Credit for e-text: The Library of Congress, Joshua Hutchinson, David King,
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SPALDING'S OFFICIAL ATHLETIC LIBRARY
BASEBALL GUIDE
1913
EDITED BY
JOHN B. FOSTER
PRICE 10 CENTS
PUBLISHED BY
AMERICAN SPORTS PUBLISHING CO.,
21 Warren Street, New York City.
[Advertisement]
AMERICA'S NATIONAL GAME
By A. G. SPALDING
PRICE, $2.00 NET
A book of 600 pages, profusely illustrated with over 100 full page
engravings, and having sixteen forceful cartoons by Homer C. Davenport,
the famous American artist.
The above work should have a place in every public library in this
country, as also in the libraries of public schools and private houses.
The author of "America's National Game" is conceded, always, everywhere,
and by everybody, to have the best equipment of any living writer to
treat the subject that forms the text of this remarkable volume, viz.,
the story of the origin, development and evolution of Base Ball, the
National Game of our country.
Almost from the very inception of the game until the present time--as
player, manager and magnate--Mr. Spalding has been closely identified
with its interests. Not infrequently he has been called upon in times of
emergency to prevent threatened disaster. But for him the National Game
would have been syndicated and controlled by elements whose interests
were purely selfish and personal.
The book is a veritable repository of information concerning players,
clubs and personalities connected with the game in its early days, and
is written in a most interesting style, interspersed with enlivening
anecdotes and accounts of events that have not heretofore been
published.
The response on the part of the press and the public to Mr. Spalding's
efforts to perpetuate the early history of the National Game has been
very encouraging and he is in receipt of hundreds of letters and
notices, a few of which are here given.
ROBERT ADAMSON, New York, writing from the office of Mayor Gaynor,
says:--"Seeing the Giants play is my principal recreation and I am
interested in reading everything I can find about the game. I especially
enjoy what you [Mr. Spalding] have written, because you stand as the
highest living authority on the game."
BARNEY DREYFUSS, owner of the Pittsburg National League club:--"It does
honor to author as well as the game. I have enjoyed reading it very
much."
WALTER CAMP, well known foot ball expert and athlete, says:--"It is
indeed a remarkable work and one that I have read with a great deal of
interest."
JOHN B. DAY, formerly President of the New York Nationals:--"Your
wonderful work will outlast all of us."
W. IRVING SNYDER, formerly of the house of Peck & Snyder:--"I have read
the book from cover to cover with great interest."
ANDREW PECK, formerly of the celebrated firm of Peck & Snyder:--"All
base ball fans should read and see how the game was conducted in early
years."
MELVILLE E. STONE, New York, General Manager Associated Press:--"I find
it full of valuable information and very interesting. I prize it very
highly."
GEORGE BARNARD, Chicago:--"Words fail to express my appreciation of the
book. It carries me back to the early days of base ball and makes me
feel like a young man again."
CHARLES W. MURPHY, President Chicago National League club:--"The book is
a very valuable work and will become a part of every base ball library
in the country."
JOHN F. MORILL, Boston, Mass., old time base ball star.--"I did not
think it possible for one to become so interested in a book on base
ball. I do not find anything in it which I can criticise."
RALPH D. PAINE, popular magazine writer and a leading authority on
college sport:--"I have been reading the book with a great deal of
interest. 'It fills a long felt want,' and you are a national benefactor
for writing it."
GEN. FRED FUNSTON, hero of the Philippine war:--"I read the book with a
great deal of pleasure and was much interested in seeing the account of
base ball among the Asiatic whalers, which I had written for Harper's
Round Table so many years ago."
DEWOLF HOPPER, celebrated operatic artist and comedian:--"Apart from the
splendid history of the evolution of the game, it perpetuates the
memories of the many men who so gloriously sustained it. It should be
read by every lover of the sport."
HUGH NICOL, Director of Athletics, Purdue University, Lafayette,
Ind.:--"No one that has read this book has appreciated it more than I.
Ever since I have been big enough, I have been in professional base
ball, and you can imagine how interesting the book is to me."
MRS. BRITTON, owner of the St. Louis Nationals, through her treasurer,
H.D. Seekamp, writes:--"Mrs. Britton has been very much interested in
the volume and has read with pleasure a number of chapters, gaining
valuable information as to the history of the game."
REV. CHARLES H. PARKHURST, D.D., New York:--"Although I am not very much
of a 'sport,' I nevertheless believe in sports, and just at the present
time in base ball particularly. Perhaps if all the Giants had an
opportunity to read the volume before the recent game (with the
Athletics) they might not have been so grievously outdone."
BRUCE CARTWRIGHT, son of Alexander J. Cartwright, founder of the
Knickerbocker Base Ball Club, the first organization of ball players in
existence, writing from his home at Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands,
says:--"I have read the book with great interest and it is my opinion
that no better history of base ball could have been written."
GEORGE W. FROST, San Diego, Calif.:--"You and 'Jim' White, George
Wright, Barnes, McVey, O'Rourke, etc., were little gods to us back there
in Boston in those days of '74 and '75, and I recall how indignant we
were when you 'threw us down' for the Chicago contract. The book is
splendid. I treasure it greatly."
A.J. REACH, Philadelphia, old time professional expert:--"It certainly
is an interesting revelation of the national game from the time, years
before it was so dignified, up to the present. Those who have played the
game, or taken an interest in it in the past, those at present engaged
in it, together with all who are to engage in it, have a rare treat in
store."
DR. LUTHER H. GULICK, Russell Sage Foundation:--"Mr. Spalding has been
the largest factor in guiding the development of the game and thus
deserves to rank with other great men of the country who have
contributed to its success. It would have added to the interest of the
book if Mr. Spalding could have given us more of his own personal
experiences, hopes and ambitions in connection with the game."
_Pittsburg Press_:--"Historical incidents abound and the book is an
excellent authority on the famous sport."
_Philadelphia Telegraph_:--"In this book Mr. Spalding has written the
most complete and authoritative story of base ball yet published."
_New York Herald_:--"If there is anyone in the country competent to
write a book on base ball it is A.G. Spalding who has been interested in
the game from its early beginnings."
I.E. Sanborn, Chicago _Tribune_:--"'America's National Game' has been
added to the _Tribune's_ sporting reference library as an invaluable
contribution to the literature of the national pastime."
O.C. Reichard, Chicago _Daily News_:--"It is cleverly written and
presents information and dates of great value to the newspaper man of
to-day!"
George C. Rice, Chicago _Journal_:--"I have read the book through, and
take pleasure in stating that it is a complete history of the game from
the beginning until the present time."
Sherman R. Duffy, Sporting Editor _Chicago Journal_:--"It is a most
interesting work and one for which there was need. It is the most
valuable addition to base ball literature that has yet been put out."
Joseph H. Vila, New York _Sun_:--"I have read it carefully and with much
interest. It is the best piece of base ball literature I have ever seen,
and I congratulate you on the work."
Tim Murnane, Sporting Editor _Boston Globe_:--"You have given to the
world a book of inestimable value, a classic in American history; a book
that should be highly prized in every home library in the country."
Francis C. Richter, Editor _Sporting Life_, Philadelphia:--"From a
purely literary standpoint, your work is to me amazing. Frankly, I would
not change a line, for the reason that the story is told in a way to
grip the reader and hold his interest continually."
_Los Angeles Times_ (editorial):--"Spalding's book has been out six
months and ninety thousand copies have been sold. We understand there
will be other editions. America has taken base ball seriously for at
last two generations, and it is time enough that the fad was given an
adequate text book."
Caspar Whitney, Editor _Outdoor America_, and one of the leading
authorities in the world on sport:--"You have made an invaluable
contribution to the literature of the game, and one none else could have
made. Moreover, you've done some very interesting writing, which is a
distinct novelty in such books--too often dull and uninteresting."
_New York World_:--"Albert G. Spalding, who really grew up with the
sport, has written 'America's National Game,' which he describes as not
a history, but the simple story of the game as he has come to know it.
His book, therefore, is full of living interest. It is a volume
generously illustrated and abounds in personal memories of base ball in
the making."
_New York Sun_:--"There is a mass of interesting information regarding
base ball, as might be expected, in Mr. Spalding's 'America's National
Game.' It is safe to say that before Spalding there was no base ball.
The book is no record of games and players, but it is historical in a
broader sense, and the author is able to give his personal decisive
testimony about many disputed points."
_Evening Telegram_, New York:--"In clear, concise, entertaining,
narrative style, Albert G. Spalding has contributed in many respects the
most interesting work pertaining to base ball, the national game, which
has been written.
"There is so much in it of interest that the temptation not to put it
down until it is completed is strong within the mind of every person who
begins to read it. As a historical record it is one of those volumes
which will go further to straighten some disputed points than all of the
arguments which could be advanced in good natured disputes which might
last for months."
_Providence_ (R. I.) _Tribune_:--"The pictures of old time teams players
and magnates of a bygone era will interest every lover of the game, and
no doubt start many discussions and recollections among the old timers."
_New York Evening Mail_:--"Were it possible to assemble the grand army
of base ball fans in convention, their first act probably would be to
pass a vote of thanks to Mr. A.G. Spalding for his work 'America's
National Game'."
_Columbus_ (Ohio) _Dispatch_:--"Never before has been put in print so
much of authentic record of this distinctly national game, and it will
be long, if ever, until so thoroughly interesting and useful a volume is
published to cover the same field."
_New Orleans Picayune_:--"The pictures of old time teams, players and
magnates of a bygone era will interest every lover of the game. Homer
Davenport, America's great cartoonist, has contributed drawings in his
inimitable style of various phases of the game."
_Indianapolis Star_:--"From cover to cover, the 542 pages are filled
with material for 'fanning bees,' which the average 'fan' never before
encountered. It is an interesting volume for anyone who follows the
national pastime and a valuable addition to any library."
_Buffalo News_:--"No book on base ball has ever been written that is
superior to this one by A.G. Spalding. The book is admirably written,
yet without any frills. Many of the more notable incidents recounted in
this book are having wide publication by themselves."
_Brooklyn Times_:--"The book is practically a compendium of the salient
incidents in the evolution of professional base ball. Mr. Spalding is
pre-eminently fitted to perform this service, his connection with the
game having been contemporaneous with its development, as player, club
owner and league director."
_Washington_ (D. C.) _Star_:--"This work appeals with peculiar force to
the public. Mr. Spalding's name is almost synonymous with base ball. He
has worked to the end of producing a volume which tells the story of the
game vividly and accurately. Taken altogether, this is a most valuable
and entertaining work."
_New York American_:--"One of the best selling books of the season has
been 'America's National Game,' by A.G. Spalding. The first edition of
five thousand copies has been sold out (in two months) and a second
edition of five thousand is now on the press. As a Christmas gift from
father to son, it is most appropriate."
_Cincinnati Enquirer_:--"As a veteran of the diamond, well qualified to
do so, Mr. Spalding has committed to print a professional's version of
the distinctly American game. This well known base ball celebrity has a
store of familiar anecdotes embracing the entire period of the game as
now played and the reader will find it most interesting."
_Teacher and Home, New York_:--"Every live father of a live boy will
want to buy this book. It is said of some of the 'best sellers' that
they hold one to the end. This book holds the reader with its anecdote,
its history, its pictures; but it will have no end; for no home--no
American home--will be complete hereafter without it."
_Buffalo Times_:--"A.G. Spalding, with whose name every American boy is
familiar, has been prevailed upon to commit to print events which were
instrumental in guiding the destinies of the National League during the
trying period of its early days. To write upon base ball in a historical
manner, and yet not fall into the habit of quoting interminable
statistics, is a feat that few could accomplish."
_Cincinnati Times-Star_:--"'America's National Game,' A.G. Spalding's
great book upon the diamond sport, is now upon the market and receiving
well merited attention. It tells the story as Mr. Spalding saw it, and
no man has been in position to see more. When 'Al' Spalding, the sinewy
pitcher of nearly forty years ago, came into the arena, the game was
young, and through all the changing seasons that have seen it mature
into full bloom, its closest watcher and strongest friend has been the
same 'Al' Spalding."
_Cincinnati Time-Star_:--"The book is at once a history, a cyclopaedia
and a most entertaining volume."
_New York American_:--"'America's National Game' tells for the first
time the history of the national game of base ball."
_Portland Oregonian_:--"The book is of rare interest and has such
personal value in the story line that one hardly knows where to begin in
making quotations from it--all the stories told are so admirable."
JOHN T. NICHOLSON, Principal Public School 186, New York:--"It's a great
book."
REV. W.A. SUNDAY, Evangelist:--"No one in America is better qualified to
talk of base ball, from its inception to its present greatness, than
A.G. Spalding."
WM. L. VEECK and ED. W. SMITH, of the Chicago _American_:--"We have
found much enjoyment in reading the book, and it is very valuable in our
work."
W.H. CONANT, Gossamer Rubber Co., Boston, Mass.:--"I have read the book
with great pleasure and it produced a vivid reminiscence of the striking
events in base ball, so full of interest to all lovers of the game."
JOSEPH B. MACCABE, Editor East Boston (Mass.) _Argus-Advocate_, and
ex-President Amateur Athletic Union:--"I want to express my gratitude,
as a humble follower of manly sport, for the compilation of this
historic work."
JOHN A. LOWELL, President John A. Lowell Bank Note Company, Boston,
Mass.:--"I have read the book with great interest and it certainly is a
valuable compilation of facts relating to the history of base ball, the
great national game of America. I prize it very highly."
WM. F. GARCELON, Harvard Athletic Association, Cambridge, Mass.:--"I
think 'America's National Game' is not only intensely interesting but
most valuable, as giving the history of the game. Better still, my nine
year old boy is looking forward to the time when he can get it away from
me."
GUSTAV T. KIRBY, President of the Amateur Athletic Union:--"Not only as
a historical sketch of this great national game, but also as a technical
dissertation on base ball as it was and is, this book will not only be
of interest but of benefit to all of us Americans who are interested in
sport--and what American is not interested in sport?--and being
interested in sport, chiefly in base ball."
EVERETT C. BROWN, Chicago, ex-president of the Amateur Athletic Union of
the United States:--"It is very seldom that any history of any sport or
anything pertaining to athletics approaches the interest with which one
reads a popular work of fiction, but I can truthfully say that I have
read the story of the great national game with as much interest as I
have read any recent work of fiction."
THOMAS F. GRAHAM, Judge Superior Court, San Francisco:--"'America's
National Game' contains matter on the origin and development of base
ball--the greatest game ever devised by man--that will be of the utmost
interest to the base ball loving people, not only of this, but of every
English speaking country; and I am sure it will perpetuate the name of
A.G. Spalding to the end of time."
SPALDING'S OFFICIAL ATHLETIC LIBRARY
SPALDING'S OFFICIAL BASE BALL GUIDE
Thirty-seventh Year
1913
EDITED BY
JOHN B. FOSTER
AMERICAN SPORTS PUBLISHING COMPANY
21 Warren Street, New York
CONTENTS
A Remarkable Base Ball Tournament
A World's Series Problem
American League Averages, Official
American League Season of 1912
Base Ball Writers of the South
Base Ball Worth While?
Base Ball Playing Rules, Official
Index to Playing
Ready Reference Index to
Base Ball Playing Rules, Spalding's Simplified--
Ball
Ball Ground
Balls, Providing
Balls, Soiling
Base Running Rules
Bat, Regulation
Batting Rules
Benches, Players
Coaching Rules
Definitions, General
Field for Play, Fitness of
Field Rules
Game, Regulation
Gloves and Mitts, Regulation
Ground Rules
Innings, Choice of
Players, Numbers and Position of
Players, Substitute
Pitching Rules
Scoring Rules
Scoring of Runs
Umpires' Authority
Umpires' Duties
Uniforms
Club Rosters of 1912, Official
Diagram, Correct, of a Ball Field
Editorial Comment
Elementary School Base Ball Tournament
Introduction
John Tomlinson Brush
National League Season of 1912
National League Averages, Official
National Association of Professional Base Ball Leagues--
American Association
Appalachian League
Blue Grass League
Border League
Canadian League
Central Association
Central Kansas League
Central League
Cotton States League
Eastern Association
Illinois-Missouri League
Indiana-Illinois-Iowa League
International League
Kentucky-Ind.-Tenn. League
Michigan State League
"Mink" League
New York State League
New England League
Nebraska State League
North Carolina League
Northwestern League
Ohio and Pennsylvania League
Ohio State League
Pacific Coast League
South Atlantic League
Southeastern League
Southern Association
Southern Michigan Association
Texas League
Tri-State League
Union Association
Virginia League
Western Canada League
Western League
New Faces in the Old League
Notes
Schedules--
American League
International League
National League
Northwestern League
Southern Michigan
Texas League
The Spalding Base Ball Hall of Fame
The World's Series of 1912
The Umpires
NOTICE--To give adequate representation to College and School Base Ball
Teams, which heretofore has not been possible in the Guide owing to lack
of room, "Spalding's Official Collegiate Base Ball Annual" will be
issued in February. It will contain complete college records, pictures
and information exclusively pertaining to College Base Ball. Price 10
cents.
INTRODUCTION
In preparing this issue of SPALDING'S OFFICIAL BASE BALL GUIDE for the
season of 1913, it has occurred to the Editor that the season of 1912,
and the period which followed its completion, have been filled, with a
great deal of unusual and uncommon vicissitude.
In the first place the personnel of the National League, the oldest Base
Ball organization in the world, has been greatly changed by reason of
death and purchase of one franchise. New owners have brought new faces
into the game, and when the National League starts on this year's
campaign there will be some younger but equally as ambitious men at the
heads of some of the clubs.
The players have effected an organization. That, too, is an incident of
interest, for it is well within the memory of the Base Ball "fans" of
this day what happened when another organization was perfected in the
past. For this organization it may be said that the members promise that
it will be their object to bring about better deportment on the part of
their own associates and that they will work their best for the
advancement of Base Ball from a professional standpoint. If they do this
they will be of benefit to the sport. If they work from selfish motives
it is inevitable that eventually there will be a clash, as there was in
the past.
The last world's series which was played was the greatest special series
of games which has been played in the history of the national pastime.
There may have been single games and there may have been series which
have attracted their full measure of interest from the Base Ball "fans,"
but there never has been a special series so filled with thrills and
excitement as that between the New York and Boston clubs. The GUIDE this
year enters into the subject thoroughly with photographs and a story of
the games and feels that the readers will enjoy the account of the
contests.
Some innovations have been attempted in this number of the GUIDE which
should interest Base Ball readers. Attention is called to the symposium
by prominent Base Ball writers which brings up a subject of interest in
regard to future world's series. There are other special articles,
including something about the Base Ball writers of the South, who have
decided to organize a chapter of their own.
The year 1912 was one of progress and advancement on the part of Base
Ball throughout the world. To-day it not only is stronger than ever as
America's national game but it is making fast progress in other
countries because of the attractiveness of the pastime.
The Editor of the GUIDE wishes its thousands of readers an even more
enjoyable Base Ball year in 1913 than they had in 1912. This publication
is now one of worldwide circulation, and carries the gospel of Base
Ball, not only across the Atlantic ocean, but across the Pacific ocean
as well. One of these days it may be its province to report a series for
the international championship, and then Base Ball will have become the
universal game of the world, a place toward which it is rapidly tending.
THE EDITOR.
EDITORIAL COMMENT
BY JOHN B. FOSTER.
PROGRESS OF AMERICA'S NATIONAL GAME
Two more nations have been conquered by the national game of the United
States; a whole race has succumbed to the fascinations of the greatest
of all outdoor sports. Both France and Sweden have announced their
intention of organizing Base Ball leagues. That of Sweden is well under
way. Indeed, they have a club in Stockholm and there are more to follow,
while the French, who have gradually been awakening to the joys of
athletic pastime in which they have hitherto chosen to participate in
other ways, hope to have a new league by the expiration of the present
summer.
There is no doubt as to their intention to play Base Ball. They are
making efforts to procure suitable players from the United States to
coach them and the French promoters of the sport are determined that
their young men shall be given every opportunity to take advantage of
the game of which they have heard so much, and have seen so little.
Last year in the GUIDE it was the pleasure of the editor to call
attention to the fact that the Japanese had so thoroughly grasped Base
Ball that they were bent on some day playing an American team for the
international championship. It is not probable that such a series will
take place within the next five years, but not improbable that it will
take place within the next decade. When the Japanese learn to bat
better, and with more effect, they will become more dangerous rivals to
the peace of mind of the American players. They have grasped the general
theory of the game amazingly well, and they field well, but they have
yet to develop some of those good old fashioned "clean up" hitters in
which the "fans" of the United States revel.
This season it comes to the attention of the editor of the GUIDE that
more progress has been made in China in regard to Base Ball than in any
fifty years preceding. True, there was not much Base Ball in the fifty
years preceding, but now there is. There is a league at Hong Kong. There
are Base Ball teams at Shanghai and other cities.
Dr. Eliot, former president of Harvard, who recently returned from a
trip around the world, holds that Base Ball has done more to humanize
and civilize the Chinese than any influence which has been introduced by
foreigners, basing his statement on the fact that the introduction of
the sport among the younger Chinese has exerted a tremendous restraint
upon their gambling propensities.
It is a rather queer fact that where the civilizations are older in the
countries of the Occident there is a greater tendency to gamble,
especially among the young, than there is in the newer America.
Doubtless this is largely due to the lack of athletic pastime. The young
of those countries know little or nothing about simple amusements which
are so popular in the United States, and acquire from their elders their
knowledge of betting and taking part in games of chance, two evils which
unquestionably have done much to degrade the race as a whole.
Base Ball has caught the fancy of the younger generation and the boys.
Once they get a ball and a bat in their hands they are better satisfied
with them than with all the gambling devices which have been bequeathed
to them by a long and eminent line of forefathers.
So it would appear that the introduction of the national game of the
United States into China is likely to exert a humanizing influence which
shall go further than legislation or sword, and if only the missionaries
had grasped earlier the wishes and the tendency of the younger element
of the Chinese population, the country might be further along than it is
with its progressive movement.
In the Philippine Islands the younger generation simply has gone wild
over Base Ball. Progress has been noted in the GUIDE from time to time
of the increase of interest but it is now at such a pitch that the boys
of the islands, wherever Base Ball has been introduced, simply have
deserted everything for it. They will play nothing else. The cockfights
and the gambling games, which were also a part of the amusement of the
younger men, have been given up. The little fellows who wear not much
more than a breechclout play Base Ball. They have picked up many of the
American terms and one of the most amusing of experiences is to stand
outside the walls of old Manila and hear the little brown boys call:
"Shoot it over. Line it out," and the like, returning to their native
language, and jabbering excitedly in Filipino whenever they arrive at
some point of play in which their command of English fails them.
Twenty years from now a league including cities of the Philippines,
China and Japan, is by no means out of the question, and it may be that
the introduction of Base Ball into all three countries will result in a
better understanding between the peoples and perhaps bring all three
races to a better frame of mind as relates to their personal ambitions
and rivalries.
In connection with the widespread influence which Base Ball is having on
both sides of the world, on the shores of the Pacific Ocean and on those
of the Atlantic Ocean the editor would like to call attention to the
theory which has been advanced by Mr. A.G. Spalding, the founder of the
GUIDE, as to the efficacy of Base Ball for the purpose of training
athletes, that has a worldwide application.
Mr. Spalding contends that Base Ball has lent no small assistance to the
athletes of the United States in helping them to win premier honors at
the Olympic Games since their reintroduction. Mr. Spalding was the first
American Commissioner to the Olympic Games appointed to that post, the
honor being conferred upon him in 1900, when the late President McKinley
gave him his commission to represent the United States at Paris in 1900.
Mr. Spalding, with his analytical mind has reasoned out a theory which
is undoubtedly of great accuracy, and which is further corroborated by
an interview given out in London--strangely enough on the same day that
Mr. Spalding gave utterance to his ideas in Los Angeles--by Mr. J.E.
Sullivan, American Commissioner to the Olympic Games at Stockholm last
year, while returning to the United States after witnessing the triumphs
of the Americans. Mr. Spalding said:
"I cannot say that I am at all surprised at the result at Stockholm.
History has been repeating itself in this way ever since the celebration
of the Olympic games was inaugurated at Athens. America won the victory
there in 1896; she triumphed again at Paris in 1900; our athletes
defeated the contestants at St. Louis in 1904; the victory was ours at
London in 1908, and it was a foregone conclusion that we would win at
Stockholm.
"But there is food for thought in this uninterrupted succession of
triumphs. Why do our athletes always win? All other things being equal,
the contestants in the country holding the event should naturally come
to the front. Their numbers are always greater than those from any other
country and the home grounds influence is strong. However, that
advantage has not in any case prevented American success.
"Therefore there must be a cause. What is it? Measured by scale and
tape, our athlete's are not so much superior as a class. The theory of
'more beef' must be discarded. We may not lay claim to having all the
best trainers of the world. We must look to some other source for
American prowess.
"I may be a prejudiced judge, but I believe the whole secret of these
continued successes is to be found to the kind of training that comes
with the playing of America's national game, and our competitors in
other lands may never hope to reach the standard of American athletes
until they learn this lesson and adopt our pastime.
"The question, 'When should the training of a child begin?' has been
wisely answered by the statement that it should antedate his birth. The
training of Base Ball may not go back quite that far, but it approaches
the time as nearly as practicable, for America starts training of future
Olympian winners very early in life. Youngsters not yet big enough to
attend school begin quickening their eyesight and sharpening their wits
and strengthening their hands and arms and legs by playing on base ball
fields ready at hand in the meadows of farms, the commons of villages
and the parks of cities all over the land. Base ball combines running,
jumping, throwing and everything that constitutes the athletic events of
the Olympian games. But above all, it imparts to the player that degree
of confidence in competition, that indefinable something that enables
one athlete to win over another who may be his physical equal but who is
lacking the American spirit begotten of base ball.
"An analysis of the 1912 Olympian games shows that the American showed
to best advantage in contests where the stress of competition was
hardest. In the dashes they were supreme; in the hurdles they were in a
class by themselves, and in the high jump and pole vault there was no
one worthy of their steel. Whenever quick thinking and acting was
required, an American was in front. Does not this fact prove that the
American game of base ball enables the player to determine in the
fraction of a second what to do to defeat his contestant?"
* * * * *
WHAT A SEASON OF BASE BALL COSTS
It may not be out of place to say a few words in regard to the greatly
increased cost of Base Ball. There are some sensational writers whose
hobby is to inform the public about the great receipts in Base Ball.
Usually they exaggerate from twenty-five to thirty-five per cent.
Now as to the expense of Base Ball. Figures at an approximate for the
National League will be offered. Railroad expenses for mileage alone
$300,000, including spring training trips. Hotel bills $65,000. Sleeping
cars and meals en route, $80,000. Salaries to players, $480,000. Total,
$875,000. Add to this $30,000 for the salaries of umpires and their
traveling expenses. That makes $905,000.
Now not a penny has been appropriated thus far for the salaries of the
president of the National League, the secretary and expenditures of the
office nor for the salaries of the business departments of the various
clubs, nor for ground rents, taxes and a dozen and one other things, to
say nothing of that well-known old item "wear and tear."
The receipts of Base Ball barely cover these expenditures. The alleged
profits of Base Ball mostly are fanciful dreams of those who know
nothing of the practical side of the sport and are stunned when they are
made acquainted with the real financial problems which confront club
owners.
But the money that is contributed to the support of the game almost
immediately finds its way back into public channels. Less than thirty
per cent. of Base Ball clubs realize what a business man would call a
fair return on the amount invested.
A well-known writer on economic topics interviewed owners of Base Ball
clubs as to their income and outgo. One of the best known of the
National League men took the writer into his office and spread the cash
book of the club's business before him.
"You may go through it if you wish," said the owner, "but here is the
balance for the last day of the year."
It read as follows: Receipts, $250,505; expenditures, $246,447.
"That's answer enough for me," said the writer. "I am through with any
more essays on the affluence of Base Ball 'magnates.' I think it would
be better to extend them the hand of charity than the mailed fist."
* * * * *
THE NEW ORGANIZATION OF PLAYERS
The formation of an organization on the part of the major league ball
players during the closing days of the season of 1912 was looked upon
with some misgivings by those who remember only too well what happened
when a prior organization of ball players was formed.
In the present instance those foremost in perfecting the organization
have also been foremost in asserting that the players' organization's
principal aim is to co-operate with the club owners.
If this object is followed with fidelity and to its ultimate conclusion
there is no necessity to fear any grave disturbances, but there is a
dread--that dread which is the fear of the child that has had its hands
burned by the flame, that a selfish coterie of players might obtain
control of the organization, set up a policy of unscrupulous defiance
and destructive opposition and retard for a moment the higher
development of the game.
There is no organization, either of unscrupulous Base Ball players or
unscrupulous club owners, which will ever find it possible to destroy
organized Base Ball. The results that organized Base Ball have brought
about will never be annihilated although grave injury could be
temporarily wrought by a force defiant to tie unusual demands made by
the sport to perpetuate itself successfully.
It is simply out of the question to control Base Ball as one would
control the affairs of a department store. Base Ball has its commercial
side, but its commercial side cannot maintain it with success. There
must be a predominant factor based upon the encouragement that brings
forth admiration for a high class sport. This factor can only be
fostered by the ability to maintain not one, but a group of high class
teams.
Any ball player imbued with the idea that the "stars" should be grouped
together in the city best able to pay the highest salaries simply is an
enemy to his career and to those of his fellow players.
Without some handicap to assist in the equalizing of the strength of
Base Ball nines of the professional leagues there will be no prosperity
for the leagues or the clubs individually. No better evidence may be
cited to prove this than the fact, repeatedly demonstrated that in the
smaller leagues Base Ball enthusiasts in the city best able to pay the
largest salaries frequently withdraw their support of the team because
"it wins all the time."
To-day Base Ball, in its professional atmosphere, is nearer an ideal
sport, a better managed sport, and a more fairly and equitably adjusted
sport, than it ever has been, which is manifest proof of its superior
evolution. Had results been otherwise it would have retrograded and
possibly passed out of existence. Carefully comparing its management
with that of all other sports in history the Editor of the GUIDE
believes that it is the best managed sport in the world.
It is true that improvements can be made. It is evident that there are
still commercialized owners not over capitalized with a spirit of sport.
It is undeniable that there are ball players not imbued with a high tone
of the obligations, which they owe to their employers and to the public,
but it is as certain as the existence of the game that progress has been
made, and that it has not ceased to move forward.
For that reason players and owners must be guided by a sense of lofty
ideals and not be led astray by foolish outbursts over trivial
differences of opinion, easily to be adjusted by the exercise of a
little common sense.
* * * * *
BASE BALL PLAYED IN SWEDEN
In connection with the subject of "Base Ball For All the World," for
which the GUIDE expounds and spreads the gospel, the Editor would submit
a very interesting letter received by him from Sweden. it reads as
follows:
Westeras, Sweden, Sept. 14, 1912.
To the Editor of the GUIDE:
We hereby have the pleasure of sending you two copies of the rules,
translated and issued by the Westeras Base Ball Club, into Swedish from
the Spalding Base Ball Guide.
The work of getting the book out has been somewhat slow on account of
that the work of translating, proofreading, etc., all had to be done on
our spare time, but it is done now, and I think we have succeeded pretty
well, everything considered. The books will be distributed by a
well-known book firm, Bjork & Boyeson, Stockholm, and will soon be
available in all the bookstores in Sweden.
We got some advance copies out just in time for the Olympic Games, and I
had the pleasure of presenting some copies to Commissioner Col.
Thompson, Manager Halpin and others of the American Olympic Committee.
As you know, so did we have a game of Base Ball at Stockholm with one of
the Finland teams, and as it may be of some interest to you to know the
preliminaries to the game, I am writing to relate how it happened.
In trying to arrange for some amusements in the evenings at the Stadium,
the Olympic Committee wrote us if we would be willing to take part in a
game of Base Ball at Stadium some evening during the Stadium week. As
our club this year was in poor condition, on account of some of our best
players being out on military duties, we hesitated at first, but then
decided to risk it, knowing very well that whoever we would play
against, they would not rub in to us too hard. We pointed out to the
Olympic Committee that it would not be very hard to get a team of Base
Ball players picked out from the American athletes taking part in the
contests, but as they would not be prepared for Base Ball, suits and
other needed articles had to be provided for. We were then told to get
necessary things ordered, and so we did. We ordered suits from a tailor
in this town, after a pattern that I got from Spalding's this spring.
The suits were of gray flannel, with blue trimmings for our team and red
trimmings for the American. I also ordered bats and gloves, and with the
things our club already had, we were very well equipped.
The Olympic Committee, Stockholm, then received a letter from the
Olympic Committee, New York, saying that if a game of Base Ball could be
arranged for during the Olympian Games, they would bring two teams along
on the Finland. The Olympic Committee cabled to come along, and sent us
a copy of Mr. Sullivan's letter. I knew, of course, that if the game
could be played by two American teams, it would be a much better game
than if our team took part, and told the Olympic Committee, and wanted
to withdraw, but as they did not know for sure how it would be, told us
to go ahead with the arrangements just the same, and so we did, and by
the time the Finland arrived, everything had been arranged for.
The Olympic Committee has selected the evening, 7 P.M., of the 10th of
July, for the game, and thought that this would be suitable to the
Americans, but as some of the players had to take part in the contests,
Mr. Halpin would not risk them then, so it was finally decided that a
game should be played the 15th, the Americans to play six innings
between themselves and then six innings against us.
Well, we had a game at the training grounds. We played six innings, and
Mr. Halpin was kind enough to let us have a pitcher and catcher from his
men. The score was 9 to 3, and it could just as well been 9 to 0,
perhaps. Well, at any rate, it was the first Base Ball game, as far as I
know, that ever took place in Europe between an American team and a
European team, with England possibly excepted.
Mr. Halpin said that the Americans were going to play a game the next
morning between themselves, but that game did not come off. There was
probably no time for it, as the Finland left Stockholm the same day.
Very likely the American boys were somewhat disappointed in not being
able to play between themselves, as anticipated, and perhaps I should
not have pushed our game ahead, but as long as there was a Base Ball
team in Sweden, it would have been strange if it had not played, and it
gave our boys a chance to see how the game should be played, and they
certainly did take it in. Had the game been played as it was intended
and advertised, on the 10th in the Stadium, there would very likely have
been a bigger crowd present, and the game would also have been more
talked about in the papers, but then we will have to be satisfied as it
is.
Our club has been practicing all summer, twice a week, and on the 24th
of August we gave an exhibition game here at Westeras, between two teams
from our club, the suits made for the Olympic Games coming in very
handy. I send you herewith a clipping from a local paper describing the
game, and also a picture of the two teams with myself and the umpire
included.
At our game here we distributed the "Description of Base Ball," written
by you and translated into Swedish, and it came of good use. Next year
we intend to have our teams appear in the nearby cities around here, so
as to give people a chance to see the game, and it will not be long
before they will start it in Stockholm, so I think the game is bound to
be popular here also,
Mr. George Wright, of Boston, was the umpire at the Stockholm games, and
as he was very kind to us, we would like to send him the picture of the
club, and hope that you will forward us his address.
I am, for Westeras Base Ball Club,
Yours truly,
EDWIN JOHNSON,
Electrical Engineer.
* * * * *
THE NEW NATIONAL AGREEMENT
Unlimited satisfaction must be had by all who are connected with Base
Ball over the greatly improved conditions by which the season of 1913 is
begun under the new National Agreement. While it perhaps might be
exaggerated boastfulness to affirm that Base Ball, as a professionally
organized sport, has attained perfection, it is not out of reason--
indeed, quite within reason--to observe that Base Ball never had such a
well balanced and perfect organization as that by which it is regulated
at the present time.
The principal fact of congratulation lies in the safeguards and
provisions which have been thrown around the players of the minor
leagues and in the equitable and just measures which have been agreed
upon to provide for their future.
As a general rule it may be taken for granted that the players of the
major leagues can take care of themselves. That is to say, their
positions, if they are expert in their calling, and conscientious in
their deportment, really take care of them.
No club owner, unless he is maliciously or foolishly inclined, will
jeopardize the interests of his team by acting in a wilfully unjust
manner toward a player who is cheerfully and uprightly offering his
services. We may hear of occasional exceptions to this condition of
things, but if these occasional exceptions chance to arise, it is
inevitably certain that the owner in the long run will suffer to a
greater degree than the player with whom he deals unfairly.
It is the history of Base Ball that more inequitable treatment has
arisen by fifty per cent in the minor leagues than has had its origin in
the major leagues. The reason for this existed almost wholly in the
inability of Base Ball as a whole to bring the minor league owners to a
realization of the injury that they might be doing and to extend such
punishment and insist upon such regulation as were necessary to change
this undesirable condition.
By the organization of the National Association of Base Ball clubs the
minor leagues, for the first time in their history, placed themselves in
a position where they could demand proper enforcement of regulations for
the government of the sport, and by their alliance with the major league
clubs, under the articles of the National Agreement, a general working
basis was effected whereby compliance with rules could be insisted upon.
The result of this admirable condition of affairs is that wisdom and
equity now rule where there once existed chaos and at times something
akin to anarchy in sport.
At no time in the history of the game, which is so dear to the hearts of
the American people, has the general legislative and executive body been
so well equipped by the adoption of pertinent and virile laws to insist
upon justice to all concerned as at the present moment.
The new National Agreement is an improvement upon the old and the old
was a long, long step in advance of anything which had preceded it. The
mere fact that club owners and leagues were so willing to adopt a system
better than its predecessor wholly confutes the absurd assertions of the
radical element that there is no consideration shown for the player.
To the contrary, every consideration has been shown to the player, but
the latter must not confound with the consideration shown to him the
idea that his interests are the only interests at stake in Base Ball.
The man who is willing to furnish the sinews of war has as good standing
in court as the player who furnishes the base hits and the phenomenal
catches.
So perfect is the system which is being attempted to be set in force by
the new National Agreement that the young man who now essays to play
professional Base Ball may be assured of steady advancement in this
profession and a generally improving condition if he will be as honest
by his employer as he expects his employer to be honest by him.
The graduated system of assisting players, step by step, from the least
important leagues to the most important is the most perfect plan of its
kind that has ever been devised. There may be flaws in it, but if there
are they will be remedied, and if modifications are necessary to make it
more perfect there is no doubt that such modifications will be agreed
upon.
As proof of what the new National Agreement may do, although it has
barely had time to be considered, the editor of the GUIDE would submit
the following for consideration: