Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-05-14
PENNANT RAISING
ON OPENING DAY
IS CERTAIN J|NX
Old Custom of Hosting Flag
Is FrOwned on by
Players.
By |. e..

Dame Fortune apparently has queer
notions, one of them beng that q ma
jor league pennant should not be chris
tened on the opening day of a season,
although that occasion appeals to near
ly everyone else as eminently fitting
and proper for reminding the rooters
of the joyful days of the previous
year.
Once upon a time, when the nations
pastime was less than. one-half of L
per cent commercial, it was the in
variable custom to hoist a champion
ship flag on the opening day of the
next campaign. That was before some
body realized that opening day meant
a big crowd anyway, and it would mean
la few more dollars to withhold the
pennant christening until midseason or
later, so as to whet anew the appe-
tites of the fans after interest had
commenced TO flag.
Old.Time Sportsmen
Imbued with the desire to infuse
more of the old-time craftsmanship
into baseball. the two colonies, Rup-
pert and Huston, who own the New
York Yankees, revived the custom of
christening the emblem of victory on
opening day at the Polo grounds. But
Dame Fortune clamped a clammy jinx
on the joy session by sending a gale
which blew the pennant off the pole
and out of the lot almost before the
rooters had ceased yelling about it.
The last previous effort to hoist a
pennant on opening day vas made by
President Comiskev of the White Sox
and it was even less of a success. That
was in the spring of 1907. following
the triumph of the Sox over the Cubs
in the first worlds series ever staged
entirely in one city. 1t wasn't the
wind that linked the proceedings that
day, but the hoisting halyard which
ran off the top pulley. Fielder Jones
and his crew kept right on pulling at
the rope and snapped the pennant pole
off in the middle before the flag had
been hoisted halfway.
Superstitious pessimists predicted at
the time seven years of hard luck
for Comiskey and the White Sox. 1t
was II years before they won another
~pennant. Everybody hopes the Polo
grounds accident this year will not
breed a similar ink for the Yankee
colonels. simply because they tried TO
show themselves good sportsmen by
not delaying the pennant raising until
a later date. But there was another
coincidence between the two flag mis-
haps. Both happened in the springs
following worlds series between w
teams representing the same city.
Risking a Jinx
Magnates who have refused to give
their patrons a chance to point with
pride" to league pennants until mid
season-sometimes not until after all
the pride had been knocked out of them
by second division teams-will now
point warning fingers at anyone who
suggests risking a jinx by departing
from the more commercial custom OF
recent years.
The Yankees appear to have their
hands full without any frowns from
Lady Luck. The bacteria which usual
ly infect cams of champions seem
to have found fertile ground in the
temperamental athletes who owe al
legiance to Miller Higgins. symptoms
of enlarged Uranium cropped out III
midwinter and a disposition 70 take
things easy was noted in spring tram:
ing. But Higgins apparently whipped
his high salaried stars into shape be-
fore the real battles began. In reduc-
ing the size of the Yankees headgear
the diminutive manager undoubtedly
was helped by the fact that his team
was the first American league OUTFIT {"
lose a worlds series on the level III
seven years.