Evening star., 1924-10-05
BY STERLING HEILIG.

from Bucks County, Pa. His delivery
| is compared with that of Walter John
| son when he started pitching for
Washington, ID c.. in 1907, and did
not have any curve, but pitched the
swiftest ball in Amesica."
Young Hicks has near curve" a
subtle thing, of which he is himself
never quite sure-and which all the
| more keeps batters cussin'.
His married sister says: why, Will
lie is Paris banker! Base ball is his
pleasure. So it is mine, too. So let
us hear no more about this signing.
Now, you've got a line on Paris
base ball.
How far back was base ball played
by Americans in Paris? The answer
is easy. Ever since base ball has
come abroad
We change our skies, but not our
game"
'If they cannot bring buckwheat
cakes along with them. they can at
least always find some kind of a ball
| and bat"
At present base ball f1ourishes in
ParIs. with at least six regular teams
which play one another continuously
at the ball grounds just outside the
fortifications at the Orleans gate.
sometimes they even cross the chan
mel and play American teams Of Eng
land. But that is getting ahead Of
the story
They do not pretend to be profess
sionals, though now and then phe-
nomenons like Hicks and Snyder
make us brag that they ought to be
in big league stuff at home-except
that they are on the road to fame as
artists or fortune as business men.
x y X
A RT and base ball. Old-timers like
Phil Sawyer, Otto Gaenslen,
Shorty Lazar and Morton johnson.
now we'll known artists, remember
the days at Bagatelle when Pop
Farrar used to umpire, or even stop
some liners at short.
Pop" was already out of the game,
for he was over here with his wife
and daughter. Those were Geral-
trying her voice as young bird
tries its wings While she became a
grand opera star. "at least one" of
Geraldinc's bat-and-ball buddies Gas
Sawyer puts it modestly) was mount
ing to fame as an artist
Chapters might be written on Bill"
John Noble, portrait painter of Ne
braska governors Che did whole
gallery of them at the State capital,
besides his other more famous
works.; but II was out on the ball
field that he first showed up to the
American colony of Paris
Bill wore long, yellow hair under
big black hat, and told admiring
girls at the Dome" how the bullets
few over his cradle, as a babe, in
Wichita. Kan. His language was pic
turesque when one of the team he
was batting on muffed a ball
Buffalo Bits Wild West came to
Paris. and they raked up a team
from among the "spielers, cowboys
and Indians just as they are do
ing today, 30 years later. with the
new Wild West Rodeo crowd from
Wembley. England.
Buffalo Bills boys played the So
called "F'renchies," who were good
old ianks tpainters and students)
Carlisle. named Bright Eyes. pitched
for the Wild West. and moved the
Latin Quarter down.
Today they'll be up against some
husky business men and bankers
along with the artists. Otherwise
the team raked from the WembIey
Wild West repeats history strangely.
1t was 80 years ago." says Saw
yer. Americans from all over Eu-
rope smelled the leather of the pill
and drifted up to Paris on so-called
express trains, just to see those
games. We thought we had the real
thrill, then; but. listening to young
Harris. son of a Chicago banker, at
the Orleans Gate yesterday, we re-
allied that the kids of today are get
ting it the same"
X
NOV. skip to the war. Ger home
ask any of your old buddies
about the games that went on in
every American unit back of the
THE r furnished lots of the equip
ment" says Sawyer. and. say. some
of those same bats balls. masks and
gloves are being used today.
Manager CASTOR Francois came of
an old stock, which the French crowd
that had them did not even know the
use of. He got IL balls for the price
of one-which comes handy where
rent of the grounds. at the Orleans
Gate eats into the receipts"
The bleachers of Parisi
Imagine an inclosed field in the
suburbs. There is not much room
outside the diamond, so that many
balls are batted out into the oats"
feature of the catcher's box is a
wire netting cage to catch fouls
which are a-plenty. In the great
Fourth of July game this chicken
coop tumbled over at a critical mo-
ment, just as lightning, thunder and
torrential rain made the event a real
Wild West show.
Who but Americans, hungry for
the national sport. would play in
sure-to-goodness thunderstorm, as
the picked Paris-American team did
l. 49, N -
Fourth?
In the middle of that game Mitch
ell, who runs a cabaret in Mont
martre, hauled six loads of sand in a
wheelbarrow, to save the sailor
guests from "skidding in the mud
and skinning their noses
On the bleachers there may not
have been a record crowd for home.
but the cream of American society
was there-and eating peanuts in So
centime bags. brought out, on a
guarantee, by venders OF the boule-
ward cafe terraces.
Now there are five base ball mines
in Paris. plus the novel French girls
team-which plays fair ball.
And young blood coming on, like
this:
Manager Francois. in charge Of the
gymnasium at IS Rue Denvert-Bo-
cnereau, lectures twice "eeh "
French boys on the theory of base
ball-with diagrams!
X X
THUS French boys cat the black
L hoardD learn just what to do
when the batter makes a bunt, or
with three men on bases, or even
with one man on first trying to reach
second, and playing for the runner.
Base ball at the blackboard! OF
course, a real ball player does not
grow up on blackboard theories; but.
all the same, kindly do not smile at
tbese foreign lads: who are, lust crazy