The day book. [volume], February 26, 1914, NOON EDITION, Image 27

About The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
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PLAYGROUND BASEBALL LEAGUE TAKES BOYS
OFF STREETS AND PUTS THEM INTO HEALTH
A a ilk
Hy Hugh S. Fullerton.
St. Louis may the joke of major
league baseball, but that city has ad
vanced and developed an idea which,
if extended to every city and town
in America, would be the greatest
possible development of our national
game, and one of the greatest things
for the youth of American cities ever
planned.
The Playground Baseball League
of St. Louis has proved such a suc
cess that several other cities are tak
ing up the plan. Cincinnati, Cleve
land and Pittsburgh authorities have
studied it
Radowe Abeken, the young and en
thusiastic head of the playgrounds
in St Louis, has started a vigorous
campaign to organize every play
ground system of the large cities of
the "United States into one great
league of municipal amateur baseball
teams, directly controlled by theplay
ground officials of the cities. At the
recent meeting of the National Asso
ciation of Amateur Baseball Clubs,
held in Chicago, Abeken appealed" to
the promoters to indorse his muni
cipal league and have the -amateur
teams from the playgrounds of differ
ent cities meet each fall for a national
championship.
The St Louis plan is the first
comprehensive one put into effect, al
though many of the other cities have
their playground teams. Abeken,
when he left college, went into the
playground work with the idea that
the -greatest success could be attain
ed through devoting the most atten
tion to the game most popular among
he boys. He threw open the play
grounds of St. Louis to all the boy
teams of the city.
At the start little effort was made
to control the teams save to allot to
them the playing hours. In this way
the boys came to look upon the play
ground" authorities as the proper ones
to decide disputes, and they became
the real government of amateur base
ball in St. Louis.
Within a short time even outside
teams appealed to the playground
authorities for decisions TJie move,