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In Cincinnati, Brooklyn and Washing- the cheer masters fell flat—ln Chi- ton, during most of the season, the cago at least. The harder the leaders crowds are bitterly sarcastic toward of the rooters worked the more apa- INCREASING DEMAND FOR HEAVY HORSES the home teams, although the Brook- thetic the crowds became. It was an lyn crowds are decent except on Sat- Interesting phenomenon and I set out FANS urdays. St. Louis affords a queer to discover the reason. The first study of the crowds. W7 hen the bleacherite I met solved the problem. Motto: May the best team win; But ours is the best Browns are at home the crowds are “Dem guys ain’t on de square,” he ugly and vent their temper upon the said. "Usuns out in de bleachers players, yet half a dozen blocks away, don’t want to rob nobody.” on the rival park, there assembles a There was the solution. No matter By Hugh S. Fullerton crowd wilder and more frantically in how partisan a baseball fan may be- favor of the home team and more un- come, or how wrild in his desire to see reasoning in partisanship than almost the home team win, deep down he any in the country. Just where this wants fair play, and, after a time, he (Copyright, W. 1913, by Q. Chapman) feeling arises Is hard to discover. The will insist upon it. The rooters’ clubs crowd “Wow! Wow!! Great eye, Eddie! song of the Sox rooters when- they is violent in temper when the died. is winning, Make him put it across! Bust a scent victory. team worse when it is los- There are few of the noted fans ing. Perhaps years de- fence! You can do it! Wow! Wow!! One of the most dramatic displays long of bitter now, chiefly because the papers sel- feat have Wow!!! ROBBER! All right. Tough of loyalty I ever saw was in 1907, caused it. dom mention them. Perhaps they ex- luck, Eddie. Two and two. Make when the team, beaten and displaced In Boston and Philadelphia, on both ist. In the old days almost every her be over. Home run, Eddie, olcf from the championship, came home to major league parks, the home players club had one or two such followers. and visitors scout. Break the gate. Wow! Wow!! close the season. They had gone are almost upon equal Probably the best known was “Hi Wo away in high hopes, and failed. It terms, and the spectators applaud Hi.” This was General Dixwell, of good The red-faced, apoplectic young was Sunday, and as the defeated plays irrespective of the players. Boston, who for many years followed man in the front row made a trumpet team marched down the field 17,000 They see baseball under the best con- the fortunes of the famous old Boston of his hands and yelled until the men and women stood silent and un- ditions, with both teams encouraged club. He is wealthy, intellectual and veins in his neck turned purple. In covered for a moment, then broke and giving their best efforts to the a cultured gentleman who became the middle of the final “Wow” he col- into applause that swept the stands. work. Pittsburgh is bad because of completely absorbed in baseball. He the gambling lapsed, looked disgusted and turning It Is small wonder that a team back- that has become almost followed the team wherever it went to me said: ed always by loyalty won even part of the game in the Smoky City. and became a familiar figure all over such temper “What do they keep that hunk of during years •when it seemed much The of the crowd is ugly and the country. He occupied a front the losing kept cheese for? He can’t hit. Never weaker than its opponents. element is in evidence no seat In the Btands, a careful '*• matter whether studied VV?) could. Striking out in a pinch like I have heard opposing players de- the home club wins score and the game with a or loses. that!” clare they would rather face anything Detroit is a loyal, rather seriousness that was appalling. He violent tamed maintained a Two-Year-Old Percheron Stallion. The fan, howling encouragement or in the game than the grinding “root- crowd, now because the deep silence during al- fans have learned to endure victory most all the game, but when a really bawling abuse at the ball players is ing” of the Chicago south side fans. The breeding of heavy draft horses expense of operation. motor as well as defeat. The crowds were great play was made he emitted two The the spirit of the town. Just how The only duplicate I know is the Is one of the most profitable branches truck has its place the mad with enthusiasm the first year De- sharp staccato barks: “Hi! Hi!” and on farm. It great an influence this spirit exerts rasping, nerve-racking, long Yale yell. of live stock farming. Few farmers can be used for plowing and troit won and have since tamed down then dropped to silence again. His heavy upon the playing strength of the team Not all players are frank enough to realize the importance of size in a hauling, but can never replace the effect. representing the town or city is im- admit that the rooting has any draft horse when put on the market, draft horse. If the draft horse is a pre- in possible of calculation, but it is cer- Indeed it is a common pose to either public or private sale. A permanent part of agriculture, more tain that it is part of the national tend that they do not even hear. But horse that weighs less than 1,500 attention should be given to its pro- game. and his fellows exert al- they do. Even among themselves pounds is not considered a draft horse duction. any most as much influence upon the team they pretend they do not care; but in of the horse markets of the There is an increasing demand for as does luck, and this spirit is so in- once in a while they tell their inner country, yet the mares kept on the or- heavier horses on the farms. Deeper extricably mixed with the element of feelings. They know that half the dinary farms are usually lighter than and better tillage must be practiced in luck that it is impossible to deter- men who quit the major leagues are that. This accounts for the small, the future, and this requires heavier mine cause and effect. There are driven out by the voice of the fan. I scrubby lot of horses that are con- machinery and more motive power. cities in which the loyalty of the fans have seen men break and go all to stantly being put on the market at a There are two ways of increasing this has waned and turned to gibes, and in pieces, rave and swear and abuse loss to the breeder. power. One is by increasing the num- these cities no player does well. everyone after suffering a cruel grill- This was well illustrated at a sale of ber of light horses. But the most eco- There are crowds that remain loyal ing by a crowd. grade horses recently held in the La- nomical way is to increase the weight In victory and in defeat. These in- Walter W’iimot, one of Anson’s fa- mer sale barns at Salina, says the of the horses. This will reduce the spire the players to give their best mous old Chicago players, came to a Kansas Industrialist. Here the horses farm labor force; will decrease the efforts to win. Ball players will tell game on the old grounds fifteen years of good size were readily bought at amount of equipment necessary in re- you that teams invariably play bet- after retiring. He looked across to- good prices, while some of the lighter quiring less stable room and less ter with friendly crowds applauding. ward the left field and said: ones could scarcely be sold at any harness, and the cost of feed will be The fan invariably will respond that “There's some of them out there price. There is an increasing demand lessened. he would be loyal provided the club now I’d like to choke." for heavy draft horses in the cities in All farmers and breeders who are would win games enough to justify Yet the roar of the crowd does not spite of the fact that many firms are breeding horses for commercial pur- loyalty. The players accuse the fans, break them as quickly as does some using the motor truck in their delivery poses should replace their small mare 3 the fans accuse the players, and both sharp thrust of sarcasm or biting wit work. The motor truck can be used with heavier ones. This must be done are in a measure right. The major- from an individual. Perhaps that profitably only on long, heavy hauls gradually by adding a few good draft ity of patrons will “root” when the shaft is only the last straw, but when where the roads are good and speed is mares to the herd every year and sell- home team is winning. Any team will a player is in a nervous collapse he essential. The motor requires good ing the poorer ones. Sometimes good roads play better ball and win oftener if usually rages at some individual who for its best operation and can colts may be reared from inferior the patrons are loyal.

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