Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1913-06-20


sporting columns, full of base
ball activities, prize fight bat
ties. and other classics of sport,
carried not line OF it. 1t was game
that staggered the Imagination. It
was played in the most unique of
stage settings and on a scale that
would dwarf the combined activities of
the big leagues, the bush leagues and
all the sand-lot contests of the dia-
mond rolled into one eleven-innfng
match
The playing ground was at sea and
It's boundaries Tapped over the circu-
lar rim OF ocean that stretched to ev-
cry point OF the compass when, with
the most powerful glass, you swept
the horizon from a ship in its center.
Take the Polo Grounds of the New
York Giants. the white-ribbed grid
iron OF Soldiers field at Cambridge,
the race track at I.atonia, KY, the
polo field at Narragansett and the Ma
tional golf course at Shinnecock Hills.
Multiply them by thousands and toss
them into the center of this deep sea
field. The resultant ripple would die
leagues away from It's outer rim!
Modest Prize.
The game was the record battle
practice of the Atlantic fleet. The
field was the southern drill grounds
of the United States navy, seventy
miles out to sea from the Virginia
capes. The prize, modest bit or
bunting From the deafening roar
of the first twelve-inch gun, aimed at
the half-submerged hull OF the old
Texas In Tangier sound. to the last
S70-pound steel projectile, that tore
with the noisy rush of hundred run
away freight trains through a NOV
ing target six miles away the days
piled up to total of ten,
There were a dozen ships In this
unique lineup, first-class fighting bat
tIeships all, and on each was a team
ranging from TOO to 1000 men. For
the war-worn hickories of Tyrus Cobb
and Honus Wagner they substituted
the gray steel tubes OF twelve-inch
guns. and for the horsehide covered
baseball they rang In shells weighing
$40 pounds. The base lines were lanes
OF dark green sea, fathoms deep and on
soundings. churned into fury by the
Ouadrupie screws of dreadnoughts
steaming at a lively rate.
The home plate was screen-cov-
cred target the size of the painted
sign advertising cigarettes in your To-
cal ball park. The home plate trav-
eled due north, and now due SOUTH
dipping and curtesying to the lazy
swell and at times Careening 10 the
wind 1t vas not always well man.
nered home plate. and 1t was never
still Between 1t and the pitchers boX
10000 yards of sea! For your faVoTlte
sport on shore substitute miles Tor
wards. tons for pounds, thousands Tor
n each single man at play. and you VIII
4 grasp some significance of this Dig
game.
There were no bleachers and tower
ing grandstands packed full OF straw
halted. shirt-sleeved humanity 10
cheer the brilliant plays or to urge on
the under dog IN this match EVERY
man of the 10000 played his part be-
4oya a gallery of only wheeling sea
p,,rs and handful of observers Inc
yefNs Of the bleacherites were missing
k.S. In their place was glgantc roar
that would have drowned the vocal ex-
blossoms of a worlds series contest.
Mo Gate Receipts.
A~otr +bere was no division OF fat
gate receipts at stake, no hero-"ot-
shin no great increase of salaries ana
No v,stas of vaudeville contracts. III
their nlaces was a plaque or bronze 10
no held for a year, but the incentive
that spurred them on was the KNOW
edge that, IL Waterloo was won on inc
feIds of Elton, then truly the next
great American naval victory VIII De
won by the annual game that tne
navy plays on the southern URN
grounds.
The big game is vastly more sclen'
tife than football. Its thrills are u
tanic even when compared Win
ninth.inning rally. No goif course
ever boasted so unique beauty Vi
surroundings. Rscing stables in their
no,rrv DAYS never entailed such ex
norse or represented so much invested
capital. No other game was ever
nIayed on such scale or oy 'he
ITnited States government, and' nnai-
". there is no other game whose TOT TOT,
tunes so directly affect the su'oVc'ooo
people OF this republic
You have seen the Yale bulldog ana
the Princeton tiger grapple on the
rridiron? Substitute the Delaware
and the Utah. You placed your wager
on the Red Sox or the Giants when
,hev met TO fight out the worlds Sc
~iesq For the Giants send the Flor