The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1913-06-19

OPOA NOlulIlS, luu Ol UdSG-
ball activities, prize fight bat
ties, and other classics of sport,
carried not a line of it. 1t was a 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-inning
match.
The playing ground was at sea and
its boundaries Tapped owe 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 it's center.
Take the Polo Grounds of the New
York Giants, the white-ribbed grid
iron of Soldiers field at Cambridge,
the az track at Latonia, 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 its 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, a modest bit Of
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
870-pound steel projectile, that tore
with the noisy rush of a hundred rum
away freight trains through a o
ing target six miles away, the days
piled up to a total Of ten.
There we're a dozen ships in this
unique lineup, first-class fighting bat
tleships all, and on each was a team
ranging from 700 to 1000 men. Fol
the war-worn hickories of Tyrus Cobb
and Honus Wagner they substituted
the gray steel tubes Of t~welve-inch
guns, and for the horsehide-covered
baseball they rang in shells weighing
SO pounds. The base lines we're lanes
OF dark green sea-. fathoms deep and off
soundings, churned into fury by the
quadruple screws of dreadnoughts
steaming at a lively rate.
The home Plate was a
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 c%areening to the
wind. 1t was not always a well man.
nered home plate, and it was never
still. Between it and the pitchers box
1 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 significance of this big
game.
There were no bleachers and tower
ing grandstands packed full of straw
hated, shirt-sieeyed humanity to
cheer the brilliant plays or to urge on
the under dog in this match. Every
mar of the 10000 played his part be-
fore a gallery of only wheeling sea-
guils and a handful of observers. The
yells of the bleacherites were missing,
but In their place was a gigantic roar
that would have drowned the vocal ex-
plosions of a worlds series contest.
No Gate Receipts.
Again, there was no division OF fat
gate receipts at stake, no hero-wor-
ship, no great increase of salaries and
no vistas Of vaudeville contracts. In
their places was a plaque OF bronze to
be held for a year, but the incentive
that spurred them on was the knowl
edge that, IL Waterloo was won on the
Relds 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 hig game is vastly more scien-
tific than football. It's thrills are IT,
rtanic even when compared with a
n~inth-inning rally. No golf course
ever boosted SO unique a beauty Of
surroundings. Racing stables In their
paimy days never entailed such ex-
pense or represented so much invested
capital. No other game was ever
played on such a scale or by the
United States government, and. final
Ely, there is no other game whose for
tunes SO directly affect the 10000. 900
people of thia republic.
You have seen the Yale bulldog and
the Princeton tiger grapple on the
sgridiron? Substitute the Delaware
and the Utah. You placed your wager
on the Red Goa or the Giants when
they met to light out the worlds Sc
5sztss? For the Giants send the Fox