“two strikes, three balls!”
a silence so intense that you could feel it fell upon 60,000 people who saw the umpire put up his hand to announce the second strike. it was the crisis of the first baseball game for the world’s championship between new york and philadelphia. the great stands were black with people, and thousands more were perched upon the rocks which rose above the level in which the ball grounds are laid out. the boy and i sat on the bleachers. it was the only place we could get; we sat there three hours before the game began—and we were among the last to get in. of course you will say we should have been at home picking apples—but without discussing that i will admit that we were packed away in that “bleacher” crowd.
there were some 25,000 of us crowded on those wooden benches with our feet hanging down. here and there in this black mass of hats a spot of lighter color showed where a woman had crowded in with the rest. there may have been 100 women in this crowd. the “stands” where the reserved seats are placed were bright with women’s gay colors. our seats were not reserved, but well “deserved” after our struggle for them.
i enjoyed the crowd as much as the game. many of you have no doubt read that description in “ben hur” of the motley crowd which surged out to the crucifixion. gibbon describes the masses of humans who attended the roman games. the world as known at that time gathered at these spectacles, yet i doubt if those old-time hordes could produce the variety of blood or color which showed within 1,000 feet of where we sat. within four feet sat two colored men showing traces of two distinct african races. the young man on my right was certainly an irishman. the fat man, who was wide enough to fill two seats, was a german. in front an italian, behind a swede, off there a frenchman, a spaniard and even a chinaman. there was an arab whose father ate dates in the desert. the son looked forward to this date as an oasis in the desert of hard work. here were indians, japanese, mexicans, russians, turks—the entire world had poured the blood of its races into that vast crowd. i do not believe the great coliseum at rome ever held a larger company. yet this crowd was different. in the savage hordes of centuries ago the air was filled with a babel of sound—each race shrieking in its own language. this vast army of “fans” thought and spoke in the common languages of english and baseball. for there is a true language of baseball. nothing can be popular unless it acquires a language of its own. it was an orderly crowd too. somehow these waiting men seemed to feel that they had come to the hush and dignity of a great occasion. you may laugh at us—you poor unfortunate people who do not know a home run from a fly catch, but you have missed a lot of the thrill and joy of life. we feel sorry for you. to the true baseball crank this game represented the climax of the year, for here were the best 18 players in the world ready for the supreme struggle. so these thousands sat silent and watchful. as you know, when stirred by passion 60,000 people can give vent to the most hideous and awesome sound. yet when stilled by the thought of what is to come the silence of this great army is most profound. now, of course, you and i may say—what a pity that all these people and all the energy and money they represent could not be used for some more useful purpose. i could name half a dozen things which this country needs. if it were possible to gather 60,000 people in behalf of any of these things with the claws of elemental savagery barely covered with thin cotton gloves no legislature in the land would dare refuse the demanded law. that is true, but it is also true that human nature has not yet evolved from the point where at the last analysis the physical power and what it stands for appeals first to the young and strong. you cannot get away from that, and it must be considered in all our regrets about the “younger generation.” we can have anything we want in legislation and reform whenever we can work up a spirit and a demand for it which is akin to this baseball feeling! for in this silent, orderly crowd there was nothing but cotton over the claws. there was a dignified-looking citizen not far from us who looked like a fair representative of the “city of brotherly love.” you would choose him as one of a thousand to take charge of a sunday school. yet when a philadelphia player raced home with the first run there came a hoarse cry that might have startled even a listless cæsar 2,000 years ago. there was our philadelphia friend on one foot waving his hat and shrieking defiance and taunts at the crowd of new york “fans.” why, the germ of that man’s mind was back in the centuries, clad in hairy flesh and skins shouting a war cry at what were then its enemies! and when new york tied the score the entire bleachers seemed to rise like a great black wave of humanity with shrieks and cries and waving hats. for the moment these were hardly human beings—as we like to consider the race. they were crazy barbarians lapsed for the moment back to elemental motives. and as i came back to find myself standing up with the rest i was not sure but that the brief trip back to barbarism had after all been a profitable one!
but we left the umpire standing with his hand up calling two strikes! it was the fifth inning, with the score one to one. there were two out and new york had worked a man around to third base. one more pitched ball would tell the story. consider the mix-up of the races in this “american game.” the man on third base straining like a greyhound to get home was an indian. the man at bat was of french blood, while the next batter was an irishman with a jew close behind him. the catcher was an englishman and the pitcher a pure indian. this indian stood there like a silent representative of fate with the ball in his hand, eyeing that frenchman, who shook his bat defiantly. i presume neither of them thought for the instant how 200 years ago it would have been tomahawk against musket in place of ball and bat. yet the race traits were evident—the light and airy nerve of the gaul and the crafty silence of the red man! oh, how that ball did go in! “ball!” shouted the umpire and the batter took his base. then it seemed as if bedlam had broken loose. men and women shouted and cheered and laughed and cried, for they thought that the indian was “rattled” at last. but his ancestors went through too much fire for that. he stood in the center as cool as a cake of ice. the play for the man on first was to run to second when the ball was pitched, and run he did. i noticed that the catcher jumped six feet to the right as that indian threw the ball. it went like lightning right into the catcher’s hands. the second baseman had run up behind the pitcher and took the throw from the catcher. of course the runner on third tried to run in on this throw, but back came the ball ahead of him and he was out! then in an instant the mighty crowd saw that new york had been ambushed. it was a great trick, and played so accurately and quickly and with such daring that even the philadelphia “fans” were mind-paralyzed and forgot to cheer. the silence which followed the indian to the players’ bench was the most eloquent tribute of the day. and it happened, as every “sport” already knows, that new york finally won two to one. the needed runs were made on mighty hits by an indian and an irishman, and the great crowd filed out and home to talk it over. i wish i could tell my children how some cape cod yankee had a hand in it, but too many of these are occupied in telling what they or their ancestors used to do. i think the game was invented and developed by yankees, and that they have made the most money out of it. probably cape cod is willing to rest content with this and let the others handle the ball. i am ready to admit we ought to have been home picking apples, but we saw the game, and the apple harvest will go better to pay for it.
