The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-04-15
BASEBALL DUE
 FOR BIC BOOM
Giants In Their Barnstorm- ing Trip Finds Evidences That Game Is Coming Back.

Norfolk, Va. April 15,-Baseban, after year long struggle against conditions brought about by the war, is coming into its own again in the dawning days of peace, if evidence which has cropped out during the present tour of the Giants through the South is to be regarded as au- thentic. The roar of the guns on the western front has died out, and in its place again is heard the crack of a. bat against a horsehide covered pei let Predictions of a wonderful re- vival of interest in the game as it is played by the clubs of the major leagues are beginning to materfalize It is natural that the first concrete evidence of this should become ap- parent in the South, for it is here that baseball has its annual premier, while the North is still writhing in the grasp of winter. When the Giants arrived at Gainesville three weeks ago, the little town was visibIy stir red. It was clear that first the in terest eyinced by the residents was prompted more by q desire to see just what these famed athletes looked like than by a love of the game they played. In q few days a change came about; the ayers still attracted at tention, as in their leisure hours they wandered about the streets and lott cred in the shops, but they were an even greater attraction out on tn. ball field. The practice sessions, es- pecially when the daily games be- tween the regulars and the rockies were inaugurated, were attended sur prisingly well, and the spectators did not miss any of the fine points of the contests
 The first real glimpse which the players had into the immediate flu ture of baseball was affored them in Tampa, where the two games be- tween the Giants and Red Sox at tro cted crowds which far exceeded the expectations of the management of both clubs. The attendance at the first game in Gainesville represented the largest crowd that ever gathered in that city for this purpose and the second contest therc attracted an al most equally largo number of spec tGstOrs
 rom Gainesville the teams jumped to Columbus, S. C., and from there to Spartanburg and in both cities inter est in tho meetings of the big leaguers was keen, though their com ing had been poorly advertised The concrete walls of modern major league ball parks have about elim- mated from the big circuit the kid who used to view ball games through a knot hole in the fence, but in the bush" towns this species of fan is still numerous At Spartanburg. for instance, the crowd overflowed the stands and stretched down the foul lines and at each break and hole in the fence which trimmed the park was a kid who didn't intend to let the lack of funds interfere with his desire to see tho big leaguers in ac- tion- In Winston Salem thousands of fans were deprived by rain of a chance to see the teams play and t was a disappointed and disconso1ate city which the players. left behind them when they boarded a north bound train. The games in BaIti- n ore on Saturday and Sunday be- tween the Giants and the Orioles drew good sized and highly enthus- iastic crowds and one of the most significant features of these gather ings was that the fans rode" the 1 Giants in a good natured kidding | way.
 ! They ragged John McGraw about 1 the defeats which it's team had suf- 1 fered in the series with the Red Sox, I they asked the great Zim pointed ! questions about Eddie Collins and 1 his speed of foot, and they took many l a verbal swing at the long chin of 1 Arthur Fletcher, and any time a [ home crowd rides" a visiting team l it's a heathy sign of real live interest l in the game. Baseball" says John | B. Foster, has come back, and 1919
 promises to equal, if not to exceed, 1913. which was the banner year of 1 the game.