The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-08-11
BASEBALL BATS HARD
TO GET "OvtR THERE
Frenchmen Make Them Look Like.
Clubs for Modern Goiiaths TO
Blay with.
BUT TIME rs TELLING.
Learned by the WicIdcr of the VIII
low on the Army OUTFIT.
by B.. \. BSTCIiEIOK.

! > hitHt july %E,--' ny MIL. --. w nat
| at one time threatened to he a serious
| famine In baseball bats among the
| members Of the American expedi-
tionary force in France has been
/ averted and the national game viii
| flourish as the green bay tree Tho
! athletic department of the Y NJ c. a
t has solved the problem and is now
able to assure the military Try Cohbs
| and Iris Speakers that there viii be
no further dearth of ash material
! This doesn't mean that men are TO
| neglect the ordinary precautions of
| holding the grain the right way Nor
are they to be encouraged to use the
sticks for firewood, But with reason
! able conservation everything win be
| all right.
I The Red Triangle folks found when
! they first started to boom baseball in
France that II was not only possible
I to buy any considerable number OF
bats In France but that the French
woodturners hadn't any idea OF how
to make them. A hurry call was sent
| to the United States to ship some
over, but ii seemed that the bats act
ed as q sort of loadstone toward Ger
man submarines and that every ship
carrying them sought a cool. soft spot
on the bottom.
The supply finally got so low that
! the y NJ. c. \. realized it was case
! OF teaching the Frenchmen TO turn
+ out bats or getting along without
them, The alternative could not be
| accepted because the rules require
/ that every man who goes TO the plate
take club with him. 1t liz part OF his
toilet
Sometimes Useless.
ot course. some players are just
T
! lug mace up to the rubber They
! never use 1t to any purpose Left
handed big league pitchers for tX-
ample, could. save a lot Of time and
trouble BY just announcing to the
umpire when their turn to hit comes
! mat they concede themselves out
Huth IS an exception, OF course,
They ought TO conCede him a two
! Dagger every time and thus save wear
ana tear in outfielders. 10 say nothing
/ Of conserving the supply OF balls
There never was but one successful
bali club that didn't use it's bats oc-
caSionaliN for something beside sar-
turial purposes. This was the Chicago
American league club of 1906, winners
of pennant ana q worlds champion
ship. These White Sox were most re-
maTkahle people and their ability Ia
win without batting earned them the
I y
on balls and a safe bunt constituted a
batting rally for them and any one
whose average was as much as 1877
was referred to in the home news
papers as Singer" or Fence
Buster"
But there aren't any such clubs as
| the Sox IN France and the American
soldier insists on having bat, SO the
! Red Triangle either had to get him
one or confess its first failure OF the
! war. Representatives of the athletic
| department visited woodworking fac
| tories and with tears in their eyes
! pleaded with the manufacturers to
| duplicate bats that were submitted
as models. The trenchmen thinking
that this was some new weapon in
vented by the Americans to cave in
i1he hoche features, said they would
! try
Looked like Biudgeons.
Their first efforts resembled the
club affected by Jack the Giant Killer
according to the best illustrators
They were too heavy for an ordinary
man To lift and were shaped like
George Moriarty's legs which are SO
formed that YOU can tell the ankle
from the calf only by noting which
end the shoe liz on.
The Americans thanked their
French friends kindly and assured
them that rs fas-simiIes of the giant
SeQuoais their bats were excellent hut
that the Yankee baseball rules re-
quire the fail 10 be used by only one
man at time The Frenchmen tried
again and it wasn't long before they
We're turning out as neat job as
| Louisville ever boosted 1t was found
| that the bats could be made to sell for
a franc which is considerably less
than fair stick costs in America
Possibly Ty Cohbs might pick some
flaws in the quality but il Is plenty
good enough for anybody except a
most fastIdIous slugger. And il is
getting better an the time.