Evening star., 1909-03-07

There's r heated sort OF a chaw going
on In certain newspapers over here as 10
whether, beginning with the approaching
season. base ball slang should or should
not be deleted from the base ball re-
porters' accounts OF the games.
It's heated for the reason that the fell
lows who know how TO spill the base ball
slang naturally enough don't see any
good reason why they should be asked 70
can their speciality. whereas the chaps
who can only write Il straight account of
the games and of the news of the players
are maintaining that the slang stuff Is
unnecessary, unintelligibie.- undigniiied.
hurtful to the real interests of the
game" and other syllabubish things OF
that sort
All Il matter of taste, hombreys.
There's some Of the fans as likes the
slang thing, whereas there's others what
don't. But there isn't the smallest likeli-
hood that anybody in the base ball re-
porting business is going to flag or switch
his style on account of the present acri-
moniouS argument.
There are a good many thousand OF
fans in this country who've always eX-
Uacted heap of solid nourishment in pc
rusinS the base ball stuff of Charley Dry-
den, the highest-paid base ball writer IN
the business, and il Charley can't spill
"
ball yard recounter who ever took ms
typewriter In hand then the present
writer never copy-read a line of that per-
sons stuff Sam Crane. good old war
hawss OF the game, both as player with
the antique Detroit champions of the
stone age and as writer on base ball top
ics IS there with a line of the patter that
sounds like Chuck Corners getting out
a gist of copyrights on new ones, aud Yet
there are some hundreds of thousands or
Cruel and pap until they have ascertained
what Sam has to say about base bail
things. Bozeman Buiger, the Swat Mill
gan man. squats out on the firing line
with an assortment OF cunnin ditch ola
logue that has a lot of imitators. and
Bose is one OF the widest-read boys now
uncoiling base ball junk. And so on.
On the other hand there are. undenia-
bly,. very great many base ball enthu-
siaStS who don't like the slang stuff at
all. They want the straight goods about
the game, with no patter OF embeliish-
mentS Whatever, and some of them want
1t that way SO badly that they often SIT
themselves down during the base ball
season and write VARY indignant letters
to newspaper sporting editors demanding,
yes. sir, demanding that the slangfui
stuff shall be eliminated and the straight
line of base ball argument substituted eX-
clusively therefor.
All a. matter Of taste. let's say again.
AS for the present writer. he's all for
the straight junk He doesn't use any
slang himself. consequently he's deadly
opposed to anybody else using It..
Raus NIT the slangistsi They're "un-
dignified" and improper, durn EN-!
* ::
There's going to be the mightiest swoop
of the racing gang in old Baltimore
town when the spring meeting at Pim-
lco begins that ever was seen or heard
Of anywhere near Chesapeake bay. Baltl-
more Is the final haven of refuge for the
racing folks in the east, and the inside
racing people are not expecting that
that citadel will be kept from toppling for
very long inasmuch as plans already
have been formed by the anti-racers to
start the nix-nix campaign against
PimIico, But it IS a sure thing
that this spring. anyhow, there IL
be class Of horses jogging around at
Pimlico such as that old track never saw
before and may never see again after TINS
year. The finest in training or to be
trained in North America will be there.
Of course. good many of the stars or
the last few years crops OF thorough
breds have been sent to race In England
and France, but even so there are hun
dreds of crackerjacks still on this side
that are only good for fertilizer il they
can't be raced for their feed bills some
where or other, and horses of kind, too.
that have never before participated in
anything but stake races right around
here On the New York tracks. These
will be sent over to Baltimore by the
carload for the Pimlico spring meeting,
and as 1t has been given out that there
will be no interference with the spring
meeting, anyhow, all of the racing folks
who haven't gone into the soap and
starch line over here-and there are many
of those, too, never forget-will be hop
ping down to look 'ern over at Pimlico.
There are conflicting stories about how
long the game will last around Baltimore.
| was told by one OF the antt-racing peo-
pie the other day that the racing folks
were more strongly entrenched in Mary
land than anywhere else In the country
where the meat-aX has been got out
for the game by the reformers. whereas
another man. also an anti-racer. told me
that he would be greatly surprised If
there should ever be another fall meeting
at Pimlico. You pays your money and
you takes your choice, but it's the one
large guaranteed special anyhow, that
the forthcoming spring meeting will be
the hottest affair of its kind in Pimlico' S
old, old history.