The Baseball Craze-Its Meaning by J. N. Q.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 6, 1910

The Baseball Craze—Its Meaning

By J. N. Q.

THE most indifferent can not fail to note the enthusiasm—may I not truthfully say craze?—which is everywhere manifested over baseball. Never in the history of the sport have such crowds attended the National League and the American League games as those present this summer. The minor leagues also have been well supported. Is this a healthy sign? or is it a sign of national degeneracy? This is a vital question; and in the current number of the Outlook, Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton has this to say:—

The personal interest in athletics has been largely superseded by an interest in spectacular games, which unfortunately tend to divide the nation into two groups,—the few overworked champions in the arena, and the great crowd, content to do nothing but to sit on the benches, and look on, while indulging their tastes for tobacco and alcohol. It is this last that is turning so many thoughtful ones against baseball, football, etc. This, it will be seen, is a reproduction of the condition that ended in the fall of Rome. In the days of growth, every man was a soldier; in the end, a few great gladiators were in the arena, to be watched and applauded by the millions who personally knew nothing at all of fighting or heroism. Degeneracy is the word.

There can be no very serious objection to a game of baseball, when it is played solely for the exercise thus obtained; but when interest is maintained not because of the health-giving benefits which may be derived from it, but solely because of the strife for supremacy, then baseball is purely an evil. Such a spirit is altogether foreign to our Lord and Master.

J. N. Q.