Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-27
Special Correspondence.

NORFOLK, Va.
@0HE greatest game in the world
was played this month. but the
sporting columns, full of base
ball activities, prize-ring bat
ties, and other classics of sport,
carried not a line of It. 1t was a game
that staggered the imagination. 1t was
PLAYED in the most unique of stage set
tings 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 diamond rolled into one
eleven-inning match.
The playing ground was at sea and Its
boundaries Tapped over the circular rim
Of ocean that stretched TO every point OF
the compass when. with the most power
full glass, you swept the horizon from
ship in it's center.
Take the Polo Grounds of the New York
Giants, the white-ribbed gridiron OF Sol
diers' Field at Cambridge. the race track
at Latonia. Ky. the polo Held at Mar
ragansett and the National golf course
at Shinnecock Hills. Multiply them by
thousands and toss them into the center
Of this deep sea-field. The resultant rip
pie would die leagues away from its
outer rim.
The game was the record battle prac-
tice 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. a
modest bit of bunting. From the deafen-
ing roar of the first twelve-inch gun.
aimed at the half-submerged hull of the
old Texas in Tangier sound. to the last
s7O-pound steel projectile that tore with
the noisy rush of a hundred runaway
freight trains through a moving target
six miles away. the days piled up to
total of ten
There were a dozen ships in this unique
lineup, frst-class fighting battleships all.
and on each was a team ranging from 100
10 1000 men. For the war-wOrn hickorieS
OF Tyrus Cobb and Hans Wagner they
substituted the gray steel tubes of twelve
inch guns, and for the horsehide-covered
base ball they rang in shells weighing
SO pounds. The base liEes were lanes Of
dark green sea. fathoms deep and off
soundings.- churned into fury by the
Quadruple screws of dreadnoughts steam
ing at a lively rate.
The home plate was a screen-covered
target the size of the painted sign adver-
Using cigarettes in your local ball park
The home plate Travelled due north, and
now due south, dipping and curtesying to
the lazy swell and at times careening to
the wind. II was not always a we'll man.
nered home plate and it was never STILL
Between 1t and the pitchers box 10000
yards of sea! For your favorite sport on
shore substitute miles for yards, tons for
pounds. thousands for each single man
at play and you will grasp some signif-
icance of this big game.
There were no bleachers and towering
grandstands packed full of straw-hatted,
shirt-sleeved humanity to cheer the bril-
liant plays or to urge on the under dog
in this match. Every man of the 10000
played his part before a gallery Of only
wheeling seagulls and a handful of OBJ
servers. The yells of he bleacherites
were missing, but in their place was a
gigantic roar that would have drowned
the vocal explosions of a worlds series
contest.
Again. there was no division of fat gate
receipts at stake, no hero-worship, no
great increase of salaries and no vistas
OF vaudeville contracts In their places
was a plaque of bronze to be held for
year, but the incentive that spurred them
on was the knowledge that. If Waterloo
was won on the fields of Elton, then truly
the next great American naval victory
will be won by the annual game that the
navy plays on the southern drill grounds
The big game is vastly more scientific