New Britain herald., 1928-05-26
GE77Ik 'P|TCHERS'
 RARE OLD SPORT
Heroes ol Stage, Ring and Dia.
 mond in Cigarette Boxes

hlVuu lu Vi6al0llC DVAN one Of the most popular pas 1 times Of hoyhood life decade ago i but which has for years been wholly
 extinct with no signs of being re-
 rired. was the collecting of pictures
 Of baseball players, flags and anil i mals, there being specified num-
 Der in set. with several individual reproductions very difffficult to ob- tain. Cigarette manufacturers spon- sored the scheme. and whether it increased the sale of their product, ! 1t most certainly gave the youth Of
 New Britain a game that every younester played every minute they could find 10 give to 1t. the time and { the season notwithstanding. Cn- 1oubtodly there arc trunks and oth- er receptacles in hundreds of attics in this city which shelter beneath dust covered tops collections of these pictures which all the money
 on any street in Connecticut could
 not have bought when their owners
 were gathering them. Today they
 are meaningless. having no value,
 perhaps, for the star ball players of
 this generation arc pictured in
 newspapers and on the movie screens so frequently that their pro-
 files and their every move are well
 known to the junior fans far more 1
 thoroughly than arc the heroes Of ! the World War. while the prized |
 photogra phic reproductions of the |
 walrus, the bear the lion. and the 1 other members of tho animal family l would not be a patch on the splen- i didly projected pictures shown in l the news reels.
 sharp Bargains Driven
 swapping pictures in the Old | Burrtt school yard At Main and East Main streets, the old St. Mary's school yard at Myrtle and High streets. the Grammar School as the Central Junior High school was known, and elsewhere. was well nigh a business in those days. The flag of some country or other was hard to get" and the boy who was fortunate enough 10 own the picture had q. fortune. II was worth five Of some other country's emblems, or ?, of the "easy" ones. To a boy who needed only one more for con- nlote set. it was worth any combi- nation he could spare. and the dick cring and bargaining that went on C. i, missed may have been the founda- ton upon which the business acu- men Of their later lives was built.
 A big grizzly bear was one of the easy" pictures of tho set. and the the lion, the chimpanzce, fhc zebra, the monkey. the elephant and many others were in the same class. Some of the pictures were so mark d and soiled through frequent from one owner 10 the ,eXt that they were hardly recos- liza blc. but the "hard' ones were aasilv distinguishab blo for the reason that they were so scarce; the boys who had them were careful to guard them. In the set of flags. the stars and Stripes, the flag of Ireland, Inion Jack and others were com non and consequently experienced much passing around.
 Settle Arguments With Fists
 In those days. George Wiltse. 'hristy Mathewson. Eddie Plank. Nap Fucker. Cy Young. Mordecai 3rown. Jimmy Archer, Johnny Hing. Roger Bresnahan. Fred Ten icy. Wild Bill' Donovan. Donie Bush. Hans Wagner. Larry Lajoie nd the heroes of the diamond whose names now escape memory. we're before the public in the spring nd summer because of their play ng. and in the winter because of he news from the stove league" nd their pictures. in uniform and n various poses. were much in de- nand. One of the most bitterly ought bare knuckle clashes local chool yard has ever witnessed was tarted through dispute over the ictures of Christy Mathcwson and Iordecai Brown. Two lads. who arc roba bly, still living in these parts. me to blows at recess because one aid Brown was "harder' than He had just come into ossession of new, clean. likeness the three fingered twirler who lade history while with the Chi ago Cubs, and the other boy. prob- bly thinking he could get if by be- ttling it's rating among the others l the set, pooh poohed' it. An eX- hange of what would be called ra zzing" today was followed by the rst blow and while boys of all sizes nd ages scampercd from all corners { the yard to reach the improrised ngside. the fighters whaled away. he recess bell brought about tem- orarv cessation of rostilitics, but n in "The Pitt on Myrtle street at 80 D. m., the supporter of Morde- ii Brown had his eyes hiackened nd the booster for the immortal athevson accumulated several rse bumps before the gang was spersed by false alarm Of the ,ps."
 Although the pictures had no ace in the course of training in ly of the schools. the teachers en- ,uraged the boys to make collec" - pms and even took part in the ex. ,,,ca .hout tho school grounds. :.