Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-02-17
PEP WILL WIN THE WAR,
AND IT'S AN AMERICAN
Generations of Athletes Have Prepared Men of Our
Armies for Hammering the Huns-Writer Aelvo-
Gates Lowering Baseball Admission Prices

/ There have been lean years in base
ball, bu; i, is hard 10 imagine condi
tons any worse for the national pasiire
n commercial venture than they are
now. with the opening OF the 1915 sea-
son approaching. The prediction has
been made that the big league season
WIFI last about six weeks. and IL the
next draft comes az soon AS that. such
san cvcHtuation Is highly possible.
Calamity bowling is an unpopular
profession. but nobody who loves the
game OF baseball can close his eyes TO
the seriousness OF the situation tina;
involves the system known as organ
!zcd baseball. The sport played in
every hamlet and village takes its In
spiration from, the doings OF the Cobbs.
tho Coliinses and the Alexanders, and
;he syseon-uf1 exploits these experts
in their line is one that cannot fail
without its loss being felt from Port
Ia nd 20 Portland.
Bigger issues and bigger games OBJ
CESS the public eye. bu, as "A safety
valre TO prevent national insanity,
there must be baseball and sports in
general Just as in peace. nothing Is
so refreshing 10 an ovcrworked person
as some athletic diversion. so in war
nothing can SO effectively preserve the
mental health o: fighters and behind
the-lincrs alike as something that
takes the mind. temporarily. away from
the ynomentous forces now running wild
about the world
SO, il baseball! lasts only six weeks
this year i, will be real calamity.
bigger than a similar COLLAPSE, In any
other line OF sport. simply because the
appeal or the game Is 80 much more
universal then that OF any other There
are hight fans and tennis fans and golf
fans and billiard fans and fans Of other
species almost beyond counting, but
= hH ha he. Ill
the rest: hence, the collapse OF ba Sc
ball looms UP the most disastrous
possibility in the world OF sport as il
shapes up in m!dFebrusry.
This is true particularly because a
big part Of bis league basebalrs mis-
sion IS TO provide recreation for folks
more OF less inactive in athletic life.
and il is these. in the great majority.
who will be at home this year. The
athle,!cally able. who could go out and
play ball personally II they were un-
able to get TO see their favo-ite big
league team play, are in the service.
mainly. and the wonderful work of the
athletic directors who are supervising
training camp sports has long ere this
spoken for itself.
Emci.nt CAMP Work.
Athletics in training camps and naval
training stations has been put into
working order in the same efficient
peppevy American fashion that has
characterized the entire enterprise OF
!nobilizing the United States fighting
forces an enterprise that is going 10
so down to posterity one OF the most
remarkable achievements OF any people
in all history.
Coping with an unprecedented situa-
tion. evolving methods in the white
heat OF exigency, accomplishing the de-
sired result in spite of all kinds OF
criticism from bystanders. the Prcs!-
dents executives are performing a feat
that would have been called impossible
five years ago. With the same spirit
the war sport heads have organized
their forces, and have done work that
VIII only ne felt when the spirit OF the
American troops is contrasted with the
stolid. phlegcmatic bcstialty Of the
Hun and the war-worn courage OF the
allies.
This spicy paraphrasc OF the United
States Postal Services slogan might
we'll be the battlecry OF the camp
coaches. for into the war with the
American troops will go all the pro-
ducts OF sports played from the At
lantic TO the Pacific for generations.
Never has there been a nation to match
ours for the variety OF sports flourish
ing. and the consequent enormous frac-
ton of the people therein engaged
For IL a man doesn't like one sport
there arc q hundred others waiting for
can't find some sport for which he
seems to be peculiarly adapted
Though them all run certain domi.
nan requirements that make tho differ
cnce between success and failure Mt
that sport. and these qualities are the
; ones that are the most valuable in war
Courage. above all. Gamcness. refusal
, to quit - long as tho will Is In opera
tion--that is the biggest one. and with
out it there Is no success to be gained
in any form Of competition.
Courage. and next the ability to
think quickly, the coordination of
mind and muscle. the knack Of doing
the right thing right away. that rising
to the situation that comes wherever
two naen or two teams are matched.
, that is hardly second to courage With
out II a man with courage may batter
| himself out against n stoncwall. Still,
lif man with courage only is teamed