Salt Lake Tribune | 1911-04-23 | Page 49 | Jordan Action is Unfortunate

JORDAN ACTION IS UNFORTUNATE I Manhattan Thinks College Hall Situation Is Not So Bad as Indicated. THOUGHTLESSNESS RATHER THAN INTENT TO BLAME 1 H Fate of Intercollegiate Sport IH Is in The Hands of Yell Leaders. BY MANHATTAN. By Leased Wire to The Tribune. Ll NEW YORK. April 22. President Da- lH vid Jordan of Leland Stanford unlver- slty has declared that the students must , H give up intercollegiate baseball because M of the 'muckerlsm" in the stands, This seems a rather unfortunate, move B from the viewpoint of sportsmanship, for , M It Is apparently an admission of help- H lcBsnoss. College baseball is not In as H hopeless a condition as it would seem to be in , this instance. Unfortunately, H baseball seems to be moro open to H "mUcknrism" than Is any other sport, not H even excepting football, but I believe j H that the efforts now being made to clear j H it by the students themselves ought to M be encouraged. Abolishing the game as H an Intercollegiate sport will not pure rl any tendency toward unsportsmanlike lH conduct on the part of tho festive under- ll graduato. tM I have tried to show at intervals where H the responsibility for "muckerlsm" lies, H and to emphasize the fact that reform H begins at home to make it clear that 1 much of tho unsportsmanlike. conduct at H baseball games Ib due to thoughtlessness H rather than intent. Abolishing tho game 1 doos not abolish the spirit of "muck- fl erlsm" and It will break out In somo EH other sport. Onl organized effort will fiH cure tho spirit of unfairness too often In evidence at college baseball games, and the offort must come from the students themselves. Abolishing baseball will not eradicate evils to bo found In the cheering section. Jl These go deeper than sport, and the col- OH lege president who finds' the undergradu- H ates acting in an unsportsmanlike way IH on the bleachers may bo sure that the lH trouble Ib not with the game, but with iH the men who play it and support It., "Muckerlsm" has to be torn out by the lll roots. Mere trimming will not do., CH There have been numerous Instances of thoughtless conduct on the part of the Jfl cheering section, and these havo hurt the game, but that there la deliberate 'JM "muckerlsm" In the eastern colleges I do not believe. Some of the best and H worst cheering has been done by Brpvn H University. But, almost without exeep- tinn. the Brown mon have been the flrsf. B to realize and condemn what was 1m- ( proper. , , College baseball Is, In a better state Continued, on Following Page. jH JORDAN ACTION IS UNFORTUNATE Continued From Preceding Page. than It has been In years. When men of tho type of Fultr.. at Columbln, and Dr. Sexton, at Harvard, arc In chargo of teams, there Is nothing to fear In the way of "mucknrism." The old-tlmo col-lego col-lego pitchers fit In tho stands and wonder won-der at tile mild 'Joshing" of tho college twlrler. When "Dutch" Carter of Yale. "Jack" Highlands of Harvard, Reese of Pennsylvania and Asa Priest of Cornell 1 wcro pitching, tho situation was differ- 1 ent. As a matter of fact, tho old-timers I seem to fool that the game is rather 1 tame. 1 In Hands of Ohoer Leaders. I The fate of college baseball Is ln tho I hands of the cheer loaders, who havo It M In tholr power to check unsportsmanlike I conduct, and In tho hands of the captains I of tho teams, who arc looked up to by I the undergraduates aa$ leaders off the I field as well as on. "Muckcrlsm" con- I not long ondurc when tho captain of the I team is of tho right type.