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Show BASEBALL BEST SPOUT-MONTY I Many Active Participants in H i Other Sports, But Monty Thinks Baseball Still H f Holds Greatest Sway. H (By Monty. HI i New York, Jan. L'2. The wall h;s H been )ut forward by n number of Kj gloomy personages thai baseball will K I not regain Its old popularity this year H ' and that the prosperous days of 1910, B . 1SJ1, and 1912 will not return. They m hold, or profess to hold this opinion Hl . despite the fact that peace will rule Hgi over the troubled waters as a result H 1 of' the permanent pact entered into H by the parties- to the recent disastrous baseball war Their favorite argu- H inent is the fact that the number oi H active participants in sports other H than baseball has increased tremen- H dously within the last Tew years. H These men are taking part in sport B 1 now instead of just looking at it, so 3 ' they no longer are fans," chants the m mourners' chorus. m Pretty tough on the old game, to H think that it will cease to be Ameri- mj ca's national pastime because of that H sort of reason, because of a general Hj awakening and advance of porting m activity. There are plenty of level B minded people who would be glad of B a chance to wage open debate against B ' those who advance the morose m thoughts. Certainly it is no unani- B j mous- idea that baseballRwIll suffer be- H , cause of the enhanced hold these oth- ,' er sports have on the men who like B exercise. We really believe their gain will prove in the end to be baseball's m ' gain too. 1 Statistic cranks can show you columns col-umns of figures as long as your arm to prove their assertions that so many !, thousands or hundreds of thousands 1 of Americans are active participants in this or that form of sport, competitive compe-titive and otherwise We will not at- tempt to deny that their tables, tota's H and sums are correct. Suppose they H aie? What of It? D There Is the tennis enthusiast m I more power to him There is the golf B bug long may he buzz. 'There is the R , trapshooter. the track athlete, the i swimmer, me norse race eninusiasc. H j tho yachtsman, the auto- tourist if H some loyal follower of some royal H ' summer sport has been overlooked. M may he not take slight. Good luck to H them all. Each one of these spirited H creatures is represented by at least Hj three or four declairners who can weave in words of Webster, Lincoln. H "Washington. Clay they wouldn't B quote a foreigner with cold numbers H in such a way as to indicate that his H particular sport has gained more re cruits of recent years, proportionately, H than any of the others, or than all the Hj others put together. The case of golf is practically the B same. Perhaps golf has gained even M more new recruits in fifteen years. Hj "Within an hour's ride of the exact H penter of New York City there are no Hl less than 117 recognized golf courses, BI covering Lord only knows how many m square miles. Philadelphia and enVIr-m enVIr-m ons lays claim to something like twen-M twen-M ty links, Chicago and Boston are about l as well fixed and cities like St. Louis. fl Buffalo and Indianapolis. St. Paul and B Tklinneapolis, Kansas City, Denver, H San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland H and Detroit are within striking dis-HB dis-HB tance of anywhere from three to a B dozen courses apiece. Several hun-B hun-B dred golfers take turns going over Hl each of these pastures. How many I thousands there are must be left to m the statisticians to say. Hl Men who originally were- not con-mi con-mi cerned at all over what occurred in Hf anJ' sport are brought out of their fl shells by golf, tennis and other exer-A exer-A clses. Having got the new spirit they H 'take a fling at watching sports too. Again, what Is the best sport to , j watch? Answer Baseball. H oo |
