The Washington times., 1915-01-11
Variation in Size Of Sphere Used
in Leagues Threatens to
Disrupt Popular Game.
UNIFORM RULE IS NEEDED
Advent of 5 51-4.lnch Ball on
Some Teams Causes Dis.
satifaction.
By KIRK G.. MILLER.

Along with the rapid strides which
Washington is making in placing it
self as the foremost bowling city in
the country, it is also making one
grave mistake, for which, it will in
time, have its period of repentance.
Indeed that period may not be far
away, for in advancing the spark
Of interest to the point which has
made duckpins the second game to
baseball in Washington, the matter
of uniformity in rolling rules has
been entirely overlooked, and today
in all of the glory in which the game
is being conducted, it is after all a
kind Of mongrel sport in which
"anything goes"
This statement is not roast, it Is
not sarcasm, it is not directed at the
nor at the alley managers, but at the
bowlers themselves. who are satisfied
to pick up any size ball, roll at any size
pin on any kind Of an alley. and turn
against someone's which was accom-
plished under entirely different circum-
stances. Immediately heated dis
cussion starts. some foolish challenge
lost, another heated argument about
alleys. conditions ensues. and the thing
ends up with the breaking of friend
ship among well intentioncd bowers.
for!
Washington is. therefore. much in
need or a set-togcther meeting in which
certain size duckpin bali shall be
adhered to- As far as the District Of
Columbia is concerned. the other OBJ
!ectionablc features referred to do not
apply: as all or our alleys and pins
finish. but the evil which is working TO
the greatest detriment Of the game here
IL the variation i'm size of balls which
Is permitted in the different leagues
citation. to which most of the leagues
belong. read:
The balls shall not IL any case ex-
ceed ~ Inches In diameter. and any
.Ne PAU o1 less diameter or weight
From the time that duckpinins had
us beginning here, the 5-inch bali was
EeneraIy .se eneH & accepted and used: and as the
Eaue grew, that type of ball also grew
IN favor: in fact, there was no 5l.-inch
balls here at all. During the 1924 sea-
son several of the teams introduced the
hA.inoh ball. and as larger scores re-
suited the new size sphere grew in
popularity. At present about onc-thjrd
OF the teams here are using the larger
na!i: which is permitted by the rules.
but in the meantime the other two-thirds
are sticking to the 5-inch ball. and com
planning because their fellows Use the
larger one.
These complainers have no comeback. .
Let them learn to use the large bali. or
Aef them have the use Of the smaller ball
enforced It makes no difference. as far
as the good Of the game is concerncd
put some one ball should be agreed upon
by every team in every league in the
city. This will make the game uniform
and when John Jones challenges Charles
Brown to a mat0n, half of the game to
bc rolled on each mans alleys. each
may be sure he is going to find the
same conditions prevalent on the others
Tunways. Also when league averages
are compiled and certain few men,
! berS are found to have big averages, the
trallers cannot whine" that the lead
crs used larger size ball
The conditions here are simply this
the fve-tnch ball has been used so long
that most Of the boYlers prefer to CON
over who wish to take advantage Of
The use of larger sphere. and even
they cannot be criticized, for they are
acting in keeping: with the rules. The
paragraph regarding the size of the ball
should not be so lenicnt as the last
clause indicates. land any size bali OF
less diameter or weight may b. used"
nut the , exact size of the bai: should be
fixed. This act alone will simplify the
trouble which is ahead for duckpins.
and it is to be honcd that the Citv AS
sociation will adopt a ball of some GER
tain size at its coming meeting.
Manager Charles Jcrm1n has an
nounced another duckpin Tournament
10 begin at tho Commercial Allty Janu-
ary Is. He is preparing an attractive
list Of prizes. Beginning Moud;,v I'm
award will be mad daily to bowler
rolling three high Consccutilc .an,cs,
Following the activities Of last week
IN the matter of record durkpn rolling.
challengers are beginning to pour in
RS to the legality of the records In
some instances the records are disnuted.
Fred 1T. Wheeler. captain of th Inos,
calls attention to the score of Cornell.
Of the Southeast League. last season ii
being Ill Wheeler wishes TO compare
the total OF his bowler with Dr. f..
clyde Shades 169. Both were wonderful
games. and the greatest Of credit is
due each bowler.
r. r. C. Fletcher has nerer ceased
TO gloat oNer the new shirts which he
has provided for his Brunswiciis. When
it is explained that said shirts are
cream colored with black letters, We
don't blanc him for gloatirS. All they
need is chamois gloves to so with them.
II Harvard adopts bowling as col
!cge sport next season, the game will
boosts in years. Colleges have made
amateur football, baseball, rowing and
other sports and if they take up bowl
mg. Ne the same amount of good Is in
store for the pastime. Yale and Prince
ton already have bowling teams and
, with FSrvari in the fold, an interesting
triangular competition could be staged
and 1t would undoubtedly attract
crowds.
Much has been heard of the Atlantic
Coast Bowling Association which rIans
10 organize all OF the bowlers in The
eastern section Of tho country, and tic
bowlers are beginning to wonder Nhat
progress the organization is InaKing
Secretary Locke of buffalo nrnn,;sss
some Interesting developments. but he
reeds the support of more OF the sctiv.