Jackson County journal. (Sylva, N.C.) 19??-19??, 1918-10-11

fol- Men on a.


The birth of baseball on one section
of the French line where the game had
never been seen before, is described in
an interesting report by a Y. NJ. c. A.
secretary in charge of foyer du
SOldat.
The paraphernalia at my command"
he writes in telling Of how the great
American game became popular, "cOn-
sisted of backstop, an indoor baseball
and two bats. The bases were i'm
provised by saving plank into four
squares. AS walked out of the foyer |
one evening with that equipment un-
der my arm, the lOunging groups Of
French soldiers cast sidelong chances |
Of curiosity and scorn. 1t was evident
they were not optimistic in regard to
the success of the innovation.
after l had established the home
base, there were only two POilus au-
dacious enough to show that they enter
tanned some degree of listleSS interest
in whal was going on. l began batting
the ball at the backstOp, knocking out
few base hits into the wire netting.
Then suddenly wheeling about threw
the ball at one Of the spectators. He
lodged it, but another Poilu went after
1t and threw it back at me.
Becoming Interested.
81 swung at the ball, but it passed
me, and the Poilus laughed to see me
carried around by the momentum of
the swing bat Others had been at
tracted by that time, and it was evident
that interest was beginning to grow.
The man who had thrown the ball back
volunteered to pitch, and after a while
he was able to land the ball near
enough to the bat to enable me to give
1t wallOp that sent it way out into
the field.
There were some who by this time
had become sufficiently interested to
accept an invitation to do outfielder
work, and after Is minutes Of batting
yielded the bat to another.
"Some Of the Poilus got onto the
knack Of batting very quickly and this,
or course. en@endere1 an ambition to
surpaSs one another in sending the ball
to a great distance.
Il had taken position in the field
and chased the ball with a far greater
iiyeiinpsS than would have sufliced un-
der ordinary circumstances and always
took care to pull off some sensational
or amusing acrobatic stunt to win as
n,any laughs as possible. Recruits came
Rocking to us by this time and in a
short while there were enough POilus
IN the game to constitute two teams.
SO, taking the ball on the next fly, !
walked into the home base and called
the other players about me.
Then l proceeded to give explana.
lions for a cOrner-lOt championship con
test, with drawings on the ground, and
everybody lending an open ear and eye
but nearly all Of them scouting the pos
Sibility of making go Of it. Then W.
began to choose sides and place tn,
players.
Forgot to Run.
THE first batter to hit the ball for
got to run. The fielder who should hay
helded the ball, yielded to his impulse
Mt football and kicked the ball as ia
As he could, and the first basema
started to run around all the bases t
home plate. A country circus Glow
could not have wanted a better comb
nation to amuse an American aud
ence. But after five minutes of e.
plantations I had succeeded in pushin
the batter to first base; in convincin
the first baseman that it wasn't hi
turn to run, and in filling the fielde
with chagrin that he had lost GOO
chance to hurl the ball against tt
moving physiognOmy of the batter.
After this, some Of the players b
gan to grasp the principle of the pla
Having one or two allies was q gre
help. They were able to cuss out the
comrades much better than I, for the
mistakes and it enabled me to save n
voice for the important crises in +,
play. when third baseman mig
start to run home, or the second bas
man, having found a friend, renounc
all interest at critical moment wi
Two on base and q line drive iowa
second. to engage in conversati
fhat lasted for at least three minutes.
Interest Kept Up.
ny this time, an audience of at lef
hundred had gathered around a
the blatant Indifference of this seco
baseman compelled him to retire fir,
the game before the boots and jeers
the crowd and particularly of his tea
mates. AT the end of an hour and
aair the game was we'll en- route q
the crowd kept up the interest for