Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-07-01
BALL GAMES PLAYED
MANY CENTURIES AGO
Natives Of Yucatan Contested as
Professionals and on Regu-
lar Courts.

as new an expression of popular i'm
patience to have some one start some
thing" as some people may think.
Neither is playing ball for a living a
strictly modern invention. In fact,
thousands of years ago. way down in
Yucatan, impatient crowds sat around
| hoarse, beat one another in the back
and threw their feather headgear into
the arena in the enthusiasm of the mo-
ment, just as we are doing today. Also
| there doubtless were Ty Cobbs, whose
skill in batting and "flelding' was
such that they could afford to hold up
the management occasionally for a
few more hundred jaguar skins a year
/ by threats to quit professional ball and
go to farming.
| OF course, the game was not exactly
base ball. But the point is that it was
ball game, that there were regular
! ball parks-or courts-and that there
| game for what there was "in 1t" to
| them. Mayhap the medium of ex-
change took the form of jaguar skins,
pounds of cacao, fancy feathers or
| what not, but 1t was money all the
same. and they could buy with it at the
|
| case might be. They had their peculiar
system of slang" too-at least in
some parts of the Americas-which.
translated into English, means about as
| much to US as ours would to them: all
| of which is brought out by Franklin
| Adams in his story indigenous Games
in Latin America" in the July number
of the Monthly Bulletin of the Pan
! American Union. Washington, D. c.
That the bali game is an ancient insti-
! tuition in the Americas may be gather
| ed from the following:
| Call Courts Disclosed.
THE ball game is Indigenous to the
Americas. Perhaps the first Simian in
habitaats found true sport in catching
the cocoanuts tossed from the tall palms
certain it is that several thousand
years ago the ball game had reached
! a high state of development in the
! Yucatan. On clearing away the matted
forests enveloping these marvellous
ruins. ball courts were disclosed near
the most sacred temples. and from the
elaborate hieroglyphics and Photographs
ornamenting the walls. much was
learned of the complicated character
of the sport. Centuries after the pass
| ing OF these ancient Mayans. came the
| first Spanish explorers. who found that
| a younger race in contiguous territory.
| the Aztecs. had revived the old pastimc
| into a national game with a stone
| God Of Sport beaming on every
/ court.
| The popularity of these early games
was that the ball. when in play. was
not thrown with the hand. but struck
by the hip, around which the player
wore a protecting pad of leather. At
each end of the court was a great stone
disk with a hole in the center. and
| through this orifce the ball was driven
before a point was scored. Very natur-
ally lively ball was used, since
| rubber trees dominated the forests.
| "Old chroniclers marvel at the skill
and endurance Of the players. for a
game was seldom won under four
hours of constant play Such exhaust
ing contests, with dozen participants
| in almost constant action, were not for
amateurs, but for professionals. Thus.
| from the Aztec word olli, signifying
| ball came the word mollonqui. one
who plays ball for living
Indian Tribes Have Game.
Another form of ball game is played
| by the Indian tribes of the Cuduiary
river region. in the wilds Of Brazil. A
| carefully leveled field lies in front of
the malokas, or large communal houses,
| and daily. at o'clock. the men return
ing from the days fishing or hunting
indulge in the sport-not a complicated
game like that of the early Mexicans.
but one calling for a high degree of
SKILL as two balls are used by the
players, who drive them with the
hands toward their opponents. yell
low-tail feathers Of the Yapoo bird are
affixed to the rubber for accuracy.
The Araucan!an Indians of southern
Chile play an ancient game with wood
en- balls driven by wooden clubs. In a
clearing. 800 by as yards, fnclosed by
cut branches Of trees, these Indians
play chueca, which greatly resembles
lacrosse or field hockey. The game is
played from childhood. and the play
ers acquire great skill, and the matches
draw large crowds. The game calls
for grrat endurance, and while gener-
ally played In two or three hour Pc
RODS, several days have been known
to pass before a decision was reached.
During the play 1t is not unusual to
hear a player cry. Am not a. real oak
tree% or "Is he not a lions les?" after
brilliant stroke Such is sAraucanian