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Show ! COMPARISON OF ATHLETES ! Unusual Interest Centers Cen-ters in Events of United Unit-ed States and English Track and Field Meet I Johnson Says Base-M Base-M ball Is to Be the Inter- national Sport New York. July 29. The fact that the United States and English track and field championships wore held I upon the same day. makes a com i pari son of the work of the native athletes and their visiting competitors of more than usual Interest England's Eng-land's A A A. games were held on the famous oval at Stamford Bridge, London, while the United States championships, were being contested j at Chicago. Some 17.0OQ spectators I letes battle for honors in a drizzle, while about half that number swel-I swel-I tcred in a temperature close to 100 while American titles were won on a j track and infield which failed to licit any praise from the competitors Although conditions as reported from both athletic fields cre against record-breaking performances, a remark -'able Improvement was shown In the general all-round work of the English and Swedish athletes indicating that the lessons learned in recent Olympic s-iint? defeats have not been forgotten. forgot-ten. The English program consisted of i fourteen events, of which English l athletes won nine and Sweden's representatives rep-resentatives five . Four A. A A records rec-ords were established, two by the Swedes and two by English contenders. contend-ers. The United Stales schedule contained eighteen contests in which two new "games" records were made one by an American born and tho other by an Irish athlete. A comparison compar-ison of the programs of the two meets shows that eleven similar events appeared ap-peared on both, and with these as B basis a comparing of records proves that the times or distances were better bet-ter at Stamtord Bridge in six of the eleven competitions. To what extent local conditions effected these figures there Is no way of knowing The comparison is made simply to show that the oft-repeated statements that I European athletics are gradually ap- I proacbing American standards arc not i based on idle observation. Beginning with the U0. 20 and I MO-yard runs England showed a winner win-ner in the first two events in the per- j son of W R ApplOgarth, who won in 10 and -1 3-5 seconds respectively acalnst sprinter Drews times of 10 2-5 and 22 4 5 seconds at Chicago. Haff. the Chicago V A and Michigan flyer won the 440 yards In 51 4-5, while G Nlcol did 49 2-5 at London. In both the half and one mile runs the United States figures were better Baker, tho i New York A. C. runner, captured th.' : xgu In 2 minute, and 1-5 seconds. E. j Wide of Sweden, winner in England, I was 2-5 of a second blower. Norman Tabor won the mile at Chicago in 4 ; minutes 20 2-5 seconds, while Zander, I of the Swedish team, required 4 mln-Utea mln-Utea 25 4-5 seconds to take the Eng- ! llsh title. In the running broad Jump Abrahams cleared 22 feet t Inches at the A. A A games, while Stiles, the I winner at Chicago, did 22 feet 3-4 Inch. The running high jump showed i that Richards, the Olympic champion, hud but 3-S of an inch advantage over j Baker, England's champion, who Jumped 6 feet 1 Inch. Nilsson, tho j Swedish shot putter . pushed the weight out 47 feet 4 1-2 inches, against American champion Whitney's I 46 feet 2 5-6 inches In the pole I vault and hammer throw the American Amer-ican figures were far superior to those made at Stamford Bridge. Will Be International Sport. President Ban Johnson of the Amerl-can Amerl-can league said recently, in diecuss lng the future of baseball, that he firmly believed that the game would In the course of coming years become the one of the few real International sports in which teams of countries in all pertB of the world could meet ' and compete As a matter of tftCL . baseball Is already an International game, although the calibre of play abroad does not, of course, equal that displayed by teams In the United I States. Wherever Americans migrate mi-grate and settle there baseball is I played, Just as Englishmen carry cricket with them to all parts of the world There Is a difference, however. how-ever. In that baseball has proved more popular than cricket among the na tives of such lands. Tho game has won favor and is played in Cuba. Japan. China, Mexico, South America, Porto Rico. Philip-pines, Philip-pines, Franco Australia, Sweden, Germany and even In England to a slight extent The tours of Cuban. Chinese and Phlllpplno teams no longer long-er excite comment In this country, and college nines find worthy oppo nents In the Orient The tour of the world by the combined Giants-White Sox forcesfAlurlng the coming winter should add Impcf 1 the sport abroad Anot' i of the growth of ba:- in far away lands i.s . trip of two Pacific Coll j to Aus tralia, with a vl( -jcertalnlng whether the time ha3 arrived for th? establishment of a professional base ball league among the cities of the A ntipodes The game is played In the most unusual un-usual and out-of-the-way places, and tormcr fans found in the far corners of the earth F'or Instance, baseball the one great game of tho short Alaska summer The rivalry be-rtween be-rtween the various mining camps is extremely ex-tremely keen, and large sums of raon ey frequently change hands on the outcome of a game, since the Alaskn miner and eolonist is ever ready to back his opinions and favorites wlih either gold dust or regular currency A number of former professional league and college players are always available for tho teams, and th? standard of play compares favorably with that in the states Tho games are frequenth played under difficulties difficul-ties not expeneneed In the east and middle west At Ketchikan where the home games against Juneau are played, the only level stretch of land suitable for a diamond Is along tho ocean edge Consequently the games must be played at low tide, for twenty twen-ty feet of water covers the homo plate when the Pacific sweeps In at high tide. |