Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1913-04-24
AMERICAN GAME
DELIGHTS. PARIS
AMERICAN BUSINESS MEN TRANS
LATE RULES INTO FRENCH. TOD
SLOAN ORGANIZED CLUB. OTHER
AMERICANS INTERESTED.
FRENCH PLAYERS GOOD BATTERS
BUT POOR 'FIELDERS. HOWEVER
/. FRENCH BOYS ARE LEARNING
FAST. WILL BECOME PLAYERS.
Especial to The Herdld.)

PARIS, April s natlOn-
nj game of baseball has at last found
roo in France and several teams are
now out for practice in and around Par
Is. One Of the most prominent sporting
clubs i'm France, the Racing Club, with
important grounds in the Bots de BOul
cgne, Colonies. and elsewhere, has tax
en- a great liking for the ball and bat.
and the famous Bots is resOunding with
the queerest cries it ever heard.
"Slide, monsieur, slide" "A bas l'um
pire! Keel 'im!," Fool ball" foul is
pronounced fool" in French These and
all sorts of other expressions hitherto
known only to the Yankee fan have been
added to the French youths vocabulary.
tor he, in his study Of the game, has dis
dained the French equivalents and is
graphing with the AmericanismS which
often put both shoulders to the mat.
During the summer the first attempt to
form an amateur league" will be made
and as soon as this is accomplished the
public will be asked to witness the i'm
pOrtant clashes.
Il. f. Roosevelt and w. III. Burgess,
American men in business here, origin
ated the idea. They translated, and con
densed into as simple a form as pos
sible, the rules Of the game and gave
copies to students of the COndOrcet Col
lege, which is near Burgess Office. Little
nv little enthusiasm was worked up un-
til the Youngsters in nearly every school
i'm Paris had caught the bug.
The other Americans volunteered their
services as coaches. Tod Sloan, the fam
Gus jockey, organized a team at the Mai
sOn-Lafftte training stables, the mem
bers of his team being a mixture OF
French. English and American stable
bows. Valentine Flood formerly a
Princeton coach. has stakcd off a ball
ground on the Racing Clubs grounds at
Colonies and is giving his services to
teams playing there. The aristocratic
Polo Club in the Bots has permitted
another ball park to be laid out on the
polo field, and it looks as if Paris is to
have a polo grounds as well as New
York.
1t is amusing TO watch the French
bows throw from the field and pitch. They
can bat astOnishingly well but they
throw like girls. 1t requires the center
fielder, shortstOp, second baseman and
pitcher to get a long drive to center back
home, and when each man muffs the ball
and has to scramble for it before he can
pass it on, the batter has ample time
for about three tours of the bases. And
when a pitcher hits a batter, the game
stops for a time while apologies are
made.
And it is totally impossible to get it
into their heads that sliding bases is an
important adjunct of the game. A few
days ago when Tod Sloan was drilling
his team, he was impressing on the
Frenchmen the Importance Of getting
first and Of stealing bases. Toe went TO
bat, and with Il final admonition to his
pupils 10 learn speed in reaching bases
by watching him closely, he swatted the
ball out and made for first. AS luck
would have il the ball was quickly folded
and Tod slid for it. Instantly the game
broke up, every player abandoning his
post and running to the PROSTATE eX-
Jockey to pick him up and e%xcitedly ask
him how he came to fall and if he was
much injured.
But the French boys are farming fast
and will soon be able to carry on a cor
uer,lOt style of game very well. The
sporting writer on Excelsior" a morn
ing paper here, states. however, that the
French will never learn to play the
game right.