The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-11-03
BASEBALL
LEAGUE FINISHES
First Pennant Race Fought
Out Between Four
= e..

.aSe. GAcileIlent IN mis- city has been
at v heat for q month owe the
pattle;. Even the British, Germans,
french Japanese, Portuguese and
Chinese were displaying keen interest
n the race before 1t ended, and of
course the American colony Of about
1000 talked and thought nothing
Baseball had been rather sporadic
IN these parts until the league was
organized. 1t was only a four.cIub
AFFAIR. but people in the United States
and especially in the big league cities
can nave no idea Of the wild excite
a bunch Of rabid American base
Dali tans. stuck Off $1,000 miles away
from a big league, can get up over
q little league of their own.
Ihis' league was organized in the
middle of the summer by William L.
Norman, manager Of the American
trading company; Thomas F. Willard.
editor, OF the China Press, the new
APPROPRIATENESS daily newspaper
which Is being published here. and
e w. Wolsiffer Of the British Ameri-
can Tobacco company.
OF four teams entered two were
chosen from among residents of
Shanghai. most by Standard OIL and
Brittsh-American Tobacco company
men and two from the American navy
chosen from the crew of the gunboat
Helena, which was stationed here ali
summer.
The beautiful grounds of the shang.
hal Recreation club formed the scene
OF combat. Un Saturdays all business
stops at l o'clock and the whole for
eign community repairs to the re-
creation field to enjoy the various
sports.
The Shanghai and Navy baseball
teams have been rivals for several
years. but only occasionally got to-
gether for games. When it was once
proposed that a league be formed
there was doubt of its being possible,
but the whole community seized upon
the. idea with the result that a meet
Ing was called, and inside of a week
the whole matter had been arranged,
teams selected and schedule ANNOUNCE
ed 1t was decided that the best Of
shanghai's ball players should be
divided into two teams of about equal
strength and that the players on the
Helena should be apportioned in a
similar way.
On the Helena the teams we're d.
vided on the basis of about and be-
low decks. n team being called, the
Engineers and the other the Swans.
The rivalry between these two teams
even before the first game was SO in
tense that. by the time the schedule
brought them. against each other over
$4,000. had been bet on the n game.
The Engineers won it. Hf.
One Of the Shanghai teams, called
the Red Sox, and the two navy teams
~alternated in the lead, all three be-
ing close together all the time. Fin
ally the Red Sox pulled ahead, but
next day the Engineers won both ends
Of a double-header and tied them.
The play-of was the most exciting
gamc of the whole league race. The
Engineers scored four runs in the Sec
ond inning and the score remained
I to 0 until the eleventh inning when
Shanghai got busy. The Red Sox in
that inning piled up five runs. Neither
nantw went to the Red Sox. S to 4. To
the excitement, 1t should
be remembered that about 400 saiE-
ors from various American men-of-
In harbor were present at the
game and about 1900 Americans to
which may be added a good sprink-
ling of other nationalities. The sail
ors have a grandstand all to them
selves, while Shanghai residents and
officers of the navy occupy another
stand with their ladies. The rivalry
OSSWC0A Az S"O 6AdlASSd1luS " S0o
which can make the most noise at a
crisis in the play occasionally stops
every other sport on the grounds.
Next year there will be an eight
club league in Shanghai. In the sea-
son just closed. there were our games
a week. The games started on Tues
days and Thursdays a $500 p. m. and
on Saturdays there was Il double
header. the first game starting at 3
So far as playing ability is con-
cerned, the teams could about hold
their " In any Of the smaller minor
The fans at home may think they
seen some teams wit hthe true
fight-to-the-end spirit, but until they
have seen one of the American navy
teams in action they will not have
the real thing. It is easy to un-
derstand the spirit Of the American
navy once you have seen one OF the
Helena teams fight out a baseball
game. They are the fightingest los
ers hat eve lost. The Shanghai
bunch gave them three cheers and q |
tiger when It was all over.