Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1921-02-20
GOTHAM BASEBALL PARK
TO RIVAL OLD sTADIUMs
owners Of New York Americans
VIII Erect Playing Field Re-
scmbling Ampilitlcaters.

New YORK. Feb. I9.---The his,or-
, IL, md art!sts OF early Greece have
,:.a IN pr:pt and color, about the
the discus thrower and Splinter OF
old were wont, 10 exhibit their PROV
eAs before holiday thronR
Of Livy did his bit by writing severn /
Thousand words about the magnifi-
cent stad!u'ns OF Rome, where Roman
youths p!,ted their skill and strength
IN sports against one another
These amphitheatcrs that we hnvc
heard about through the Greek and
roman writer's and artists were
G :, as works Of art. They, riva!Ied
hcence OF finish any OF the great ral-
ACES or state buildings Of the time.
In Rome the g!adiators fought on
grand stand that took many years II
patient shaving to build. In Athens
the clean iimbed Hellcncs ran their
races and threw the hammer in "A field
surrounded oy co!ossa! evidences al
art:
These great palaces Of sport crum-
blcd as time passed. They were never
rebuilt. Perhaps the enthusiasm for
aporta was not great enough TO in
.pire that rebuilding. II may be
mat interest In art dwindlcd for q
time hn1 no one wanted 10 put forth
great Efforts 10 give athletics AN ar
,is,lc setting; Whatever caused tho
matters little in view OF the effects.
i.onktnE backward.
s,ans sIHr ., OF the time that has
Gays OF sporting carnivals reveals
mat no ether nations or period OF
hlRiory ever boasted such athletic en-
thusiasm or amphithcatcrs for stag
ing athletic competitions. in England
and France and other European coun-
tries horse racing and the jousts and
TO a marked degree some OF the nag
SinS interest in sports. But they
did not inspire anything. like the
hinph!thcatcrs OF Rome and Athens
Starting gu, on Il small scale the
great american game OF baseball has
WORKED slowly but surely towards
which combined sports and ART in q
way. At hrst our national pastime
Was matter of match games staged
IN empty lots. AS the game found
was necensPry TO build crude stands
Tor the accommodation OF the fans
And so, working from the sand
lots ana vacant fields. baseball has
after only n few years o; existence,
cllmbed into pos ition of such i'm
po.tance that II is now played in
money and represent some kinship
10 art. even II IL be practical art.
HiE Modern PInnt.
football! as played by the Ameri-
can college has made it's demand for
the costly stadium. too. Witness
the Yale Bowl. that vast saucer with
pcople Now wa have the $4,000 coo
nmphithcnter to be built by the New
ork american League Club for base
ball purposes.
Verify. baseball is bringing the
sporting world the prominence it en-
loyed in the days of the ancient
Romans and Creeks. who lavished
their art and their gold on temples
dedicated TO the ways of athletic com
petition.
In spending 100000 on "A baseball
- Ia.
let II be known in advance that their
new home Is not merely to be mann
hloth grand stand. 1t IL to be a work
or architectural genius that will com
mand recognition from those VINO
look Tor the artistic even in sports
And so IL would seem that history.
does repeat itself. Future American
historians may yet rival the Greek
ana Roman scribes in telling pos
terlty about the magnificent temples
that america erected to surround it's
taHorite sport with all that modern
wealth, art and constructive genius
can accomplish.