Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-11

N oDAY in Chicago January meets
December In the billiard world.
= Willie Hoppe, just past his major
ity. will contest for championship hon
ors with Jake Sehaefer, literally grown
gray in the game. But young Hoppe is
not presumptive for all that, From the
age of Is he has been a star performer
at billiards. In 1906 Hoppe did unpre-
cedented tricks with the cue, playing
the ISL balk-line game. He met Lau-
rice Vignaux, perhaps the best player
France has ever produced, and made
that brilliant cue artist bite the dust
of defeat. That was In January. In
March he met George It. Slosson, the
veteran of them all and still player of
championship class, and won the
worlds championship at the 1871 halk-
line from him. He then met his pres
ent opponent in October and trained his
banner in defeat With this wonderful
record of successful playing he went
abroad and collected some scalps there
FIe has played some championship
games at the 1879 balk-line, but has not
been as successful In this as In the
other game. He forfeited his title to
George sutton when he went abroad,
and sutton in turn lost 1t to Schaefer,
from whom Hoppe Is trying to regain
it, Schaefer has perhaps lost some OF
his form i'm recent years, but he Is stu
doing some wonderful work. He has
held a half dozen championships in his
time. and In winning the present one
he made worlds record for the high
est run ever scored by a biIliardist--
100 at the 1871 balk-line.
Balk-line billiards is an evolution
born of necessity, To the average NOR
tai the game of billiards seems nara
enough as played by the ordinary man,
To think of playing q whole game With
out single slip looks like an impossl-
BILE feat. To the amateur 1t probably
is. But the professional long ago
learned the high art of cushion nurs.
ing" and found therein a means OF
carrying q game on to the end without
the loss of a point. Then came the
balk-line. 1t was invented to render
cushion nursing" impossible. Lines
were drawn parallel to the four sides
OF the table, first at one distance ana
then Mt 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 number OF
shots to which he is entitled there
after. The further away from the
cushion the balk-line is drawn the more
difficult does the game become. The
leading professionals now play with the
1S-inch bAlk line. Some years ago Inc
14-inch line was the standard Win
them, but even that had to be increased
to meet the growing skill of the play
ers. The 1871 game is the most difiicuit
professional game played.
Another form of billiards eliminates
the balk-line. but is about equally diff
cult. It is known as cushion billiards..
III .cl,f ton r6 g
the most scientific game of this kind.
The object of the player is to make the
cue ball take three cushions before
striking either one or both of the other
balls. To properly reckon all the es-
sentials, force direction, etc, and have
the ball pursue it's calculated course Is
10 do that which beginner would cali
impossible, and yet at n recent New
York amateur tournament fifty points
We're made in a hundred innings
The game OF billiards has been maxi
ing wonderful strides In respectablnty
In recent years. In times gone by 1t
was looked upon as sort of tavern
game the billiard table having been a
prominent feature of the old time tav-
ern and tippllng house. But billiards
and pool are essentially not drinking
games. No heavy drinker was ever a
successful player with the cue and the
ivory balls. Steadiness OF hand and
eye, imperturbable temper and exact
dynamic calculation are absolutely es-
sentlal in the game, and 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 club rooms throughout
the country have been equipped with
billiard tables, and the game has eeen
largely rescued from the i'll repute
into which 1t had one. time fallen.
The game is in great favor as an af-
ter dinner sport. There is Just enough
mentai and physical exercise in 1t to
make II the ideal indoor pastime. 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 in the estab-
lishment. Some OF them go so far as
to make these rooms absolutely sound
proof, so that those who are playing
will not disturb the other members OF
the household. Some of the tables In
the homes of the wealthy are rare spe-
cimens of the cabinet makers art. They
are beautifully carved and have the
richest OF inlay work, all of which
brings their cost up into the thousands,
One of the most beautiful tables ever
built was made as present for Ade-
lima Patti. the great singer.
The origin of billiards is involved In
doubt. That 1t was played in crude
way before the Christian era is asserted
by many. Shakespeare refers to il In
| "Antony and Cleopatra" and Spensei
talks of II in his Mother Hubbard
Tales" Wherever 1t came from, the
fact remains that Louis XIV was very