John Bull as a Sport

1895

It may give some idea of the place of sport in English life to the sedentary American to say that it is difficult to find an Englishman between 18 and 65, in fair health and not supported by the rates, who is not a performer at some kind of sport or interested in some phase of it. Of the 673 reviews and magazines of a nonreligious character printed in England, one in six is largely devoted to some form of out of door sport or occupation.

In a word, John Bull loves the fresh air. He is a sportsman, an athlete, a soldier, a sailor, a traveler, a colonist; rather than a student, and all the figures bear one out in making the statement. During those horrible days in the Crimea these sport loving "young barbarians" were "all at play" when they were not fighting, racing their ponies, getting up cricket matches and off shooting such game as there was. One family — the Pelhams — have hunted the Brocklesby pack of hounds for more than 175 years. — Forum.

A Sunday Prize Fight

New York, 1895

Will District Attorney Noble Inquire Into This?

About 300 sporting men from Greenpoint and South Brooklyn ploughed their way through the snow and over the rough roads of Long Island to a well-known sporting resort at Laurel Hill last night [Sunday] to witness a finish fight between Paddy Gallagher of Greenpoint and George Kelly of Bensonhurst. The two pugilists are well known on Long Island, each having won a number of hard fought battles. The fight was for a purse and a side wager of $200. Gallagher, who tipped the scale at 150 pounds, seemed to have the advantage in reach, height, and in every other way, being ten pounds heavier than Kelly. While the men were getting ready a preliminary bout at 110 pounds, between Ruddy Pfifer of Brooklyn and Joe Brown, "the Winfield Spider," was arranged. Both lads were evenly matched, and boxed four lively rounds to a draw.

Kelly and Gallagher were then announced. The latter was the first to enter the ring, and looked like a giant compared to Kelly, who appeared a moment later. At the call of time both men went at it hammer and tongs, smashing each other right and left. When the referee called time Gallagher was stretched across the ropes, with his hands spread in the air ready to fall when his seconds caught him and carried him to his corner.

In the next two rounds Gallagher received some hard punishment, but he stood it gamely. Kelly banged him all over the ring, hitting him where and whenever he pleased. When Gallagher came up in the fourth round he was very groggy and weak, while Kelly seemed fresh and strong. Both men sparred a few seconds.

Kelly smashed Gallagher in rapid succession with his right and left on the chin and over the left eye, which was almost closed. Gallagher made a faint jab with his left, and to the surprise of everybody followed it up quickly with a right-hand swing which caught Kelly under the jaw. The latter staggered from the blow for a second, and then fell in a heap to the floor.

When the fifth round was called, Kelly was still unconscious, and the referee awarded the fight to Gallagher. The crowd almost went wild at the turn of affairs, and carried Gallagher to his dressing room in their arms. — Monday's Sun.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Jan. 25, 1895, p. 1.

Cockroach Derby Excites "Rookies"

1916

HERB ROTH'S "ATTABOY" IS EASY WINNER.

Runs the Two-yard Course in Two fifths of a Second — A Classy Brute.

BOSTON, Massachusetts, (Aboard the U. S. S. Kentucky). — "Attaboy," the pride of Herb Roth's string of racing cockroaches, won the two-yard championship on a recent afternoon from a field composed of Dal Dawkins' "Hammock King," J. W. Bailey's "Ditty Box Bill," Herbert Reed's "Mess Jumper," Albert Schedy's "Scamperer" and a half dozen others. Practically all of the civilian volunteers and many of the regular crew witnessed the speed contests and the bookmakers did a thriving business.

It was thinness which finally resulted in victory for the Roth string. Hawkins had starved his roaches for two days in preparation for the big race, but some miscreant broke into the stables and fed them, so that they were a bit leggy at the start and not much interested in the mince pie which awaited them at the finish, while Roth's "Attaboy," ravenous, covered the two yards in two-fifths of a second.

The overfed condition of Hawkins' string resulted in all his entries running last, while Bailey's "Ditty Box Bill" and Reed's "Mess Jumper" were a bad second and third to the winner.

"Attaboy" is a magnificent brute, standing nearly three-quarters of an inch high at the withers and weighing not less than ten milligrams.

These cockroach races have proved so interesting a divertissement that it is proposed to arrange intership contests.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 7.

Passing of the Athletic Girl

1901

The athletic girl, it is predicted, is to be supplanted in popularity this summer by the girl of the olden type, who knew nothing of outdoor sports except a mild game of croquet be included in the list and, furthermore, did not care to know. It is hinted that the men have lost interest to some extent in the self possessed, independent young woman who can row a boat — and sail one too — play tennis, throw a ball straight, make century bicycle runs, tramp for hours without getting fatigued, swim long distances, etc., and that a reaction has set in in favor of the old fashioned type of girl, content to occupy her summer days with purely feminine tasks instead of imitating her sport loving brother.

Golf has not apparently come under the ban of alleged masculine displeasure to quite the same extent as other forms of sport, but the golf girl's skirt has been lengthened until it just escapes touching the ground, for fashion's experts declare that it is not correct to wear skirts that are overshort even on the links.

Whether or not these predictions prove true and the pendulum really does swing back to its former position remains to be seen. Meanwhile the shops are making a brave showing of golfing outfits and other sporting paraphernalia for women, and outfitting costumes have not altogether ceased to attract attention. — Dorothy Quincy in Brooklyn Citizen.

Can Ty Cobb Hold His Crown As Baseball's Greatest Star?

(Click the graphic for a better view.)

1920

Hugh Jennings Admits That His Best Player Is Slowing Up a Trifle at Running Bases and Declares That Georgia Wonder Is Fully Aware of Fact.

Is Ty Cobb slipping? Will the old master of baseball, the king of swat and run, be able to maintain the terrific pace he has set for years as the greatest star the game has ever known?

For years the downfall of the Georgia Peach has been predicted. Each winter some gloomy gentleman rose to announce that Ty Cobb was done, that his baseball days were numbered, that American League crowds would have to find another hero on whom to shower their praises — and money. And just as surely as spring came each year Ty has laughed to scorn the mournful prophets by his glittering work at the bat, on the bases and in the outfield for the Detroit Tigers. During the past twelve years he has led the organization no less than eleven times in swatting honors, once being nosed out by a narrow margin by Tris Speaker. And even that "losing" year Cobb batted well above .350.

At the same time he was the leading base runner of his league, beside being one of the greatest outfielders of the game.

So to repeat the ancient prophecy anent the imminent downfall of Tyrus Raymond again this winter might seem a risky prediction, if it wasn't for the fact that Ty's own manager, Hugh Jennings, has admitted in Cobb's home town, Detroit, that the Georgia wonder is slipping a trifle. What's more, Jennings declares that Cobb himself is fully aware of the sad fact.

"I noticed it on the bases," said Hugh, at a banquet given in Detroit for Bill Coughlin, one of the old Tigers, but now a minor league manager. "In other years when Cobb tried to steal a base, it was a toss-up whether he was out or safe if the play was perfect. He made work tough for all the umpires, for, with all things equal, it was ever the closest of decisions and the hardest one that American League umpires had to make.

"But last summer Ty was being thrown out quite regularly. Where the play looked like a tie in other years, it was now a matter on which only one conclusion could come. I am talking about perfect throws from the catcher, the kind that he always beat or tied. He was not beating them this year.

"Ty looked as fast as ever in the field, but, of course, it is impossible to tell whether or not a man is slowing up by his fielding. That is the last place where it shows. You can tell, tho, on the bases, for that is one place where the least slowing up will register accurately.

"Of course, you also realize that in spite of this perceptible slowing up Cobb is still the greatest player in the game today; he is that by long and far. The beauty about him is that he went so high that he can continue coming down for several years and still have the edge on other players. He can continue playing for years and years and still rank on top."

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 10.

Ice Boating Sure To Recover Fame

1920

WINTER SPORT BOOMS AFTER WAR LAPSE.

Many New Racers Being Fitted Out and Contests Are Now in Planning.

DETROIT, Mich., Jan. 1. — It is expected that the ice boating sport will again come into its own this winter after a lapse during the war period.

Already the announcement of a new club out Grosse Pointe way, which will foster the sport has been made and should inject added impetus to the season's prospects.

The fact that many of the skippers were overseas last winter together with the mild weather that provided little ice, served to put a damper on the sport, but the ice sailors are making more elaborate plans than ever to make up for lost time and some spirited racing is expected.

Among the new boats are the Kangaroo, built by Sid Mitchie and said to be a boat that will climb over any obstacle and leap the open water. It was designed by Mitchie himself. 100 Proof owned by Captain Bill Footes, is another and is credited with the fastest trip to Canada and return.

Frank Diegel and his Moonshine, one of the fast ones, will be in better racing form than ever and many spirited races between the Kangaroo and Moonshine have been staged in the past and probably will be repeated this season.

N. P. Neff is busy overhauling his Stonewall and expects to make her faster than ever. Charles Hilgendorf's White Lightning runs true to its name and should make trouble for the others as will a number of dark horses.

Leonard Neff will pilot the Wasp again. This boat has captured the Frontenac and Dodge Bors trophies, and is again being put in sailing trim after a two-year layoff due to the war.

The Lake Shore Ice Yacht Club is the latest addition to the ice boat club ranks and will conduct some big regattas. The Grosse Pointe and L'Anse Yacht Club, pioneers in the game hereabouts, also will make every effort to boom the wind and ice racing.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 10.

Ends Long Hike

1919

Man Walks From Chicago to Lynn, Mass., in 22 Days.

BOSTON, Massachusetts — Michael Doyle, the champion pedestrian of Lynn and one of the best known walkers in New England, has completed his walk from Chicago to Lynn, covering the distance in twenty-two days and eighteen hours. His friends declare that he made the distance in a few hours less than the record made several years ago by Weston.

When Doyle arrived in Lynn no one was about to greet him. His friends had expected him to reach the city later and had waited up to give him a reception. When he arrived he visited a barber shop and then repaired to his home for rest. He completed the last leg of his long hike from North Brookfield, Mass., to Lynn, a distance of sixty-seven miles, between noon and morning.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 10.

Boy Wonder at Tennis

1919

NEW YORK, N. Y. — Charles M. Wood, Jr., 14, of the Dewitt Clinton High School, playing in the semi-finals of the junior indoor national tennis championships here, easily won his match and displayed powerful service and speed at volleying. He is being hailed as a boy wonder.


Re-Elect Navy's Football Captain

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — The members of the Naval Academy football team, who played against the Military Academy in the last game, have selected Edward C. Ewen, captain of the team during the season just passed, to lead them another year.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 10.

$50,000 Prizes For Skating

1920

NEW YORK, N. Y., Jan. 1. — According to his manager, D. R. Scanlon, Boddy McLean, the American ice skating champion, will receive $50,000 for competing in live races against Oscar Mathieson, the Norwegian title holder, at Christiania, Norway, on Feb. 8 and 9.

The races will be held on a quarter mile track and the victor will be declared the world's champion. The distance will be 500 metres, 1,000 metres, 1,500 metres, 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres. McLean met Mathieson in this country a few years ago and beat him eleven out of twelve races. The races, however, were held on a small track.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 10.

Man, 82, is Clever Skater

1919

Wants to Have Fun Now for He'll Be Too Old Soon, He Says.

VANCOUVER, B. C., Canada. — Though skating is primarily an exercise for the young, boys and girls in Vancouver have no monopoly of the sport, for John Williams is an enthusiast on the blades, in spite of his 82 years. As soon as outdoor skating was possible this winter Mr. Williams headed for the natural rink in a local park and put in a strenuous two hours, covering possibly ten or twelve miles in that time.

The old gentleman does not care for indoor skating, and reserves all his energy for those odd years when it gets cold enough to skate outside on the coast. "I must get all the fun I can while it lasts," he says, "for I'm afraid that in a few years I'll be getting too old for this frivolous exercise."

A Dead Face In the Window

1901

Crockford, the proprietor of a well known London gambling house, was made to play a queer role after he was dead. When one of Crockford's horses was poisoned just before the Derby, the misfortune brought on an attack of apoplexy, which proved fatal within 48 hours. Now, many of Crockford's friends had staked large sums on another of the gambler's horses, which was a favorite for the Oaks and which was disqualified by the death of the owner. Only the people in the gambling house knew of Crockford's death, and it was resolved to keep it a secret until after the race.

The servants were bribed and sworn to secrecy, and the conspirators on the day after the night upon which Crockford died had the body placed in a chair at a window, so that people returning from the track could see the gambler sitting there. He was fixed up to look as lifelike as possible and through the window and partially concealed from view by the curtains looked so natural that no one of the great crowd which came cheering by the house when on their return from seeing Crockford's horse win the Oaks suspected the trick.

The nest day it was announced that Crockford was dead, but it was years before the true story leaked out.

The Errors of Society

1901

The dark blots that divorce makes in society are too easily seen and too sad to write much about, so I will give only a few incidents of the absurd and humiliating positions in which people may be placed:

I once occupied a seat on the grand stand at the Newport Casino during a tennis match. After I had been in my seat a short time, a man I knew, once divorced, but remarried, came in with his new wife and occupied the two seats on my left, and a few moments later the woman from whom he had been divorced and who had also remarried came in with her new husband and sat directly on my right.

Whether the ticket agent arranged this for a joke I am not prepared to say, but all went well until I grew tired of the game and got up, leaving the four in a straight row, which made an interesting picture for a few moments. The four soon realized, however, what people were staring and smiling at, and, looking daggers at one another, immediately rose and disappeared in the crowd. The incident amused the lads and misses very much.

A lady I know very well in New York, who was giving a dinner party, told me she always dreaded the arranging of her guests at her tables, lest she put people together whom the "law had set apart," as she put it. "It would be perfectly dreadful to seat a gentleman beside a lady to whom he is paying alimony." — Smart Set.

True Sports Never Die

1901

Bicycling is almost as old as the present generation, golf is far older, though Americans in general seem not to have heard of it till recently; football was played in China more than 1,500 years ago and in younger nations ever since they heard of it, and archery and horsemanship hark back to prehistoric man and are instinctive in millions. These sports cannot die or even be killed, nor can any others that are liked; they are as irrepressible and immortal as the human impulse to get out of doors and do something. — Saturday Evening Post.

Billiards An Old Game

1905

The game of billiards may lay claim to great antiquity, for in "Anthony and Cleopatra" Shakespeare makes Cleopatra say: "Let us to billiards;" and so, unless we accuse the great poet of error in chronology, we have traced the game back to a period before the Christian era. In early times a similar game was played on the grass or turf with stones, and later with balls of lignum vitae and other substances.

How to apply the right "twist" or "English" to the cue ball is one of the most interesting and important elements in the art of good playing. In early times only two balls were used, and each player sought simply to pocket the ball of his opponent. The red ball was introduced as a novelty to keep the game from dying out.

As time has gone on the game has had varied development in different countries. In Spain they play with three balls and five wooden pins are set up in the middle of the table. In Russia they play with five balls, two white and a red, blue and yellow one.

The English game is played quite differently from the American and French games. It is a combination of the American games of both pool and billiards, being played on a table having pockets, as in an ordinary pool table, and the points as scored in both the American games being counted.

The French and American games are played with three balls upon a table without pockets and only "canons" or "caroms" are counted. In America the game of billiards has undergone a rapid development on account of the great skill acquired by American players. Early in the last century the game was commonly played with four balls upon a pool table, more or less like the present English game, for both pocketing the balls and making caroms were counted, but in time this style of playing proved so simple that a table was adopted without any pockets in it — and caroms only were counted. — Outing.

2 Plus 2 Plus 3 Plus 6 is 13

1915

They Give Barney Oldfield Badge 2,236, and He Broke Rod

The number thirteen is not popular with drivers of racing cars, and it was noticed that no car at the Astor cup race bore that number. And thirteen did not appear on the official score board.

Barney Oldfield had badge number 2,236 given to him quite by chance. An hour or so before the race W. Bob Holland of the speedway publicity department was talking to Oldfield, and he noticed the badge number.

"You have a hoodoo number, Barney," he laughingly remarked.

"What's the matter with it?" asked

"Add the figures together," said Holland.

Barney turned the badge up. "Two and two are four and three is seven and six is thirteen," he said slowly. He eyed the badge suspiciously for a moment, shrugged his shoulders, and remarked: "Oh, I'm not superstitious; I guess the badge is all right."

An hour or so later Oldfield completed six laps, twelve miles, in the race for $50,000 in prizes. While negotiating the thirteenth mile the connecting rod of his car broke, and he was out of the race.

—Saturday Blade, Chicago, Dec. 18, 1915, p. 8.

Harvard's Got New Physical Giant

1915

All the Harvard college boys crowd around these days at every opportunity to look Albert J. Weatherhead over. Weatherhead's the new strong man of the institution and all the ambitious athletes take off their hats to him. He has just been elected captain of the 1915 Harvard wrestling team and already he's showing great results. His prowess was recognized when he first appeared on the Cambridge campus. As a member of this year's Crimson football squad, he demonstrated time and time again he's got brain as well as brawn. The picture shows Weatherhead wrestling with James B. Brannan, captain of the Harvard 1914 wrestling team and a member of this year's team. Weatherhead is standing up.

—Saturday Blade, Chicago, Dec. 18, 1915, p. 8.

Youngest Cue Shark Shoots Left-Handed

1915

August Kieckhefer, Holder of Three Titles, Makes Fast Rise in Billiard World

Years ago, twelve to be exact, August Kieckhefer strolled over to a cue rack in a billiard hall in Chicago and stood contemplating the polished sticks with their fascinating leather and ivory tips.

He had never handled a cue, but when asked to play he decided it would be a good time to start. He was only 14 and wore short trousers. How he got into a billiard hall at that age history does not tell, but he has been in a lot of them since. He holds three titles.

Goodness only knows why Kieckhefer picked out a cue with his left hand that night twelve years ago, but he did and he played the entire game with his left hand. He has played with the southpaw ever since.

Becomes Pool Shark

Chance must have made him a left-hand cueist, for in everything else, from writing and eating to "mitting" a friend, he is right-handed.

Kieckhefer's first game was pool, called pocket billiards now. That was in 1903. Six years later he was State champion of Wisconsin.

Then he turned to three-cushion billiards and won the championship of Milwaukee, Wis., in 1910. During the next three years he didn't do much except practice, then in 1914 won the interstate title.

Kieckhefer kept practicing and this year, at the age of 26, played for the world's title against Alfred De Oro, the Cuban, who is past 50 and held the pool championship eighteen consecutive years before he became three-cushion king.

Trains Like a Fighter

"Billiard players are born," says Kieckhefer. "It's the stroke that counts and that's born in you, not acquired."

When preparing for a tournament or big match he trains a good deal like a fighter. He walks two hours every morning. He is careful about his food, claiming even a slight attack of indigestion might throw him off form.

Baseball Season Opens

1900

The opening of the baseball season" is a phrase which implies that the season opens everywhere at once. In reality, the season opens in our big country very much as the honey season for the bees, or the season of birds' singing, or the strawberry season, opens — that is to say, not long after New Year's day in Florida, and from that date on to a period several months later in northern Maine. Now that American soldiers have introduced the American game in Havana, San Juan, Manila and Iloilo, baseball has all seasons for its own.

Although general terms upon anything dependent on climate do not fit a country which extends from the arctic zone to the tropics, the statement may be regarded as approximately accurate that "the baseball season has opened." Baseball is an excellent and manly game, not especially dangerous, interesting, strategic, and well-adapted to the development of the body and the sharpening of the wits.

No game meets, with less harm, the natural demand for an out-of-door sport to act as a means of healthy athletic competition between schools and communities. But its very popularity and adaptability have led to grave abuses. If baseball had not been so interesting, so universal, it would not have gained the discredit which has come from a system of professionalism, a traffic in players, and a frequent display of rowdyism in the field.

Yet with all the discredit, which, after all, affects but a small proportion of the baseball-playing, the game is losing none of its popularity or its real value as an athletic sport, and the reopening of the baseball season is still a matter for rejoicing. — Youth's Companion.

Australian Sheepdogs Are Marvels at Their Work

1915

Have Been Brought to a High Degree of Intelligence

Sheepdog trials may be considered a national pastime if not a national sport in Australia. There is an annual agricultural show in every town and village in the pastoral parts. There are general competitions on the lines of the American county and state fairs. There are horse races, buck jumping, shearing, log chopping, and other strenuous competitions.

But not one of these excites more interest than the sheepdog trials; and in these tests Australians have set the example of certain of the most serious tasks that a man and a dog may be asked to accomplish with three strange sheep — sheep that they had never previously met until they had a moment before been turned out from three separate pens to be packed or gathered together by the dog.

It was the Australians who first put forward, and they still maintain it, the maltese cross test. The eight six-foot hurdles are set in the shape of a maltese cross. The passages are of a width that will permit only one sheep to pass through at a time. The animals have to be driven north and south and east and west, all the passes being open at the time. The skill and patience of the dog are here tried to the utmost, and there can be little wonder there is a gasp of satisfaction and a cheer of joy when the sheep have been successfully driven through these narrow ways.

The Australian sheepdogs are the smallest in use in the world, but are quick and lively in their work. It is no wonder that the Australian gives much thought for his dogs, for it goes without saying that the work of the sheep station could not be accomplished without them. In ordinary cases it is reckoned that one dog can do the work of half a dozen men; in many instances a dog is superior to 50 humans; and where there are such vast flocks of nimble sheep, such as the merinos in Australia are, it would be impossible without the dogs to round them up so that they may be examined, counted, and duly looked over.

English Slang A Riddle

1914

Language of Cricket Game as Confusing as American Report of Baseball Game

Why so much slang should accompany the report of a baseball game is a mystery of America that no Englishman has ever solved. Really, you know, it's quite absurd; and a jolly bit confusing, old chap.

Of course, baseball slang is confusing to the stranger to the game, but an Englishman should never criticize our baseball slang, as Arnold Bennett, W. L. George and many others have done. Cricket slang is just as confusing, just as foolish to stranger ears — and, no doubt, just as essential to the game.

In describing the recent Eton and Harrow match at Lord's, a big event in the cricket season, the London Sphere uses a few phrases that sound like an American sporting page:

"The bat must have come forward crooked and it is not surprising to see the leg stump turning cartwheels.

"The best ball sent down in the match. It started well outside the off stump, swerved inward late in its flight, and fairly fizzled off the pitch in its new direction.

"Amory got most of his runs by beating the ball to the boundary in front of square leg, and he was not a bit particular about the line on which the ball was pitched. Several went from outside off stump, but this one pitched on his pads. Oates, behind the wicket, jumped to the leg side to save the possible bye. Eventually Amory tried one cow shot too many and the middle stump went for a walk."