New-York tribune., 1918-03-03
Baseball Map
Should Include
St. Louis. Yep!
Constitution of National
League Was Drawn There
in the Year 1876
By Louis Lee Arms

land 8 hanoy Dook OF factS and statiSs
tics, it almost jars one loose from hia
hat to note the large number Of thinen
in baseball that has happened in St.
Louis. Cincinnati and Brooklyn.
If in some drawing room, where you
are trying to make an impression as
deep scholar, some one should ask soma
purely academic question such as, "Wha
was the first man to slide into second
base?" do not hesitate to answer. I'm.
nediately you will say:
Gas matter f fact cannot rcmem.
her the birds name, but ] recall very
we'll that it happened in St. Louis, in
(here substitute your own date)." Or
if for any reason You object to st.
Louis, insert Cincinnati or Brooklyn
1t will be recalled that the Cincinnati
Reds were the first team to wear short
pants, that Cincinnati first charged
fifty cents admission, that Dicky Pcarce
originated the bunt in Brooklyn. that
baseball was played first on ice in
Brooklyn, that st. Louis saw the first
shut-out game, and so on. Baseball
seems ia case of Brooklyn this, Gin
ciEnati that and st. Louis the other.
Nothing Happened
1t seems strange to US because when
we have happened to be in any ono
of these three towns nothing ever hap.
pened. We would no more suspect st.
Louis had a record concealed about its
person than that the Mississippi River
was made of ginger ale, though ii
usually is about the same color. Gin
cinnati has seemed the most conven-
tional and tiresome of cities imag.
L l. T.. H. SolI
asleep in a subway and rode over to
/ Brooklyn and blushed about it for
weeks afterward.
Yet the constitution of the National
League was drawn up in st. Louis in
1876, as the sure-footed Mr.. Moreland
informs us, and, as he says, ITO this
day it stands practically unchanged"
The first players contract also was
drafted in ST. Louis and the degree OF
it's perfection is slightly suggested by
the fact it was ironclad enough to hold
q man to the St. Louis Browns.
AS an indication of the growth OF
baseball, Mr.. Moreland points out, i'll
| 1881 ST. Louis newspaper referred
to the fact that fully 5000 spectators
attended the game Ah, yes; those
were the full days in st. Louis! But
Governor Folk made lot of changes.
Compare that crowd with the pres
ent day attendance" says Mr.. More
land gleefully, evidently under the inn
preston that crowd of 5000 would
be sneezed at in St. Louis nowadays.
! Our statistician has overstepped hlm'
self bit here, for believe us. st. Louis
baseball owners do not sneeze at
5000 crowdm. They would welcome
the opportunity to sneeze more often
with them.
Catcher Wilson of the New York
re-. ! !, nrH ~
putting out the first nine men who
| came to the bat AS this did not hap
pen in Cincinnati or st. Louis, we Will
give YOU one guess ii name where 1t
did happen. Correct!
Retired First Nine Men
| Saws Mr. Moreland:
"Catcher Wilson of the New York
Giants made record in the 1911 Me-
mortal Day morning game at Brooklyn
that, it is believed, was never before
euualled-that of putting out the flrss
nine men to be retired. In the first
inning Stark famed. Mclveen touled
out and Wheat famed.
In the second Hummel famed. David
son singled and was thrown out at the
plate. trying to score on Coulsons
double. Zimmerman then fouled out:
In the third Bergen fouled out and
Scanlon, Stark and McElveen singled,
| fl)inr the bases. Wheat hit to Devlln,
who tossed to Wilson, forcing out Scan
lon. Wheat then made it nine IN
row by tanning
This surely was an odd record ana ~
has the ring of truth about 1t for as
our author definitely sets forth, Brook
iyn had three men on bases and ola not
score.
The next tid-bit of fact that is to be
flashed upon the screen did not happen
either in st. Louis or Brooklyn. NOW ,:,
where on earth do you suppose 1t dlo
occur? Correct! -,
ALLISON, the Cincinnati Red CATCH
| er of 1869, was the tlrst man TO wear
! glove on the left hand"
Even now catcher has his troubles;
and many of them, but he is indebted
deeply to Mr.. Allison for the comfort
and relative safety that a padded gioVe
provided Protected as he is in these
modern times with cleated boot, ankle
guards, shin guards, chest protector,
mask, glove and even wrist guards, our
catchers seem to have positive genius
for stopping a hot foul tip with some
unprotected part of the body.
A Lying" Existence
a backstop spends large part of his
life lying on the ground near home
plate, surrounded BY his teammates,
! NIiO are WOnQSl lilS IL ShSy "'AA AiA W ~
kick in for a floral horseshoe on the
day of the funeral. If Mr.. Allison had
not thought of the padded glove for
the left hand, some one else would,
though a good many of our catchers
are what an invidious person ght call
slow thinkers.
Mr.. Moreland garnishes his statis-
tics with human interest stuff that ap-
pears now as spicy little squib about
players personality or again as
mellow anecdote.
1t seems that a Southern gentleman
once asked a northern paper: What
brought Grant home?' The baseball
reporter, was idling about the office, so
the boss told him to answer the query.
Where at he wrote:
ave didn't follow the game closely,
but he might have got in on a hard hit
to center field or a hot liner to third,
badly muffed, or daisy-cutter out to
left field. In fact there are so many
ways for getting home that lack OF
space prevents our defining them all.
That baseball reporter was what one
might call "an humorous person" but
rhe poor fellow is probably dead if he
lived in the day when line single was
referred to as daisy y-cutter."
Home of Pro Bail.
Cincinnati was really the home OF
professional baseball. That city was
the first to organize team of paid