Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-21

Some veteran Scotsman played golf when
small boys and have played continuously
for sixty years. while, many players OF
other games retire into golf.
In America presumably the same thing
obtains. In the course Of my wanderings
around Chicago it is interesting to discov-
er many middle-aged men who take to the
bowling alley for their chief means Of ex-
ercise. In England less active middle
aged men may play a little cricket in the
summer. burt many thousands settle down
to bowls, that old-fashioned English game
played on perfect greens. Bowls requires
as much skill as billiards-that is. a man
need never stop learning and go on i'm
proving SO long as he can see the jack
and keep that cunning in his hand and
wrist to get the proper bias" on the ball.
Not near a large enough proportion of
bowlers at that game take up its winter
eQuivalent-curling.
1 take it that the active term of years
for a base baller is not much longer than
that of the professional soccer foot baller
in my country, and certainly his ability to
play a first-cass game of base ball does
not last as long as that of a first-class
cricketer There are many men high up
in the averages for the season at cricket,
and still therefore fine players Of the
game. who are well oveT forty.
lie most renowned CTlChctcI I'll oily
time, DIR. W.. G. Grace. is still playing
club cricket, although he was sixty-three
years old last July. Until well over fifty
he kept his form. and even at fifty years
old could scarcely be kept out of repre-
sentative England eleven.
l have seen three generations playing
on the side, with the grandfather max
ing second highest score There have been
some extraordinary feats from time TO
time achieved by veterans, and this is
Of fho cricket Should
appeal strongly to any nation as a
game wherein players Of all ages have a
chance.
There have been many interesting dis
cussiOnS about how long foot baller' s
career can last. An amateur is likely to
give UP the game too early. When he
leaves college in so SO many cases take
1t that his athletic career to large ex-
where man can go on for score of
years. There is a professional man, Need
ham. who plays soccer for Sheffield
United, one of the great English clubs.
He is in his twenty-frst season for the
club. Another, named Bloomer. for whom
a few years ago the highest transfer fee
from one club to another was paid. He is
thrty-seven years old. He got his first
International cap.that is, represented
he was twenty-One years old.
Both the men mentioned have taken
great care of themselves. How long a
loot DalIer, or, IN IdCt, any dtnlcte, can
last may depend a good deal on what sort
of life he leads. There is a great deal in
what a man can find to do in his spare
time. With too much slack time man is
likely to become slack. We have seen this
so many dozens Of times with boxers.
l have no great faith in an athlete keep
ing at 1t all the year around. horse
is all the better for an ease-up in winter,
and with cricketers many man who has
played all the summer and goes to Aus
tralia or to south Africa for ,winer sea-
son is not so much good at the end OF
twelve months. Their confreres come out
fresh at the end Of the winter Some of
the professionals have businesses to at
tend to during the rest" and this I'M
doubtedly is a great boon, as it keeps a
man from getting too centered on any
game, which must take q certain amount
of his nervous force.
L; would be interesting to be told how
long player can last at the American
national game. base ball. / should also
be interested to know at what age men
have Kept up to first-class form.