THE BASEBALL GAME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19699, 27 July 1927, Page 16

THE BASEBALL GAME.

" PASTIME FOR FOOTBALLERS.

ROOM FOR DEVELOPMENT.

"Baseball is the ideal summer pastime for players and supporters of football, and will appeal particularly to the working classes, ' says the chairman of the English Baseball Association, Mr. J. A. Bailey, of Liverpool. Mr. Bailey, who has occupied that position four years, has been in the game 20 years in one capacity or another, and he is also a prominent figure in cricket conli'<(! on Merseysido. "My view," Mr. Bailey said, "is that baseball in no sense competes with cricket, and that there is a lot of room for its development. Unless cricket is played on a square of perfect turf it is not good cricket. I speak as chairman of the Liverpool Cricket League and as a /. committeeman r of the premier cricket club on Merseysido (Wallasey), and I know what it costs to run a cricket club decently. Baseball can be played on an ordinary football ground. It also is within the , reach of everyone. A youth can turn out in his football togs, and his implements are inexpensive There are two to two and a-half hours of interesting, rapid play, and that is what many a man wants, whether player or spectator. "There is a wonderful opportunity for football clubs to open up and develop a new sour.t of summer revenue. Baseball would not interfere in the slightest degree with close season repairs to the ground or hinder the cultivation of new grass, because the 'diamond' could easily be moved from one part of the pitch to another. And as the players wear rubber shoes tho grass would not be damaged to any extent worth mentioning. "In saying this I know I shall be up against some football officials who speak almost with bated breath of the necessity to protect the playing pitch in its growth of a new coat of grass for the coming season of football, Tbut I have watched cricket ground repairs in many places from Glamorgan to Essex, and know what am talking about. In Liverpool the ground of the North-Western Bailway is baseball and cricket alternately, »»i lh. luMball SeWsmen OT t 4 9ncl »» «>»"* a, DA bans."