Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 October 1907 — The SPORTING WORLD [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The SPORTING WORLD

Kling, Chicago National Catcher. The leading catcher of the 1907 base ball season was Johnny Kling, the sura throwing backstop of the Chicagd Nationals. Kling, in addition to catching In the Important games of the pennant race that resulted in victory for the Cubs, was also the mainstay of the team behind the bat in the recent world’s championship series with the Detroit Americans. * ’ Kling is one of the quietest players in the game. He is a good balance on that account for such terrors and Um-

pire baiters as Jimmy Sheck .rd. Harry Stefnfeldt and Captain Chance himself. Because of his retiring disposition Kling is one of the most popular men lb the game today. In winter he runs a billiard academy in Kansas City, where he makes as much money as he does on the diamond. As a matter of fact, Kling is tired of baseball, and he wants to break away from the game. He would do so if the financial returns were not very high.

Football In China. "The first game of football I witnessed upon my arrival In China,” one of our consular representatives at home for a visit remarked recently, "I mistook for a very serious riot, and you wouldn’t have blamed me either. “In the first place, I was not aware that the Chinese had any such game, but later found that it is very popular in north China. It is not played as is the American game, and instead of eleven players to the side there are fifty. These northern Chinese are almost giants, and every man on the team will be six feet or over In height and weigh on the average 200 pounds. There are no goals, side lines or halves. The game lasts until one side Is the winner, and frequently this is not accomplished before two or three days. “The idea of the game is to force a small wicker basket, which takes the place of our ball, Into the territory of the other side, this territory being onehalf of the town, and up and down the streets the fight rages. Each man is equipped with a whistle with which to summon assistance when too bard pressed. “Stealth as well as main force may be used in getting the ’ball’ into the enemy’s country, and I know of one clever player who did so by passing over the roeffs of the houses. As you may imagine, 100 giants yelling and fighting in the streets create some excitement.”

Baseball Biters Bitten. One of the funniest happenings of the year took place in Chicago recently. Chicago was . the only place where It could have been pulled off. Just before the final game of the series between the Box and the Detroit Tigers a regular funeral ceremony was put on. Headed by a band playing a funeral march a crowd of White Sox rooters bore a papier mache tiger, much battle scarred, to the pennant pole, where It was buried with the usual ceremonies. Then the rooters left the field to the tune of “A Hot Time.” At this stage of the game Cobb and several other Detroit players turned the laugh on the rooters by securing the tiger anil starting him up the pennant pole. Then, just to show how dead the Tigers were, Detroit proceeded to make nine runs and handed the White Sox an awful trimming.

Football Crowds. Football crowds promise to be larger this year than ever before. The total attendance at football games in 1906 was over 1,000,000 greater than it was in 1905, and the attendance in 1905 was the largest in the history of the sport up to that time. The two largest crowds of the season were those which saw the game between Yale and Harvard and that between Yale and Princeton. From a purely academic point the least satisfying game of the year was that between Yale and Princeton, which resulted In a tie. Both elevens played brilliant football, but Yale proved more resourceful against the Tigers than had been deemed possible by those who had witnessed the preliminary work of the Elis. Another Australian Biffer. - There’s an Australian fighter in New York who, according to all reports, has all the earmarks of a fighter. He has been In this country thrqe months, but has been keeping himself under cover because the fight managers have not yet offered him a $25,000 purse. His name Is Warren, Billy , Warren, and he weighs 210 pounds when lu fighting trim. His one alm in life just now is to get into the ring with Jack Johnson. He has $5,000, or says he has. to wager that he can beat the black mas In a finish fight.

JOHNNY KLING.