The tribune independent of Michigan. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1933-1935, 1935-03-16
BASEBALL FAv0RITE
NOW IN MANY LANDS
Even Britain Takes Up
Our National Game.

threatened. Scotland and Bingham,
played their first internatIona
game recently. the Scots winning
an easy victory OF 24-3 Growing
interest In baseball In Britain re
calls the attempt Of the Boston
Philadelphia teams to Introduce tn,
game abroad 10 years ago. Four
teen games played on British sol
were courteously attended. but rea
enthusiasm was still reserved FOL
cricket matches.
"The great American game hal
wandered far afeld since 1899
when Abner Doubleday laid out the
worlds first diamond In a vacant
lot ut Cooperstoyn. n. y" says y
bulletin from the National Geo
graphic society
'In both Canada and cuba IL is
the favorite outdoor sport. The
why little Cubans make excellent
players. and many OF our profes-
SIGNALS ure recruited there. They
have adopted our slang together
with the game. ana shout pie boi.
homron. 'fou boil. with Latin ex.
citabillty In Sonora. Mexico. the
stadium Is snperscdlng the arena
Enthusiastic fans nh the blrachers
at Quay mas. although bull-iighting
Is continued out Of respect for ira
dition
Take Game Along.
Wherever Americans hive set
tied baseball Is played The Igorot
boys of Luzon are keen supporters
of their local teams Entering the
harbor OF Page Page Samoa. the
first thing one sees through the
palms along the shore IL an In
baseball diamond. Puerto
Rico and Hawaii have their en-.
fans. In Soviet Russia.
Ambassador Bullitt has
ordered bats and balls from this
country. and two embassy mines are
ready to show Moscow how the
game should be played.
Even the deliberate Fast has
earned to steal bases. Girls schools
n China and Turkey have their
cams.
"One writer describes IA game he
watched beside the Bosporus--
Tatima at the bat on the diamond
+ Constantinople Women's college.
Japanese schools and universe
les soon adopted the game. The
contests are Japans
'orld series The MeijI Shrine
rounds-Tokyo's largest stadium
olds $4,000. and the crowd which !
athers to watch Waseda play /
.eio rivals the throng AT Yale ,
Harvard football game. Profession
llsm has not yet reached Japan.
o the sport which has replaced
as the national game. re.
nains a purely amateur one.
sIt 10 hitting TINT baseball should
return TO England becausc one OF
its immediate ancestors was the
English gnme OF FOUNDERS The
A american version OF FOUNDERS was
town ball. or Massachusetts bali
N New England favorlte. Town
nll was played on n 'hLfooi square.
he pitcher In the center and the
'atter standing in the middle of one
ide. Teams varied from ~ 10 ~
'layers, none OF whom were as.
Igned definite positions.
Devised by Doubleday.
For years school boys had played
me old-cat. and its more compllcat-
ID forms--two-oId-cat three-old-cat,
ind four-old-cat. Abncr Doubleday.
youth OF cooperstown. \. T.. Is
.redited with combining these vari-
MS games. drawing up set of
rules, and selecting the name OF
baseball lie derived the 90-foot
diamond and specified the position
Of each player. although his team
consisted Of eleven men,
Doubleday had little time for
the game which he Invented lie
entered West Point shortly after.
ward, and later fred the first shot
from Fort Sumter In answer to the
bombardment. At Get.
tysburg statue commemorate his
military service. but
America remembers him as the man
who Invented her national game.
"The first baseball teams were
organized In 1915 by the Knicker.
booker club OF New York They
played on the Elyslan fields In Ho-
boken. then a popular summer re.
sort for New York's elite. Brook
Ign, Philadelphia and Baltimore
soon formed teams. but the game
remained as amateur and aristo-
cratic sport as polo Is today.
baseball grew into national
game during the Civil war. when
northern soldiers taught It to the
men from the West and South. In
the same manner our armies spread
Its popularity among other nations
during the World war.
ITS universal appeal dates from
the dawn Of history. Throwing
running and catching. are as old as
man. Greeks, Perslans and Morse
men played handball. The Romans
batted balls with a bandaged fore
arm. The Gilbert islanders wraT
coconut shells with cord and hi
them with an open palm. Acheol
ogIsts In Egypt found a leather
covered ball over thirty centuries
old. Il 10 stuffed with papyrus. bu
the segments Of It's cover are sew
like those Of a modern baseball"