are never in the possession OF
hard drinkers. The day was when the
church frowned down on billiards and
+. pool. But in recent years religious
been equipped with billiard tables. and
! the game has been largely rescued
fom the ill-repute into which 1T had
one time fallen.
The game is in great favor as an
enough mental and physical exercise
in it to make 1t the ideal indoor pas.
time. The number of billiard tables
In private homes in America is beyond
belief. Thousands Of the wealthy have
built homes In which their billiard
rooms are among the most attractive
lin the establishment. Some of then
go so far as to make these rooms alb
are playing will not disturb the other
members Of the household. Some OF
the tables in the homes Of the wealthy
are rare specimens OF the, cabinet
carved and have the richest. of INLAY
work, all of which brings their cost VI
into the thousands. One of the mos
beautiful tables ever built was madt
as a present for Adellna PattL lHe
The origin Of billiards is involved
in doubt. That 1t was played IN !
GRADE way before the Christian era L
asserted by many. Shaksspeare refers
Spencer talks of ii in lis Mother Hub
f bard Tales. Wherever it came from
the fact remains that Louis XIV was
very fond Of It. and under his patron
Il age the game became a most popular
( pastme in France. 1t had It's adven
into America through the spaniaarraaSs
Washington and AlsXande1 Hamilto!
were devotees of the game, as Wer!
[ most OF the men OF that period
Michael Phelan may be said to be til,
father OF the game IN America. III
was one Of the best artists with TIL!
cue that the world has ever produced
Along about the seventies most Of tn
newer features of the game We're add
8 ed, It was changed from a four- BAL
: to a three-ball game about that time
4 the dimensions Of the table war
time. The bals-line and cushioneca car
II roms are features that have reached
development since then.
i The English game OF billiards vnrle
somewhat from the American game
: being a sort Of combination of billiard
and pool as played here, Under thos
- rnnlt%1nro inns hacO hard tn rrnuCL