Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1917-03-06
Costs more TO BE
A 1917 SPORTSMAN
Price of Everything Used in
Athletics is Away Up
This Year
GOODS AND LABOR
SCARCE, IS CAUSE

II will cost you money to be an
athlete this year. The prices Of ath-
lete paraphernalia have shot up like
flares in Flanders. Baseball has
been blown against the sky by the
increase in prices OF labor and
leather. Nothing like leather" said
DR.. Pangloss, or some scheming
shoemaker. Leather suitable for
making first-class baseball gloves,
shoes, etc, has gone out OF sight.
The first thing a baseball player
will want is a pair of shoes with nice
spikes in them. A pair OF shoes,
glove and bat, and you were mt
20 go into any company. Well, here
tofore a young player could get a
dandy pair OF baseball shoes for So.
They will cost him $3.50 now.
The best shoe they made three
years ago was a $3.50 baby" that
Felt and fitted like a kid glove. That
1880 shoe will cost tho high pro-
iessional 50 this spring. OF course.
The big professionals won't mind
that.
Those first-class automatic gloves
which all the high salaried big leag
ners wear are going to cost them
one bone extra this season. Up to
Two years ago the stars could get
dandy glove that held everything
that came its way for $3.50. Same
glove will cost them only six iron
men this year. 1t is a good glove.
The manufacturers say, but no bet
ter in material than was the $3.50
one Of happy memory. You'd be
foolish TO raise your boy to be a
catcher. Good mitts will cost S11 to
F14 this season. Shin guards will
cost 81. A good mask which was
wont to cost $3.50, will now cost $40.
The average mitt which is worn by
! poor amateur catcher will cost Sc
instead of So. as in the past.
The big boost has come in bats
Time was when boy got proper
length OF ash, whitfield it down and
owned a bat that lasted him a life
time. Gone are those happy DAYS.
The factory-made bat OF the time
will cost from SIPS TO $3.50. And
there will not be any guarantee OF
duration, as in the past. No, sir. It
Is your bat the moment you buy it.
and il Il splits with or against the
grain. you pay for it and you do not
get another. The manufacturers re-
placed bats until this year. Any
time you broke a bat you could
fetch it back and get another for IT,
The new. Unbranded bats. which
have become popular, have stopped
ell that. The average amateur of to
day wants light thin-handled bat.
Now you can't get good wood in a
light bat. and when you whittle a
bat thin in the handle you cross the
grain too often and weaken the in
strument. The amateur player OF
today could not carry the wagon
tongue his father twirled as he went
to the plate twenty-five or thirty
years ago. II you gave the average
player Of today the bat that Arson
used he would say that it was tele-
phone pole. He must have light
wood. and light wood won't wear
Hence off with the guarantee and
up with the price from 20 TO so pei
cent.
Uniforms Bring Real Money.
Uniforms have gone up a dollar
each until you strike the all-woo
grades. which are used only by thu
big professionals. The all-woo
grades nave SuOJ up out OF SlBht. Il III
all-wool stocking which cost s175 ;
pair, have gone to $3.50. Australian
wool is not coming in since the biz
war began, and American wool is no
good for stockings. American WOO
that sold for II cents two years ag
IS selling for so cents a pound now.
Balls remain where they were. NJ
increase in price there. Scarcity o
labor are the two principal reason
given for the tremendous advance il
the price Of baseball material. Eng
lish tanned leather. which alone vii
hold its shape in mitts, gloves, foot
balls, etc, cannot be had Il wa
impossible to get such leather 70
footballs last year. They have qui
tanning it since the war began. Take
TOO much time. and the English az
now rushing like Americans.
The athletic goods factories arr
mostly, in New England. They fin