Look Back: Fans take baseball seriously
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BASEBALL FANS as Seen in Ravenswood by a Traveling Man Last Week
"Talk about baseball cranks," said a traveling man who had just left Ravenswood after the team there had taken a game from the Belleville aggregation, "why the people down there go crazy over the sport. While they like the game, nevertheless, and would miss their dinner to see one, their interest does not stop when they leave the grounds, but they keep talking about the contest for weeks. It does not take professional ball to satisfy their sportful tastes, but any old thing will do just so there is a baseball, a bat, an umpire and two pitchers. They like to hear "balls and strikes" called, and it puts them up in the air to see anything over a single go into the field. It is the same whether the home batsman gets a long one or a visitor. They applaud just as loudly. Women as well as men and boys do the fan stunt, and they do it properly, too.
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WHEN GROWLER LOST
"I was down at New Haven when 'Growler' and the rest of the Ravenswood nine lost the game by a score of 25 to 13. The visitors were mad. They did their utmost to win, but fate seemed unkind to them and their efforts. 'Growler,' the prime favorite, with a form similar to that of Apollo was on the rubber. The first ball he threw over the base was swatted, but into the air. It went into the glove of an outfielder, who failed to hold it.
"The runner made second, and could have reached third had he run. 'Growler' kept on pitching, and the New Haven boys kept on hitting the sphere. But three or four of the grounders and flies were hits, but the runners got their bases just the same. It was a comedy of errors, no more nor no less. No one in the field could accept a chance, and the batters kept up their work until they were about tired out. In some way the third man lost his life [was put out] and the first half of the first inning was over. Thirteen runs had been made. While none of the following innings resulted so seriously as that half, the New Havens continued to amass runs until they had 25. In the meantime, the Ravenswood batsmen were getting in pretty fair work and succeeded in piling up 3 runs.
"The boys took their defeat hard. They did not want their home admirers to get 'next to' the result, so they fixed it up that everyone should tell the fans at home that the result was 5 to 3 in favor of the New Haven aggregation. This went all right until a railroad man arrived in town next day and informed the rooters of the correct result. The members of the team have been guyed ever since. They have to bear it, understanding that murder will [was?] out, and have fixed it up between themselves that if the man who gave the correct information on the game is found out he will have to stand for something strenuous."
The Parkersburg News
Sept. 7, 1902
TO BE CONTINUED
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Bob Enoch is president of the Wood County Historical and Preservation Society. If you have comments or questions about Look Back items, please contact him at: roberteenoch@gmail.com, or by mail at WCHPS, PO Box 565, Parkersburg, WV 26102.