Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1920-04-19
STOP BETTING
ON BASEBALL
National League Announces
Movement to Curtail
Gambling on Games
This Season.
YOUTH PLAYS CHESS
Child of Eight Plays Profess
sional Game With
Master Player.
(By The Associated Press.)

'&7ti.----- {
(By The Associated Press.)
Chicago, April 16.-Gambling on
baseball games will be curtailed this
season, according to officials of the
Chicago National league baseball club.
who have started a movement against
the practice. 1t is claimed that numer-
Gus bets are made on the strength OF
who the opposing pitchers are to be.
This year, Manager Fred Mitchell, de-
clared he will not his pitcher
until the time his batting order is
handed to the umpire, just before the
game.
Manager Mitchell. whose home is in
Boston, declared he knows of numerous
instances in which the wagers We're
placed after the pitchers had been Sc
lected. He said he also knows Of a
certain hotel waiter who was paid So
a day by a gambler, for obtaining from
the visiting manager the name of the
pitcher who was to perform for the
visiting club that day.
Bet in Pool Rooms.
'MOst of the betting is done in the
pool rooms DOWNTOWN said Mr.. Mitch
ell, 'and / believe if the proprietOrs Of
these places do not know who is going
to pitch they will net be so keen to az
cept wagers. BY Withholding the name
of the pitcher, l believe much of the
gambling will stop.
If WI desire to keep the spor; pure.
gambling must be eradicatea. The
Chicago club is to do all it possibly can
to stop it. President William Week al
ways has taken steps to keen it out Of
the. ball park in Chicago, and ] am 60
ing to attempt to keep the men in the
pool rooms from betting by giving nli
the pitcher at the last moment.
Gambling is not to creep into The
game and ruin it for the future fans
and players if / can help it," Mitchell
continued, land if there is the least
suspicion of it on my team an investi-
CATION will be made and the man Or
men who are apprehended will not stay
a minute"
Boy Chess Players.
A youthful chess prodigy recently
made his debut in Berlin. A boy by the
name of II. R~zeschewski, eight years
of age, dared to play in the Beglin
Chess society 20 or more games stimuli
%taneously against more d. less classy
chess players, winning IS games, losing
one and drawing the rest. Further
more, the little fellow undertook to play
blindfolded against the. famous master
player, Kurt Won Bardeleben, an expert
of over 40 years standing and many
times Il prize winner in national and
international tournaments. Marvellous
to relate, the boy had the satisfaction
of drawing this game after 20 move
1t was startling to see the little boy,
whose head barely reached above the
level of the tables. step from board to
board and watch him make r%ejOinders
to the moves of his older adversaries.
The fact that the performance lasted
five consecutive hours, without his play
suffering any deterioration, made it all
the more astonishing. Fortunately, the
combined physical and mental strain
was in no way harmful, for upon reach
ing his hotel he retired at once and
slept soundly all night. When visitors
called the following morning. he was
Just a cheerful, happy child, busy with
his toys, paying scarcely any attention
to the congratulations offered him.
Lost BY Mistake.
Upon being asked how he came to
lose a particular game, he promptly got
out his chess set, placed them i'm the
right position and said: you see. here
/ should have played this way and !
would have drawn Or wOn the game.
But / made "A blunder and lost instead
At the request of the visitors, he show
ed about ten or twelve positions from
some Of the other games and denOm-
strated where his adversaries in each
had gone wrong. Not having the scores
of the games with him, he did all this
from memory. He even offered to
play Over for his callers every one OF
the % games from memory, but he was
prevailed upon to desist.
The consensus Of opinion of all those
who have seen the boy at play is that
he is destined to become one of the
greatest masters of chess, provided he
develops the necessary stamina to en-
able him to bear the exceptional strain
put on his faculties.
EnR Sal T. sovopnl hundred Cedar