The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-08-17
Putting Slang on the Blink
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How to Write Up Ball Games

TOR good many years. since the
~ time. in fact, when good old Fa-
ther Chadwick invented the glori-
l. Gus pastime, baseball has been
writ In language peculiar to
itself. II has to he. There's something
about baseball that jumps over the con-
fines OF mere dictionary English. II
baseDaH. IN the penned word had TO de-
pend upon the puny vocabulary OF a
Shakespeare. a Milton or an Irving. base
ball long ago would have become a lost
art.
Recently the Associated Press brought
us from Chicago the following dispatch:
protest against the use of slang
IA accounts OF baseball has been
headed by q Chicago newspaper,
which VIII let Its readers decide by
vote the future style OF these writ
ings. In their plea for the use OF
correct English some followers of the
game assert they are unable TO fol-
low the plays because of the slangy
phraseology OF the stories
President r. 3. Johnson OF the
American league said today he would
be glad to have the question of pref
erence for styles for reporting base
ball games decided.
II have often wondered which style
readers as a rule prefer" he said.
II am not ready to commit myself"
Result of Ballot.
It wouldn't take a Mark Hanna, q
Charley Murphy or any other political n
accurately to forecast the result OF that
ballot II the anti-slang side. gets ten
votes, there will have to be ballot box
stuffing Why, red-blooded people who
90 TO see ball games wouldn't know what
reporter was talking about unless he
baseball tongue they know, the langua ge
they learned as kids on the sun kissed
bleechers and the language they brought
with them into the grandstand In their
more prosperous times.
How would you like to undertake the
task OF finding out what happened In a
game you unavoidably missed II you had
TO wade through six columns OF this sort
OF stun IN your Sunday morning Pink" 2:
How Salt Lake Won.
The Salt Lake baseball club yester-
day achieved a victory In competition
with like club from Great Falls at
the sport of baseball. The result was
obtained through the superior dex-
terity Of Mr.. Willis Morgan. who oc-
cupied the position OF pitcher for the
Salt Lake club. Mr.. Morgan threw the
baseball used in the game to Mr.. Ar
thur Mccain, who occupied the Of
fee known as catcher. with extraordi-
nary force, thereby imparting to IT
great velocity. Not infrequently the
baseball when reaching a point di-
known as batsmen, deviated from the
straight line. which. UP TO that mo-
nent, II had traversed. The effect
OF such departure from a horizontal
line was to mislead the batsman so
that, oftimes. he struck n vain blow
at the passing baseball with a heavy
wooden club, technically called a bat
The rules Of the game specify that IL
batsman strike three blows with
the bat and falls each time to strike
the baseball he shall be out"
Morgan's Projections.
When baseball IS projected in such
way as to cause II TO vary from
true line. It is called curve" It
was the manner in which Mr.. Nor
gan was enabled TO communicate to
the baseball the peculiar motion pro-
ductive Of the curve that prevented
his opponents from striking the ball
and as a natural consequence, they
played at q marked disadva ntage
The game began with the Salt Lake
club at the bat-that Is, they had the
first opportunity to strike the ball and
TO encircle the diamond" the des-
ignatlon given the area OF ground
upon which the greater portion Of the
activities in baseball game takes
place, and about which. at regular
intervals. are placed canvas bags
filled with sawdust.
Mr.. Spencer's Experience.
The first batsman to assume a de-
flant attitude at the homo base was