Evening star., 1932-10-23
NEW RECORD BOOK
RAPS PROMOTERS
Len Collins Volume Oiscred-
its "Dime.a.Dozen" Marks
of Recent Times.
BY r. ID. THOMAS.
EONARD w. COLLINS, bowl

ZONES the games severest critic.
Collins book, containing 17e
pages chockful of information
hoes to the public tomorrow, with
fopies available at all bowling
establishments and a few news
Itands.
1t is a book every bowler will want bu
pne that Washington's duckpin promo.
tiers may wish burned Certainly it give!
them an artistic scorching. With hi.
beloved figures to back up all his argu.
ments, Leonard blames bootleg" equip.
ment and, ironically. the Association OF
Advanced Bowling Thought for the
evils which have descended on the sport
In the last year or two.
CEMS of duckpin history and va.
" riety of surprising facts give spice
to probably the most comprehen,
siVe sizing up of the little stick sport yet
"A little more than Is years ago,
Collins begins, Raymond E Chaplin. al
that time one of Washington's foremost
exponents of the duckpin game, electri-
fed the bowling world, his brother ano
sister, by pinning a three-game total Of
434 in a District League set. Less thar
three weeks later he duplicated his rec
ord-breaking performance, as far as
total pins go, in a National Capita
League match.
In the succeeding II seasons but
three individuals were able to place a
new set mark in the record books. Lee
S. Brown topped Chapin's best efforts
by one stick in 1924: Harry Dixon raised
the figures to AS in 1925. while Charlie
Phillips 458, made in 1923, stood the
test until the introduction OF mushroom
cutters during the last campaign.
tDELVING further into duckpin his
- tory. one will find that % sea
sons back Dave McCarty opened
the 19l0-11 festivities of the National
Capital League with game count OF
1872. Like Chapin's record sets, Nc
Carty's big game was eclipsed as a rec
ord but three times until the Association
Of Advanced Bowling Thought asserted
themselves tWelve-month or so ago.
Those were evidently the days when
records really meant something in ad-
dition to getting your name in print
How different from the 1892 tableau
when they were quoted at less than
a dime dozen. as for instance. among
the ladies' considerations whether the
Greater District team game mark was
hiked upon no less than five times
Never in the 81 years of competitive
duckpin play in Washington and en-
virons was the upward trend of scores
more pronounced over those of previous
seasons than they were throughout the
1931-32 season. Ninety-flve per cent OF
all league records-team game team
set, individual game and individual set
went by the boards.
SMORE than 160 leagues were in
lV1 the field and of this number but
eight. namely. the B. Y. P. u, East
Warrington Church, Bethesda. Pack
ard Auto. Southern Railway. Veterans
Administration men). Rosslyn Com
mercial and Transportation Building
1adies), we're unable to point to new
game or set record, either team or in
dividual.
"BoWlers whose averages had never
been within respectable distance of
anything that resembled a respectable
figure found themselves the possessors
of seasonal marks that were anywhere
from two to four pins per game higher
than they had ever boasted. And the
Improvement was to be noted all along
the line An even dozen OF the first
flight bettered 100, whereas in the two
previous seasons but three men in each
had reached that coveted figure.
More than one duckpinner who had
been led to believe that his increased
p;nnage was due to better conditioned
alleys. plus an improvement in his own
ability. suddenly discovered that his
most cherished ambition-that of de-
cent average-was nothing but lot OF
apple sauce Figuratively, his average
was up. but so was Tom, Dick and
Harry's. Those who had out-pinned
him in 1s3o-31 were out-pinning him
in 1892.
:. A COMPARISON of the final fig
n ures of a majority of the leagues
disclosed that the average of the
novice. dub and general run OF the
mine duckpinner had shown an increase
but what was most disconcerting was
that the average of the stars had also
skvrocketed, only relatively more So
Raised cutters had brought about
more strikes. more spares and greater
pjnfeil. The star with his higher degree
O. c~c,.racy on the first ball was bound
to -eo a greater increase in strikes
ar spare breaks than the average
bcy.e-. And, so it was in the cleaning
up of wood If anything, the gap be-
tween the star and the novice, between
the novice and the dub End the duh
and the average pin buster had been
widened.
THE question often arose: How come
these raised cutters and why?' II you
can advance logical reason as an
answer to that one then we can tell
YOU how old was Ann who struck John
or the whereabouts OF Dorsey Foutz
The best answer so far registered is
that while there had never been cry
ing need for increased scores there
was. in some quarters, crying neeo
for more business.
"EoR over 27 years every bowling
i alley in Greater Washington was
standardized, as was the gutter
In less than q weeks we had the finest
collection of bootleg equipment that
was ever wished upon an unsuspecting
bowling clientele. Dissatisfaction was
bound to crop out. A majority Of the
proprietors were willing to reach a
compromise in an effort to get the game
back on an even keel.
However. there was little that could
he done about it. George L. ISemann,
secretary of the National Duckpin
Bowling Congress, attempted the role
of Moses and at the end Of the season
decreed that thenceforth he would rec
egnize only these records made on gut
tArs not less than 2ls inches in depth.
This was a help and start in the
right direction.
''At the same time, he also put the
stamp CT approval on round cutters.
Whether this was good business Is an
Cpen question The result Of this rul-
ing means that Washington will be one
of the few cities in the country where
YOU can select your own poison. A
number Of owners have installed the
glcbose channels in the belief that they
are productive of a batter pinfall.
t.VIIHETHER or not Isemann con-
w templates eventually making the
round trench standard equip
ment is a matter Of conjecture, but
either the round or the square gutter
must 70. There is no room in the game
r,,ef ma hoy