The Washington herald., 1917-06-30
NAVAL TEAMS PLAY
OVER-OVER There
American Navy Nine Arouse British
Interest in National Pastime.

The Daily Chronicle, of London, for
Tuesday, June 20. printed the follow
|. ing story about two mines from the
khips Of the United States navy en-
gaining the British sports with the
bnal pastime:
|r thu first time in this part-there
b need to be more precise-base-
has been played, the players
9 American sailors. The match
witnessed by senior and junior
ers Of the British and United
Is navies.
~ from the start to finish was
and the spectacular event arous-
the greatest local interest, al
agh the match was in no way ad-
ised. except from one interested
IN 10 another.
he match was between teams
wn from two American ships. One
perhaps the names of the ships
hy be mentioned. but not here, if
|u please. Discretion is always the
Better part Of censorship.
The ground overlooked the sea, set
amidst POLITICALLY beautiful scenery,
the hedges and stone walls Of the field
all ablaze in the sun with golden
gorse and showed with may.
And very glad Of their liberty were
he teams. gladder still to be feeling
NE ball again in their mits. All the
hen were hard as nails and as bronz-
Sed as old brown boots. They lined up
in their regulation playing uniforms,
with the names of their respective
ships writ large across their chests.
Most Of them were more 1.-THE than
hefty, but there were some big fel-
lows, too.
The masking Of the catcher caused al
most a sensation, and all through the
game he was edged about by an
oyer-curious throng of spectators. 1t
&Rever seemed to occur to these rub
er-necks that any danger lurked in
e vicinity. Fortunately no rubber
lex was hurt. never saw the
ffcher nun a single ball, and men
md girls stood in a long line behind
almost absurdly sure in the
te-like keenness of his eye and
sWftt sMoop of his hand.
sIk may or may not strike you in the
same way. but to me it was a won
derful tribute to "Old Ginger" as we
called the catcher. He won our pro-
found admiration, and there were
more LUdn n lt" lOsL bdAlSs ltldN
mostly never came back from the
little wood into which they crashed.
with juvenile members of the specta-
tors war-hooping after them.
I Am no baseball playeT-you may
have guessed tia simple Englishman
without knowledge of the Ameri-
cans great national game. refuse
&here and now to make any attempt
bluff the American nation Nerve
7 have. but there are limits. l know
nothing Of the game of baseball !
have seen one match, and am going
10 see as many as 1 can. You will
hear from me about them. too; but
your Journalist always makes a bee
line for the man who does know.
Ny bee line IN this case was a naval
1fficer friend with smile on his lips.
As to the flag under which he serves
shall be silent; censors fnfest the
ountrY. But my, naval friend in need
bal talk to you in language which
Aou viii understand. and get you
ripped. When 1 went to him fol-
EiRtervieW he wanted to run away,
the baseball within him made
n talk, and held him to my side.
This Is what he said
Some very spectacular plays were
|. RULED off during the match, as you
nnust have seen for yourself. You
tsaw that clfnking three-base hit, anc
that double play. and those stoler
I basssi and the scoring on some OF
the Wild throws that made the crowd
to cheer. There was ginger in the
game an through.
The winning team had a three
bazger to their credit. Being the
wielder Of the hickory for the losing