Clipping:Charles Eliot dislikes baseball; and a response
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| Date | Saturday, April 12, 1884 |
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| Text | Boston, April 11.--Before the Association of High School Teachers to-day President Eliot, in referring to remarks by another concerning base-ball, said: “I think it is wretched game; but as an object of ambition for youth to go to college for, really it is a little weak. There are only nine men who can play the game, and there are 950 men in college, and out of these nine there are only two desirable positions, I understand—pitcher and catcher—so there is but little chance for the youth to gratify his ambition. I call it one of the worst games, although I know it is called the American national game.” Cincinnati Enquirer April 12, 1884 [See also PCI 840412] Speaking Without Knowledge. President Eliot, of the Harvard University, is a learned man but he knows little about base ball. He says that one of the worst features about the National game is that the pitcher and catcher do all the work, none of the other positions amounting to anything in his estimation. Anyhow, he regards the game with a dislike that doesn’t arise from knowledge on the subject. This is made evident from his remarks about the game in his address to the association of Boston high school teachers, Friday week. He is quoted as saying: “I think it is wretched game; but as an object of ambition for youth to go to college for, really it is a little weak. There are only nine men who can play the game, and there are 950 men in college, and out of these nine there are only two desirable positions, I understand—pitcher and catcher—so there is but little chance for the youth to gratify his ambition. I call it one of the worst games, although I know it is called the American national game.” Can it be possible that the worthy president has never seen the Harvard team play, and that his knowledge is derived from watching the boys play in the commons? For a man who speaks with authority about collegiate and intercollegiate athletic games, President Eliot certain has a remarkable notion of the way base ball is played. Meantime, with all due regard to the worthy president’s opinion, the million or so peopl who are deeply interested in the beautiful and scientific game will continue to devote just as much attention to it as formerly. Base ball has had many hard knocks, and much breath and paper has been wasted in opposition, and yet the game flourishes like a green bay tree. A many may be very learned and yet not know everything, and the sooner President Eliot realizes this the quicker will he refrain from utterances which place him in a ridiculous position. The Sporting Life April 23, 1884 President Eliot, of Harvard College, is receiving hot shot from every section of the country on account of his recent castigation of the game of base ball. His ignorance of his subject, as shown by his remarks, is the principal point attacked and the blows have begun to tell, for Mr. Eliot has been endeavoring to ascertain the author of some of the criticisms of his speech. The Sporting Life April 30, 1884 |
| Source | Cincinnati Enquirer |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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