Evening Star Newspaper, April 19, 1925, Page 69

MAGAZINE SECTION e | Ohe Sunday Staf [ e Part 5—8 Pages : \VASHI—A\'GT()N, D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 19, 1925. Nation’s Notables Have Participated In D. C. Opening Games _ VICE PRESIDENT s | MAR SHALL throws oul first pall in 1920. Griffitk, ons Opemn.g Day. Most T)residents Have Been Enthu- siastic Fans —Taft First Chief Exec- utive to Throw Out Ball at Beginning of Season—Harding Kept Score as an Expert and Presented His Card to Ban Johnson—Admiral Dewey Received Ovation at Inaugural Contest of 1901. The “Original” Opening Game Played on White Lot. BY GEORGE PORTER. when, Washington won & hotly con- HIL s for the events |tested wameé from ‘New York, 2 to 1 to precede the first base{On April 14, 1915, the war President ball game which the W: w’ Waltér ‘Jéhnson pitch a two-hit ington Natlonals will play |Eame in‘ the season's.debut, and the Bijriie™ tils’ yedi ;,..e!r:u.-;\‘n'_lv vear he was present when oA than Juven befits | the local deam established something ration of the local season |Of a record by making 17 hits as it| PRESIDENT ";3;2:3‘- of the only world champion team the |defeated New York by the score of TATT, Mot i D e ad—_open: |12 { siitle ‘over o month atter therr| . itt Q. DOX OR Opening day,1912. SECRETARY DANIJELS, raises.theflag in 1920. GEN.MARsH, tosses to tha pitcher iniolo. \lways been ceremonious and color- |IDauguration in 1921, President Hard- ful affairs. As a rule, there has heen |IN& and Vice President' Coolidge par- and, in many instances. a |ticipated in the ceremonies incident = T = = = record-breaking crowd in attendance, ‘r'\'\’ “]“.’ "l"‘ 'a'"('[“‘ of it}:e e :_n grandstand was presented. Only 7,000 | umpire. That game, by the way, was | grandstand, just back of the Wash- | was forced to walk the entire length | have Commissioner We which invariably included a number | VVashington. After getting “all set”| . 3 aw Washing- |8 battle between two Johnsons; R A .| of the grandstand to reach the box as-| honors.” The - Commissioner, how of persons prominent in clvie, military |t 1088 thé ball to the: umpire, Preai. [ PeOPle. turned; out and saw ‘W BB S oy Sach sl M OReN, for (e Thcals e | EoL v suestssof; thefimanagements |5 S i n Thb WAt ] e e e not to arrive at the | and official life dent Hardin hifted and threw' the | ton lose a 13-inning contest to Phila- | yqual 1o, seat the crowd recognized him, and|ball park until after the contest had|and make no mentic During the more recent years it has | SPhere to Johnson, who promptly | delphia 3 for Boston, by the score of 5 to 0. started officially by District Commis-|rising to its feet, cheered and shout-' started. In other years, however, They were plaved in sever sen the custom of the President of | Pocketed it squvenir; The Wash:| The next time Mr. Marshall threw * oK K % | sioner Brownlow. At that time thefed vigorously for the hero of Manila.| Mr. West was more prompt b e Vi United States to start the game, |\08t0n pitching acé. was! “not right” | out the®irst ball the ‘war was over SRHAPS. the most spectacular|\yar fervor was at its height, and|The Admiral apparently enjoyed tliis x x k x & e A Inclanislivite ke anno by AtEo day, however, and retived from | and. ‘ff“ ’m«mp won.” It was on P SR S e mos D | there were reminders of the big game | spontaneous outburst of popular - ac: Lumr!dx‘d\\m at I ont e fost ball Nins sames |the game after the fourth inning. | April 23, 1920, and this time the locals opening game of recent years was | overseas at the opener. An Army ser: | claim and similingly, acknowledged the | T\HAT base ball ‘fs a product, of | & Tecord crowd at this | i e have been so started. Three were |, Mr: Harding kept score during the | triumphed over Boston. § to 5, after | gtqried by Gen. Peyton C. Marsh on |geant delivered a stirring appeal for | demonstration by doffing his hat fre- evolution is séen in the following | (NeeR W0 and ihree thousand per- Mimilarly: hegun by o Vice President |SnUre game. and at lis conclusion— | 2 hours and 46 minutes of plaving. ~|{AUE) DY Cen: Terion b SR OF | the hurchase of Liberty honds before extract from an account of the open | %00S, each of whom paid twenty-five e e e ¥ A remondent | Boston having won, 6 to 3—gave: his he only other Vice President to | e AR’ ~ | the regular opening exercises, and game marked the opening of | ing game of the 1903 season Jiceatts acmismiong ; & s Iater s The Army. o Spenker of ihe House |¢ard to Byron Bancroft Johnson,|oPen a base ball season was James S.| Washington won . from Philadelphia | thousands of cards, further advertis-| the park at Fifteenth and H Streets | yestad Game sawe the Wash. | dlamond was constructed at New of Representatives and several Dis. |Lresident of .the American League, Sherman, who, tossed out the fi by the smallest possible score, 1 to|ing those bonds, were scattered over | northeast, which was used from then|ington rooters their first chance to| Jersey Avenue and ( which trict of Columbia Commissioners have | iy SUll treasures it highly. toyidier: JabnsbnycuiApriel e oheroes” of that thrilling base | the field by a Caproni biplane dur. unti] 1905. John J..McGraw. pilot of | see the. workings of the foulstrike | inCluded a “kids e ek : ¥ e o Tocal ‘senk The President’s notations were said | the game having been postpone ball battle were Walter Johnson and |ing the course of the game. Several|the New York Giants in the world|rule in a championship - game. . It | JOUNESters were pern to watch also inaugurated the local season in |¢o pe neat and readily transcribable. |the day before becaus . and | “Mike" Menosky, the laiter an out-|of the local regular players were al-| series of last October, was MAanager | oon toe croo i hip gan {| the game for the modest sum of ten e QORI v Another noted guest at this game | this is the only instance of a, local |fielder who had just returned to the |ready in the Army, but Walter John-| of the Baltimore Orioles, who were| (o hearing the umoire vell otrine: | Cents The first President to open & base)was Gen. John J. Pershing, who raised | opening game heing postponed 'since |club after having served over a vear |son was still with the team and won | Washington's opponents on that day. when B vmpire el trike1|, THe first ball game played in Wash ball season officially in Washington |the flag on the big pole in center field | Washington entered “gye . American |in the A. E. F. in France. It was|over New York, 6 to 3. Phe locals won, 5 to tereitory Th,“‘.‘“ he : ‘”‘d h foul| jngton—not the first of any particu by throwing out the first ball Was|prior tg the start o the contest. League in 1901. “Mike” who scored the winning run.| An unscheduled but all the smore |~ Former District Commisioner West | caititory: That it shortened the game | jr season, but the first and “original” William Howard Taft. This precedent | - The following two seasons were also| TWwo vears later, Champ Clark, then | A sight that later was to become | notable incident occurred at the open. | started several seasons by throwing sk Ly ey game of which there is any. record was set on April 14, 1910, before a |pegun by President Harding, and last |Speaker of the House of Representa- |familiar to all who visited the ball ing game of the 1901 season, the first | out the first ball, but evidently .did This shortening of the was played on the White Lot, the crowd of about 15,000 persons;, Whe|year President Coolidge gave the |tive nd - one of the most ardent|park was witnessed for the first time | year Washington was a member of | not: relish.the distinction. In 1905, | aPparently an important considera-| grounds between the White House saw Walter Johnson catch President | sporting writers an opportunity to|"fans” of the Capital, threw out the |that afternoon—a couple of hundred {the American League. Admiral Dewey, | when Senator. Gorman. who was|tion, for they did not start until 4:30| and B street, during the r of Taft's toss and then proceed to pitch | make alleged humorous comments on [first ball. He tossed it in the old-|khaki-clad, disable veterans from |then the Nation's “idol.” arrived at|scheduled to pitch out the first ball,|in those day arkness often | 1860. No admission fee w acked, one of the finest games of his career, | his “speed and control” by tossing out | fashioned under-hand manner, and it | Walter Reed Hospital watched the|the park about half an hour before| was suddenly called out of town, it |threatened to curtail them. One|of course, as there were no stands as the local team defeated the Phila- | the first ball to a team which was de- |Tolled along the grounds to the|game from a vantage point in the|the game was scheduled to start. and | was decided at the last minute to|opening game was called for this rea- | The contestants were the Potomac Aelphing AUnIctiEe o Lo stined to make history by establishing -_—— " | son, that of April 14, 1904, which ter- | Baseball Club and the National Club. Only one “scratchy” hit was- made | Washington as the premier city in the minated at the end of the eighth|The Potomacs won, 38 to 32. It is off Johnson and he struck out nine|pase ball world. . . . . ) inning with the score, Philadelphia 8, | hardly necessary to state that the hatters, an average of one an inning. ® K Kk ‘Washington 3. | rules” under which that game was “Home Run” Baker, the Babe Ruth ‘ _ a la 1| I a e l ll l 1 a 1 l l eal For a number of years it was cus | playved were vastly different from the of that time, was credited with the| J"HE presence of a President at an E tomary for the plavers of the two |ones which govern national pas hit when he knocked a ball into a opening game seems fo bring good . teams, in uniform, to parade the |time today. portion of the crowd, which had been | “luck” to the local team, as seven of - i 8 streets headed by a b nd followed | Previous to the com r - permitted on the playing field. the nine games started by Chief Ex- BY PRESTON WRIGHT. Just to think. He heard little chil-| singing combined. An art like this| Tt-was an unprecedented event for, by a muititude of s,” before theJohnson, “Win"” Merc E 2 This game also was noteworthy in!ecutives of the Nation have resulted STATEMENT made by Feodor | dren singing in the choir. supplied 21l his inner needs. {a youth of seventeen to be singing|opening game. This feature con-| Orth were the stars of the local that it was the first opening game|in victory for Washington. Chaliapin, during a meeting in| “Perhaps there’s hope for me,”| He proceeded to Ufa and there{a principal part in opera. No other | tinued as late as 1906. | team. of which movies were made. There| Almost all of the Presidents have New York in January, when|he thought. was admitted to the chorus of the|such instance is known. Challapin’s| The Washington team 1is now| Orth was known as the “curveles: was only one movie camera man on|been close followers of the national he had come on from Chicago| . aAmbitious to be a member of the | operetta. 4 success—a success that has made his | known all over the country as the | wonder,” who, in addition to beir hand, but his presence was a novelty time. Grover Cleveland was an for a Sunday afternoon con- | chofr, he listened to his mother's folk | He sang two years in.the chorus,{name a household word throughout | “Nationals,” but that name is of com. | able to pitch proficiently, was consid cted much attention. His ption. He felt that he would be | cert, sticks fast in my memory. Al-|gongs and practiced them. Then .he|a huge, broad shouldered blonde] the world—dated from that night. "|paratively recent origin. 'Previous to | erable of a slugger, as his batting hments were rated as al ‘wasting his time” if he attended a |lowing for the variations that inter- | y2g" gnother flluminating experience. | giant wwho towered alike above prin.| . But, strange as it may seem, up to|1905 it was known as the “Senators. | average of 318 in one season shows He suc fully causht every | ball ganie and declined .all invitations | pretation from another tongue might | He was taken to the theater. There|clpals and his comrades of the| this moment his voice had never had | It was decided to “christen” the club| Mercer is described as having been movement of President Taft, including | to watch one. produce, his words were: hi peroiivad sthat Jslnging ~and ‘the | Shoras the slightest training. “Nationals” ' at the opening game{a “natural” athlete. As a ball player the tossing of the first ball to Johnson, | None of the Chief Executives were| “I do not agree with those who|giace are two separate things. He| One day his - voice attained a| Semeonov Samarsky and others,|April 14, 1905, and a large gathering fhe is said to have been very fast on and his pictures made a “hit” with)| more “dyed-in-the-wool” fans than|maintain that the successful have no| congidered the aspects of drama. quality that | struck the. ear of|learning cf this circumstance, were |of “old timers,” who had played on |the bases, a dange.Ja~ man at bat the base ball loving public. James A. Garfield. When Mr. Gar-[luck. A person with a talent has luck | “°IE0CH i iy vi] ey ey the st mat-| SEoRDAGS thé’ nive. in former .seasons, turnéd |and difficult to hit when pitching. He President 'Taft thoroughly enjoved | field was in the House of Representa- |and attracts luek. erhaps that. is ‘the life for me, ager of the operetta, like a revelation.| , ~ You have a ‘wonderful voice,”|out for the occasion. The ‘“christen-| held an imposing number of records 2 e " e he thought. £ “ . 7 ; 2 the game and staved until the last/|tives, it is sald, that he never missed | Chaliapin as a little child lived in i e > “You have a beautiful voice, my | they' told him, “but hereafter you |ing' party” was somewhat of a failure, | until Johnson came along and s man was out a game, a humble home in the provincial Rus- | , These clrcumstances ‘were paving| " ) o must have.a teacher.” in that the New York team won |tered all of them A A (4 ~ ia| the way for the future, although he | bO: he told Feodor - Chaliapin. o Loc ? o v Z et ;] . 2 i Sinca 30 z tocad ithan President Taft again inaugurated | games in which Vice Presidents have | opera—a world figure, a supreme Ivarioviteh Sloherbl’r‘]ln, the” head* of Would he? It was the very thing c-ree;i that obviously was now be-|as the Yankees today, was called the | here. He has won eight of them the local season. The present steel| participated. artist. His statement is the expression “hot for which the giant had been pre.j fore him. ¥ Highlanders then and did not have | five of them he did not allow his op- conct tands were opened that| America had barely entered the|of a philosophy -as generous as his|th® church choir, and asked to be g all" part) (Copyright, 19 any Babe Ruth in its line-up. ponents -to_score a run. Ainsmith AN e wooden: structars;, which | World: Wi whefi. /Mice ' Préskient |'stature—he suci & Toot ¢-Taohiep—anid e . e T e P }’:&L"gfl,;'“‘f:f' C;:“c’gi‘vl’;‘; il Lo B B adind OGS RDIDAEk AL DI T s ndapie. | Sou it B 1 D6 of Phge. Fames oot had, been in Qflf(e"ncp«fe‘::”‘:l Jeiza, ;{hflg‘x;ilflfi !\K.a-‘rj::glwem:nctaasgsxm “x?.lgnms'}f 55:‘%:'0 Natdin 44 they | 2nd Soonted Thit e e ©I¢€ | Which . he - might improve- upon. the Decoys - for Tsetse Fly. fessional team that represented Wash. | Street in two. His other battery mates having burned down about > = | % ington was. once called the Olympies, | at inaugural battlés have been Agnew, hefore. These new stands, hurriedly | the obening game on April 20, 1917, | work—to cheer _themselves. ~Chall-| Chaliapin spent six vears in this Sching .dis othgrs. SCENTED decoys for the deadly |at another time it was known as the | Williams, Gharritv and Ruel, each of but thoroughly built, enabled nearly | but the spirit of patriotism was al- |apin’s mother sang as she sewed. It|choir. But the high soprano with| Semeonov 1_5’“"“;“:"3' Rt Sk tsetse- fly are now employed in | Jeffersons, and at still another time | whom has held down the ~Old Mas- 19,000 spectators to see the contest.|ready sweeping the.land. The players | was just an unpretentious voice, but | which he started—coloratura, he | to SOt d‘f‘ "“‘“;I D first | UP-country districts by Government |it went under the name Chesapeakes. | ter's” shoots at beginning of one This was by far the largest number | staged an infantry drill on the field | the boy paused to consider it, and him- | jokes—began to change as he sud.|discovery on the N eibal. | Cast 1n| Ctomologists, says Sclence. In order | These teams have, at various times, year of persons ihat had ever witnessed a | prior to the beginning of the contest, | self feit the urge to sing. 5 denly turned into a strapping lad.|aPpearance as }4 JEiRc Ill’fl <P {‘1! N tortrap and desiroy the insects, which | been members of several leagues, | ne game whie »hnson pitched to hall game in Washington up to that| using their bats as riffles, and march- | Something—perhaps the conditions | He developed a rich and powerful | the principal eslan opera ‘Galia. | cause sleeping sickness, dummy ani-| In 1384 the Washington club was | open the season e I S i ing in more or less military cadence | which obtained in the Russia of that | bass. . | Stolnik in the H“ffl lan opera “Galka-| mgls are being erected upon which |in the. American Association. The |one of his best. President Wilson continued the cus- | to the flag pole in center field, where | day—stirred even little children tocon-| He went when fifteen to the opera | Moniuszko,” he created a sensation|the flies light with the intention of | following vear it joined the terr | tators who ‘saw it may remember, he tom set by his predecessor and threw | Assistant Secret: of the Navy |templation and reflection. Feodor gave | one night. Listening to the pro-|and received an ovation. biting the animals, If animal odors | League. and from 1886 te 1900 .it|allowed the Philadelphia batters ex out the first ball at three opening | Franklin. D. Roodevelt raised OId|serious thought o this matter of | fessional singers, he came suddenly | In the excitement, Chaliapin fell|cling around the dummies the fifes |plaved in the National League. {actly four hits and struck out eight zames during his term in the White | Glory. The unusual ‘spectacle of the [ music and singing. to the realization that he had a bet-| off the chair on which he was sitting | will linger about until killed. Images | 1901 it became a member of the|of them. The score was 4.0 in favor House. The first ‘“‘opener” which Mr. | flags of two of America’s allies, the| One day, when he was seveg 8| ter voice than the; But above and|at the end of his big scene. " Thelof donl;gl with brown paper legs are | newly formed American League, in|of Washington, and the shutout was Wilson attended was on April 10, 1913, French and the Brmsh,g.\'ina overthe ' old, he went into a chy - beyond this he discovered drama and warmth'of the applause doubled. commot emploved. i which- it has -since remained. the 1024 of Johnson's career. o N i do the| Accounts of the oper bevond 30 years ne to Raymond, who twitled | The abbreviated season of 1918 was