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Show CITIES QUARREL OVER NEW NAME Baseball, America's national sport, is a private feud in Ohio, where two towns, Basil (pop. 766) and Baltimore (pop. 835), are waiting nervously for the umpire's decision on a curve hurled by Baltimore Bal-timore in 1945, according to Pathfinder. Path-finder. Basil and Baltimore had lived within a mile of each other on the New York Central railroad, but with the years and middle-age spread, they merged. An engineer on a fast freight frequently took them for one town. In 1945 Basil and Baltimore became be-came one town. But no one could agree on what the new town should be called. Basil had accepted ac-cepted the merger only if the town would have a new name neither Baltimore nor Basil. But poor Basil was just absorbed; Baltimore Bal-timore outnumbered it by 69 inhabitants. in-habitants. Basil residents, accustomed accus-tomed to an altitude of 870 feet, hit a new high. Their brightest wits composed a name for the new town from spare parts of Basil-Baltimore Basil-Baltimore : Baseball. A straw vote was held and Baseball Base-ball won. But the Baltimore boys objected. Petitions were circulated. circu-lated. The box score: 615 for Baseball, 490 against. The case went to court. Laset week Judge Earl D. Parker set Oct. 16 as the deadline for the attorneys to file their briefs. Waiting in left field, Umpire Parker will render his Baseball decision about Nov. 12. Baseball-conscious Basil - Baltimore Balti-more has' no baseball team. |