The Washington herald., 1915-10-08
Army of Men and Boys Camp
ing Out All Night in Rain
for Choice Seats in New
Stands.
PHILLY BASEBALL MAD
BY DAMON RUNYON.

Philadelphia Oct In easy striking
distance of the dollar gates of the old
baseball yard of the Philadelphia Ma
tionals. at Huntington and Broad streets.
a motley army of men and boys is bedded
down tonight in packing cases filled with
straw. or hunched up in convenient door
ways. awaiting the charge upon the
bleacher seats for the opening game of
the worlds series tomorrow.
A cold autumnal rain is laving the City
Of Brotherly Love. Dripping and chilled.
end generally miserable. the campers of
the night preserve the semblance OF
lins which stretches nearly all the way
from Fifteenth street to Broad. on Le-
high avenue. Here and there a woman is
seen.
Downtown the hotel lobbies are packed
with notables of the baseball world. On
The sidewalks in front Of every hostelry
range hungry hordes of ticket specula-
TOYS. Everywhere there Is hum of gos-
Sip-stories of ticket sea ndals: rumors Of
jobs against the local baseball magnates
by the Philadelphia civic authorities and
politicians: whispers of unsafe stands at
the Philly field. and some talk of the
baseball game that is scheduled for to-
morrow.
1t is not likely that the game will be
l,la :ed The ball ground is soaked. and
the weather prediction for tomorrow is
more rain. Unless there is a strong blast
of sunshine in the morning, the opening
of the series will have to be postponed
until Saturday The wet line waiting out
there at the ball park will have had its
weary vigil for nothing.
Reminds One of 1911.
The situation is strongly remins-
cent of 1911. when the Giants were
rained in here for a couple of days dur
ing the series with the Athletics. and
when inertia developed the widest
kind of gossip and weird rumors. Give
baseball crowd twenty-four hours of
idleness. and 1t will work up its own
sensations without any vast effort
The squawk of the eXasperated Phil
adelphia fan fills the community this
evening. The cramped yard of the
Philadelphia club will seat about 21.000
people. and all the seats have been
allotted save about 800 bleacher seats
which will be tossed TO the waiting line
at Broad and Huntington about II
o'clock tomorrow morning. Old-time
fans. followers of the Phils. who have
been spending their money at the
ancient ball yard year in and year out
hoping almost against hope for the
scene which will be enacted tomorrow,
say they nave ?een forgOtten, ana are
unable to get tickets.
Yet tonight you could step out of the
Bellevue Stratford Hotel into Broad
street and buy a brace OF seats with
out any great trouble.
You could buy them. But you would
have to pay as high as $40 for a set
Of pastcboards that have a face value
Of 50. These are the SO seats. For the
So seats the spectators modestly
asked s25 to $40 per set.
specs Trying to Buy.
And. it is only fair to say that the
spectators don't appear to be in pos
session of any corsidG Grabl number of
tickets. Most of them are trying to
buy. rather than to sell. In other years
when the Athletics were playing in the
championship games. the specs" would
he lined up all along Broad street from
the station to the Bellevue Stratford.
and all were sale. They generally
had plenty of tickets. but tonight they
Sidle through the crowds crying offers
to purchase.
The local police began chasing them
away later. but they always bobbed up
aSdin insistent and persistent
Among the numerous rumors floating
about today one that the police had
tried to 'shak" down the Philadelphia
mana cement for big bundle of tickets,
threatening TO withhold police protection
if the tickets We're not forthcoming. but
the conpcrs seemed active enough tonight
against the specs"
As a matter of fact. the Philadelphia
hall club had only about l2,"N tickets to
give out. OF that number the national
commission clutches loo under some in
alienabl" bal. right which has ever been
deep mystery.
SILK was at one time SO valua BILE that il