The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-08-20
WHY DOES U. s. WIN
 0LY LYMpICS?
Baseball Says A. G. spald ing.

Mr. 4. c. spaidiug, who was ap- pointed by the late President McKin- ley American Conamissioner to the Olympic Games at Paris in 1900. and whatever character with the keenest interest, has theory about the invar- fable success of American athletes in international contests that is original and worthy of consideration.
 of course" said MT. Spalding, '1 am not surprised at the result at Stockholm. History has been repeating itself in this way ever since the cele- bration of the Olympic games was in- augurated at Athens. America won the victory there in 1896; she tri. uznphed again at Paris in 1900; our ath- letes defeated the contestants at St Louis in 1904; the victory was ours ir london in 1908; and it was a foregone conclusion that we would win al Stockholm.
 But there is food for thought in this uninterrupted succession of tri- usnphs. Why do our athletes always win? All other things being equal the event should naturally come to the front. Their numbers are always greater than those from any other country and the home grounds influ- ence is strong. However, that advan- tage has not in any case prevented SJGCeSS-
 Therefore there must be a cause What is it? Measured by scale anC tape, our athletes are not so much superior as a class The theory oi more beef must be discarded. w may not lay claim to having all thu Best trainers of the world. We must look to some other source for Ameriv can prowess.
 s'Y may be a prejudiced judge, but ] believe the whole secret of these con- tinued successes is to be found in the kind Of training that comes with the playing of Americas national game and our competitors in other lands may never hope to reach. the standard of American athletes until they learT this lesson and adopt our pastime:
 s"The question, When should the training of child begin? has been wisely answered by the statement that 1t should antedate his birth. The training of Baseball may not go back quite that far, but it approaches the time as nearly as practicable, for America starts training of future Olytnpian winners very early in life. Youngsters not yet big enough to at- tend school begin quickening theil strengthening their hands and arms and legs by playing on baseball fields ready at hand in the meadows of farms, the commons of villages and the parks of cities all over the land Baseball combines running, jumping throwing and everything that consti- tutes the athletic events of the Olym- plan games. But above all, it imparts to the player that degree of confidence tns competition that indefnable some thing that enables one athlete to win over another who may be his physical equal but who is lacking the American spirit begotten of baseball
 "An analysis of the 1912 Olympian games shows that the Americans showed to best advantage in contests where the stress of competition was hardest Tn the dashes they were su- preme; in the hurdles they were in a class by themselves, and in the high jump and pole vault there was no one worthy of their steel. Whenever quick thinking and acting was required. an American was in front. Does not this fact prove that the American game of baseball enables the player to de- tarmfne in the fraction of a second what to do to defeat his contestant?"