Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-03-11
ATHLETIC EQUIPMENT
COMES HIGH THIS YEAR
IL. c. Il. Hus Laid Heavy Hand
on Sporting Enthusiastics Who
Need FriIls for Pleasure.
GOODS AND LABOR SCARCE
Leather Very High and Some Quail.
ties OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Plant
Competition Embarrasses New
England Factories.

lis going to cost US athletes cow.
considerable money to be hasah.,,
players. tennis ball chasers and rolf;rr
ambulators during 1917. old Ma, u
=. J." has not overlooked the sporting
heid IN his ascension. and has been
sporting In those realms so vigorously
that the prices on athletic parapher-
~, ia nave shot up like the flares in
fianders as Jim Sheridan observes
VI course. leather is one of tho prin
cipai materials used in the manufac
ture OF sporting goods. Also il ia one
OF the materials used by the War Cod
rainier frequently. and. according to ru-
NOR. IS also used occasionally by the
speculative price jugglers. Hence it is
II. 6. l.. victim. and is Catching -
from all sides. And when leather ia
being pounded. us underlings who have
10 use such things as mitts, shoes.
groves. balls. caddy bags and the odds
and ends OF other sporting eouinment
must dig and dig and then dig some
more into the jeans whose pockets are
becoming more and more shallow.
Old Man High Cost OF Living is bay.
ing MS inning and somehow 1t rather
seems that he is violating some rule: I
that there certainly must have been
three outs back there in the past some
where. Yet about the only three ont
we can observe is the three simoleon.
that departed this pocket recently for
a very ordinary inhelder's glove They
are conspicuous by their absence
Locking about us while on that pur--
CHASING trip. we Grasped few facts:
even II that was about all we could
get away with
The first thing a baseball player will
want Is pair Of shoes with good
spikes in them. \ pair Of Shoes oa
glove and bat and YOU were AT To 20
INTO any company. That was several
years ago. Then young player could
get dandy pair OF baseball shoes for
20. Ihey VIII cost him $3.50 now
The best shoe they made three yeara
ago was $3.50 baby" that felt and
! fitted like kid glove. That $3.50 shoe
VIII cost the high professional SO this
spring. or course, the big professionals
won't mind TINT. They'll strike against
the high cost of playing.
Shoes are an article of expense with
,he PLAYER. They get cut sliding into
bases. stepping into one another. etc.
The 50 pair of shoes is going to hurt
the members of the Baseball Playcrs,
fraternity this year Dave Fultz really
would do well to be looking into it.
Wh'le the magnate is cutting the sal
AIRY OF the player at one end the man
ufacturer OF baseball supplies is simply
raising the ante on him at the other
end.
Catchers' 1Titts at s1o
Those first-class gloves which all the
niEh -saIaried big leaguers wear are
going 10 cost them one bone extra this
season. Up to two years ago the stars
could get dandy glove that held
everything that came It's way for $3.50.
The same glove will cost them only six
iron men this year. 1t is a good glove,
tho manufacturers say, but no better
In material than was the $3.50 one OF
happy memory, You'd be foolish to
raise your boy to be n catcher. Good
mitts will cost So to sl2 this season.
The best shin guards will cost 81.
good mask. which was wont to cost
| $3.50. will now cost about $40 Tho
average mitt which is worn by poor
| amateur catcher will cost Sc instead
OF So. as in tho past
The big boost has come In bats
Time was when a boy got proper
length OF ash. whitfield II down and
owned bat that lasted him n lifetime
Gone are those happy days. The fac
tory-made bat of the time will cost
from si.25 to $3.50. And there will
not be any guarantee OF duration, as
In the past. No sir. 1T is your bat
inc inc, moment you buy 1t, and IL 1t splits
| with or against the grain YOU pay for
| it and you do not get another
me manufacturers replaced bats UNI
| til this year. Any time YOU broke a
| hat you could fetch 1t back and get
another for It, The new. thin handled
stopped all that. Tho average amateur
or to-day wants a light. thin-handled
pat Now you can't get good wood in
a light bat, and when you white
bat thin in the handle you cross the
| grain too often and weaken the in
| strument.
The amateur PLAYER OF to-day could
not carry the wagon-tongue his father
twirled as he went to the plate twen-
tE-hre or thirty years ago. II you
gave the average player of to-day the
BAT That Arson used he would say that
| IT was telephone pole. lie must have
| light wood, and light wood won't wear
Hence off with the guarantee and up
with the price from 25 to 90 pcr cent.
Uniforms have gone up 81 each until
you strike the allwool grades. which
are used only By the big professionals.
| The nll-woo! grades have shot ND out
| or sight. The all-wool stocking which
cost Sl.lH pair have gone to $3.50
! Australian wool is not coming in since
| the big war began, and American wool
| is not good for kings. American
wool that sold for II cents two years
ago Is selling for SO cents a pound
now.
BnsebaIls Mt Same Price.
Balls remain where they were. No
increase III price there. Scarcity OF
leather and the high prices paid labor
are the two principal reasons given tor
| tho tremendous advance In the price
| OF baseball material. English tanned
leather. which alone will hold it's shape
In mitts. gloves. footballs etc, cannot
be had. 1t was impossible to get such
leather for footballs last year. They
have quit tanning il since the war
| began. Takes too much time, and tho
| English are now rushing like Ameri-
| cans.
The athletic goods factories arc.
mostly, in New England. They find IL
| hard to compete for labor with the
munition factories.
| The high prices of baseball bats and
also of golf club shafts Is caused by
scarcity of ash suitable for such Inn
PIGMENTS With the great rush OF
Americans to the golf links second
growth ash has gone sky high. so
scarce is this most important timber