Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-05-29
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The Soul Purger
TDo out--dnd the bases full
Three runs to min and ttDo TO tie;
Aud then, amid the bodin1 lttll,
Looms Crawford Of the batting eye;
toatch the pitcher tOrithe aud whirl
And shoot one from his moWnded per-
see the 1ohitc pill dart aud curl
As CrdiUford's bludgeon StCingS-und
In that one moment through the stands
There runS-before the grodns and
cheers
The taut grip of ten thousand hands
The pulse leap Of a thousand gears
The one great thrObbing humdn call
AbOUG all science, tUdr or love,
As crashing bat meets speeding ball
or speeding ball meets toaiting gloue.
Here end the sorroWS of the race
An tcdnt aud toretchedneSs and crime;
Where Care must seek another place
Where Sin must bide another time;
Here t1here the hearts t0iped clean and
The drudge soul lifted from the pie
For those tUho tUdit for the reply
StrtEe-Out-or a o-bGSe hitg
All Of which brings up a fairly i'm
portant point which may or may not be
worth a few reels of comment. This
point doesn't involve the magnate and
the game-or the player and the game
but the fan and the game.
The Fans Side
A day or two ago we heard one or two
people sloating over the fact that base
ball was in something of a slump-and
might in time even drop back as a minor
sport.
The fans figured in their errng philos-
ophy that baseball belonged exclusively
to the club owner and to the player.
They seemed to figure that in this way
the too-often money lust of magnate and
player was being punished.
Perhaps II is. But where there are
probably hundred or so club owners and
about 5000 professional players. there are
at least S,OOOOO fans in the U. S. of A.
The club owner and the player get money
out of the gnme-at least the player does
and the club owner used to- But the
100000 fans get their recreation and
pleasure and the game is theirs above
any others. They are the ones that
would lose most-for millions of them
would never be able TO find capable
substitute at anything like the same
price.
Not Yet
bet any real money that 1t is passing or
waning as a national sport. The leading
games of other countries have lasted from
100 to 800 years, Baseball, greater than
any national sport ever jammed upon the
map, is only so years old. Colonel Ebbetts
was correct. 1t is stil In its infancy
And some soon day, when the cannon are
silent and prosperity Is back and both
magnate and player have worked out a
mutual status for the general good of all
concerned, baseball, over our 5000. 900
square miles. will be far beyond any po-
sition 1t has ever known in the past. |
Which endeth the lesson.
Moss Gatherers
The difference between a bonehead
and a brilliant play merely consists in not |
getting, or in getting away with It.
Ponce De Leon pot-huHted in the wrong |
spot for the fountain OF eternal youth. He |
should have looked into the Batting Eye |
of Napoleon Lajoie, $3.50 hitter at the age |
of 40
Miller Higgins has frequently found a |
l0-foot bunt as useful as Connie Mack |
used TO find Bakers 4OO-feet wallops.
Speaking of Young Old Men
You hear lot about the surprising age
Of Wagner. Lajoie. Leach and few
others. But very little about the spryness