Evening Star Newspaper, August 14, 1927, Page 71

ILLUSTRATED FEATURES Part 5—8 Pages Players of Capital Made Base Ball H - BY THOMAS R. HENRY. ASHINGTON'S first great base ball pitcher, I am in- formed by elderly residents who watched his perform- ances when they were boys, ‘was a bona fide volunteer Federal col- onel, one Jones, whose handsome black beard reached to his chest. The Jones beard, my informants testify, became the ideal of every as- piring athlete in the city. Ambitious youths of those days used to rub their hairless chins with Dr. Sevigne's marvelous Restaurateur Capillaire, de- scribed in the advertising columns of the current newspapers as “the most wonderful discovery in modern science, acting upon the beard and hair in an almost miraculous manner; whiskers and moustaches forced to grow on the smoothest face in from three to five weeks.” Col. Jones remained for two or three years a first-string hurler for the ‘Washington Nationals, the Capital's crack semi-professional nine which toured the West during the Summer of 1867, coming home late in August with an almost unbroken string of vie- tories. He used to alternate Billy Willlams, a local society who could boast only a well mustache, but atoned for his tonsorial deficiencies. with a blinding speed, which eventually forced the handsome colonel into oblivion as a base ballist. The national game in Washington came to its boisterous adolescence late in the pugnacious sixties, when vacant lots around the city still were cluttered with the junk of the Civil War. Dur- ing the latter days of that, struggle, soldiers, encamped on the White Lot behind the White House, used to toss about for exercise in front of their tents a leather spheroid. Eventually the “toss-and-catch” affairs evolved into organized base ball games, plaved according to rules promulgated in New York State. By the time the war ended, there were company ‘and regimental con- tests, with teams both for officers and enlisted mén. Out of this school cane Jones, whose beard was the envy even of that great man of science, the cele- brated Dr. Sevigne. The end of the war found several of the best players developed on the Army teams still in the city, and they organized themselves into the Na- tionals in 1866. The first contests, held on the White Lot, were with Jocal amateur organizations such as the Continentals, the Jeffersons and the Potomacs. The last mentioned team, by the way, had been horn in 1859 and was the first to bring base ball to Washington, but it dropped out of sight during the war and did not survive long its rebirth. The earlier zames were played on the White Lot, which was not inclosed. Collections wers taken up among the fans and mose wno did not contribute got hard iooks, Hundreds of barefooted urchins used to watch the games from the edge of the Potomac swamp. In 1867, however, the unbeatable Nationals laid out a field of their own at Sixteenth and S streets, far out in the suburbs, and enclosed it with a high board fence. There they built a clubhouse and began to charge ad- mission. The crack aggregations jrom other Eastern cities were in- vited to Washington—the Atlantics of Brooklyn, the Athletics of Philadel- phia and the Haymakers of Troy The town, with the restlessness which is the inevitable aftermath of war in its blood, went base ball crazy *Fhe Nationals, college hoys and swag- sering young officers that they were, lecame . the idols of hoop-skirted belles, The best homes were opened 10 them. When one of them strolled into a saloon, every member of Con- &ress at the bar strove to pay for his Catcher, [ J ‘ il ! 3 & g DiAGRAM of OLD BALL FIELD — * MAGAZINE SECTION he Sundiy St WASHINGTON, D. C., SUNDAY CINCINNATI “TEAM drinks. Betting ran wild. Fist fights were in order after every game. But this new game of base ball was, after all, a most respectable pastime. The best families took it up and, from the first, conduct at the games was such as to permit young ladies to attend, * ok ok % MONG these still living who watched those early games there are some who maintain to this day that the old-time Nationals of 1867 were the greatest aggregation of base ball players who ever represented Washington on the diamond. The regular ‘line-up was: Parker, center field; Williams and Jones, pitcher: Wright, second base; Fox, third bas Studley, right fleld; Fletcher, first ba Smith, shortstop; Berthrong, catchei and Robinson, left field. Fox and Berthrong were Georgetown college boys. They led the team in batting. Eight or ten home runs in a game were not unusual for Fox, and his fellow collegiate often would garner five or six. Williams, considering the restrictions under which he labor- ed and the memory which he has left of his exploits, must have been a re- markable pitcher. According to the rules of the game, he could throw only an underhand ball. Anything hurled from above the shoulder was illegal. He had to depend on speed alone. Curves and all the other trick- ery of base ball were unheard of. These men probably represented Washington on the diamond much more intimately than has any team since. Their relation was rather that of a college team to its alma mater than that of a professional organiza- tion to its city. During July of 1867, having beaten all the Eastern teams which could be induced to visit Washington, the Nationals invaded the West. They were the first team ever to do 8o. They left Washington attired in “‘smart blue flannel pants and checked shirts” and the trip was o successful that the team's triumphs shared the front pages of the Capital newspapers of the day with the trial of John H. Surratt for complicity in the assassi- ration of Abraham Lincoln, The first vietory came in Cincin- nati, where the Washington team beat the Buckeyes of that city, 88 to 12, in a six-inning contest. This required three hours, when the game was call- €d to enable the visitors “to partake of a collation provided for their en- tertainment,” before their train left for Indianapolis, The game was dis- tinguished by four home runs and the score by innings was as follows: | l ! = 5 32 21 2 7 21 0 3 03 4 Two daysilater the Washingtonians engaged the Westerns of Indianapolis | and in nine innings, which lasted 4 hours and 30 minutes, beat them by the modest score of 106 to 21, in spite of the recorded fact that the Westerns “caught more flies than the Nationals and in the eighth inning the visitors went out in-order on flies to the outfield.” Says the sports writer of the day: “Some beautiful hits were made by Fox and Berthrong of the Nationals, one of the former traveling at least 200 yards, and upon which a hand- some home run was scored. Willlam the pitcher, is a real catapult. It is impossible to tell when or where he will throw. He throws very wild and awful peppery, but when he somes [to bat his score falls behind any of his associates. “At the close of the game ‘three- times-three’ and a Tiger were given by the Nationals for the Western: Indianapolis and the ladies. The Washington gentlemen have made many friends here by their excellen bearing. McVey of Indianapolis wa iy disabled in the first, trying to stop a fly, but it covered him with glory as a base ballist.” Four days later, July 16, the Na- tiongds were received as visiting roy- alty by the city of St. Louis, where they played the Unions. Part of their entertainment consisted of a carriage trip through ‘“the botanical gardens attached to Mr. Shera's palatial resi- dence.” The next day they repaid this hospitality by beating the Unions 113 to 26. Socially, the game was not particularly a success. A crowd of 3,000 crowded on the field, including several hundred ladies in carriages, but there were many “toughs” who brought disrepute to the game by their betting and profanity. The game was piayed in a pasture with th gra: “enclose gullies and by an ordi- clumps of h hillocks, and nary farm fence, over which rowdies and barefooted urchins climbed with impunity.” * oK ¥k HEN the Washington players jumped to Chicago, where they met their first defeat at the hands of the Forest City team of Cleveland by the close score of 29 to 23. They had come to the Windy City with a repu- tation for Invincibility, while their op- ponents were considered second-raters who several times had fallen before the sluggers of the local Excelsiors. The Chicago fans leaped to the con- clusion that the Washington team had been overrated, and when they played the Excelsiors two days later, betting was heavy against them. They ‘‘upset the dope” by beating the Chicagoans 49 to 4. # This gave rise to ugly rumors, the first “base ball scandal.” = The dis- gruntled gamblers insisted that the Forest City game had been thrown to attract sucker money, the Washing- ton players being certain of victory in their next game. This cloud on their reputations evidently did not affect their Wash- ington ‘supporters. When they ar- rived in the National Capital on August 15 they were given the first great home-coming reception ever ac- corded to an aggregation of athletes. A band awaited the tired, grimy men, “attired in white linen dusters which they wore over their uniforms when traveling,” as they stepped off the train. Individual players were pre- sented bouquets of marigolds, gera- niums and gailardias from their lady Jubce NicHoLAs LONGWORTH- MORNING, AUGUST 14, GEorcE WRIGHT — 1927. FICTION AND HUMOR admirers, and then were escorted to carriages which conveyed them, the band leading, up the Avenue to “Cronin’s base ball emporium,” at Thirteenth street, where they were kept busy for hours shaking hands with old friends. As their carriages proceeded through the crowds on the Avenue, the players all sang lustily “Toss the Ball" and “Home, Sweet Home.” Despite their trilumphs in the West their national championship was n admitted. The great test was set for August 27, when they were #h clash with the Mutuals of New York on their home grounds, at Sixteenth and S streets, The Mutuals reached Wa the morning of the game and imme- diately were taken in hand by their rivals, shown around the public build- ings, and later taken to the White House, where they shook hands with Andrew Johnson, the first presidential base ball fan. On their rcturn to Willard's Hotel they were tendered by the proprietor “two splendid coaches, each drawn hy four horses decorated with red and white plumes,” which conveyed them to the ball park. This was a field 400 feet square, level and “generally dry,” on the north side of which were roofed stands to accommodate 1,500, The park was surrounded by a fence 10 feet high. The walls were plastered with signs, “Betting Positively Prohibited. In front of the stand were sot two blue silk banners with the em- hroidered word “Nationals.” Just to the left of home plate was a fly tent “for plavers who might have an op- portunity to rest during the game.” The attendance was estimated by the Washington Chronicle of that day at more than 3,000. One man who at- tended as a small boy tells me it was closer to 10,000. Extra horsecars were put in service on 14th street and many clung to the sides and roofs these conveyances jerked along north- ward into the open country. Hun- Ireds of gentlemen in white and brown duck suits walked. accompanied by some ladies, doubtless equipped with Duplex elliptic walking skirts and Everlasting steel corsets, 10 cent hoth advertised for the o | by €. Baum's hoop-skirt manufactory, 1At 49 Louisiana avenue, Some of the | gentlemen were fortified for such a day before (', Gauthier 2 Penn vania avenue, had advertised a gain sale of 600 harrels of whisky wholesale prices, But the es of the girls were 80 American Babies Born in Paris in a Year BY STERLING HEILIG. PARIS, August 4. 6, there were 80 American s born at the American Hos- of Paris. That is the yearly nowaday: Some are resident; other families are on the way home to the United States, Some are very rich, with a silver or gold or diamond-studded spoon in the mouth. And some are like you and me, with a modest living if we work. But all are alike in being good Americans who come to Paris, not (as the old saying is) when they die, but when they are born! “It happened to me to be born in Paris said Judge Walter Van Rensselaer Berry. That was before the Civil War. When he returned to Paris, after graduating at Harvard, practicing law in Washington, and serving as judge in the international tribunals of Egypt, he was made president of the American Chamber of Commerce in France. Then, he might have said, in noting changes: “48 3 had waited, I might have hap- pened to be born on American soil in Paris!” Congress has actually chartered the American Hospital of Paris! Good grown-up Americans (in the name of the whole American commu- nity) own the great and beautiful mod- ern buildings and their beautiful grounds; and Congress chartered the institution precisely that American babies might be born there, with other things. - They are as'much native-born Amer- fcan bables as if it had happened to them to be born looking out on the Back Bay of Boston! - At the American Hospital of Paris, they look out on a park with lawns, trees, gardens and flowers—and on an extremely big building and other smaller buildings, all dark red brick faced with white stone copings, uniike | the uniform gray stone common in Paris. And the buildings, trees and flowers—and the soil down to the cen- ter of the earth—a act of Congress and by purchase and dornment by Americans and for Americans, in a strange land. A Herve Secrotary Mellon came to visii " £ e all Arherican by | his daughter, who had been cared for at the hospital. Here the 80 babies each . year—babies of the sovereign people of the United States—open their eyes first on American soil and American fac The American Hospital is the pride and the central institution of the far- famed American colony of Paris, the capital of Americans living or wander- ing -in Europe! The hospital was actually opened in the smaller buildings, 17 years ago. Then the war came, and it took charge and responsibility of the historic American Ambulance Hospital of s, which, until our doughboys came over to fight and be wounded, cared for ~thousands of wounded I'rench soldie The wounded French were extremely content—as the babies are content, now—and some of them | were picked up on battlefreld with pinned inside their uniform m wounded, send me to the Amcrican Ambulance Hospital — of Paris, where I have friends It was not true, friends there, poor fellows, but made the claim merely in order that the {tripled in numbe | the famous racin They had mo | a2 on | long hike on a hot afternoon. for the | I iof istory in Infancy of Sport had been 1 red stars. The intensity of interest, of. Cook’s | however, had subsided. Andrew John- ommended | son. his mind engaged with the sen- ladies by various Government of- | sational Surratt trial and already in Army officers and local clergy- | difficulties with his cabinet, ignored men, who declared in their testi- | the game. monials that it represented the | ‘greatest achievement of science.’ {‘ p "BLIC enthusiasm revived the L rext Summer, but it was shared HE one man in Washington at the| . DY 1Wwo semiprofessional teams. T e . phnston at the | The Olympics had been organized to written an_imperishable word picture | of such a picturesque development in | contest the supremacy of the ionals and to get their share of the Americanaunfortunately was unable to attend, for the Chronicle of the day nig gate receipts. The leader of this new aggregation @ Nick Young, then a clerk in the befol ecords 4 ) \'h to the be de of his mothe who seriously {il.” And even then he was first president of the National cague of Professional Rase Ball, the working on !Leaveg of ( . the | A\l_n-'umn.l'n-r predecessor of the present publication of which was (o send |~ itional League. i ¢ him from the Government service in | o The new team laid out its playing disgrace. And the same s Crhe | fleld and built its clubhouse at Fif- Washington Star announced in its [ [°°Nth and T streets, aimost adjoin- personal motes, that “Mr. Ralph|i0% the quarters of the Nationals. Waldo Emerson is spending a few | L1e crack eastern teams—the Mu. Pt it g B | tuals of New York, the Haymakers ot It was a hot and dusty afternoon. [ Tro¥, the Atlantics of Brooklyn. the Fourteenth street was congested with | thie of Philadelphia, the Harv- men on horseback and family parties | {4$ 0f Boston. the Richmonds of e cireiiger: s ot tichmond—all played one or the other across lots, through fields and jor the two asxrexdilonissnecs inas and serambled over fences, sinsi ummer, and when there wera no gether. And in a dingy courtroom | Visitors, they provided entertainment downtown one young man must have | (07 the city by contests hetween bt ad i alne, | themselves. “There was a ball game for a few yvears before, Surratt, the | N°?1IY. every pleasant afternoon dur- theological student, wonld have hean | i€ the Summer of 1868. Washing- among the leaders in a civie activity | 127 Was divided in its allegiance. The of auchiimpiortatice 7| two teams fought bitterly and play- adl ers were hribed hack and forth. il The great game of that year was was reached between the - Philadelphia Athletics L i iajand the Nationals, late in August. cluded “several hundred ladies, who | E3'V in July the Washington team watched with glistening eyes, peering | 174 beaten the Atlantics of Brooklvn. e L 0 iinis | Then the Atlantics heat the Athietics, ey hats, saucily perched for-| 30,10 12 WWith this record before ward, and d: ~-trimmed para- | them. the Philadelphia players looked el pan e immed Pt like éasy bacon for the Nationals. A the contemporary chronicler re. | 5000 share of the Government pay is, “there were hundreds of um- | 0/l that week was placed on the brellas of biue cotton and black silk | FOme team and many a milk bill went i K| unpaid, for the Nationals went down to protect the hearers from the <un.” | Unhaid. for the Nationa g The blue flannel pants and red helts | Tie" 4 84to a1 weore, the ationals were somewhat | (0 e patting ¢ » d after the western trip, but the | oo, Setting closer shiny, ser for they, probahl bbed with some of * of Li hizhly re The ant stre @ exclu by - a that this year, French might send them there! they found friends, right enough, when they got to the American Amb: lance Hospital of Paris! The most notable Americans of Paris were behind this service of the hospitals; in particular, American so- ciety women of the French capital. After the war, a drive was begun for a $1,000,000 building, as a memorial hospital of all this united bravery and sacrifice of the two nations. for needed buildings for the nurses; too—since patients are more than ! Mut | sisting of dark blue | with 3 | blue and white qnecked shirts { white flannel But | | was halted while President Jobnson, And now a new drive has been made | ers. Scientific base ball is in its birth US wore spotléss uniforms, coti- f {hroeq and with it professionalism, vadeloth pants d hyping these late sixties the status of red Dbel { the National and Olympic players is a | bit difiicult to define. They were not jactually paid for playinz “ase ball, but nearly all of them, on ths srength of their records as “base ballists,” held jobs in the Treasury, the requirements of which either were very light or non-existent. After big games, when hey had been instrumental in win- ning big sums for the Washington fans, collections were taken up for them through the various depart. ments, The Treasury Department, how- ever. was the real birthplace of profes. sional base ball in Washington. When- ever the teams needed strengthening, narrow stripe, s with blue stars, During the sixth inning there was a commotion at the gate and the game with his military aides, was e. to the grandstard, where he remained an Interested spectator until the last | put-out. Then he descenced to the field and shook hands with the play ers of both teams. After the game there wa collation in the clubho brief speeches and toasts b; But it was a sad day for Wash- ington. The marvelous Williams was and more babies knock at the door each year for aid and comfort! The plans are that this shall be | residence in Kings! chairman committee fc those Ameri and America Surop | Macomber, who was | the .campaign executivé j the nu aps who four-in- drive ¥rance | and. e has able which organized near by the late W K. Vanderbilt; and his colors appeared iast month in all the great events. " {ed by I But base ball at last had gotten into “the most modern school of nursing | s is one of | fe a job there always could be arranged for some out-of-town players who | might be induced to come to h- ington, seems to have lagged off form and despite the fine work of the fielders Was the close, score of 40 to The sport here during the Summer of 1569. That turned the tables on |year marked the break-up of the first Septembr of the | strictly professional team, the old the Nationals de- | Cincinnati Red Stockings, champlons the’ Unions of that city, 310f the West. Five of the players came to The Unions reached the M to W ngton, including the pitcher, tional Capital tastily attived in light | Brainard and the - catcher, Allison. blye pantaloc with narrow red | The four others went to Boston. Judge stripes, white shirts trimmed with the | Nicholas Longworth, father of the letter U embroidered in red, white belts and white caps decorated with society and has stayed there ever ashington New York on ime y when present_Speaker of 'the House, for (Continued on Sixth Page.) 3