Evening star., 1922-08-03
|BASE BALL STATUE
PLAN IS PRAISED
Veteran Manager Commends
Star Editorial on Memorial
in Potomac Park.
70 the Editor OF The Star:

To the Editor Of The Star:
Your editorial in last Sundays
Star commenting on the proposed
base ball monument that Is to be
erected by the American League in
Potomac Park, whereon will be in
scribed from year to year the names
! of great, exponents of Americas ma
tional game, is timely and commend
able. The ancient Greeks paid hon.
ors to the heroes of their Olympian
! games that gave inspiration after
| ward to athletics in all the civilized
nations of Europe. Washington. the
capital of our great nation. is the
| proper place for its erection.
1t is not known by all Washing
tonians, but it should be known not
only by them, but by all Americans.
! that it was Washington's patriotism
and energy that carried the skill and
| glamour of the game to the west as
far as Chicago in 1857 and planted the
seed of the game in all the cities OF
the middle west. By the tour Of the
| that year, whose players were clerks
/ In the different departments of the
capital. but men of exceptional base
| ball skill. the game became national
| throughout the country The west at
! that time had only amateur clubs Of
I
( the section that gave birth to the
game and had teams of great ability
for those times. the Nationals being
| one of them.
The supporters of the Washington
! team were among the most promi-
nent citizens of the capitalize late
| Senator Arthur p. German being one
| of the supporters of the club. the
| Nationals were run on strictly anna
| teur basis. To advance the Skill and
!. n a n
porters of the capital team planned
the tour to the west. 1t may be a
revelation and stagger the money
| grabbers of the game throughout the
country today to know that the Of
| flcers of the Nationals in making this
tour to the western cities refused any
and all guarantees, gate money or
| any money consideration to pay the
! expenses of the trip. but insisted that
! ally the expenses of the club should
he borne by the hackers of the team.
| In my late visit to Europe, namely,
! France, Belgium. England and Wales,
in the interest of our national game.
I noticed that it has got such hold
on the people that leagues have al
ready started up in both England
| and Wales. The publicity the game
has got with the impression made by
the tour of the world by the Chicago
White Sox and New York Giants in
1914, with renewed interest Of my
! going over to Europe in the interest
! of our game, has brought this all
about. 1t must be added also that
| our soldiers, while in France, had
| sowed the seeds of the game.
| On account of my former visit as
| director of the worlds tour of the
| Chicago White SoX and New York
| Giants I was received royalty by
the supporters of the game in Paris.
London and Brussels. OF course. the
American people over there took the
| Initiative in welcoming me. in the in
| terest of the game. to those countries
To my foreign hosts l paid this trib-
ute to our country's national game:
| THE game of the American repub-
lie is game that is different in its
magnetism from any other sport CT
any other nation. ancient or modern.
| 1t is not a game of the classes. but
| Its democracy makes it game of the
| masses. 1t is the only game that
| levels all minds to one plane during
its playing action. whether 1t is the
| highly judicial or literary man. he
| will find his peer in the most humble
| citizen of his countrymen in his
| knowledge of the strategical features
| of the game. Base ball is the creation
of American temperament and ge
MUS. 1t is coexiStent with the
/ growth of the youth of our country.
Its playing machinery has all the
; initiative and getaway da sh OF the
| typical American, which is demon
strated in the many commercial and
industrial enterprises of the country.
1t has been of material help to GER