Then, too, it should be
borne in mind that base ball first taught us Americans the value of
physical exercise as an important aid to perfect work in cultivating the
mind up to its highest point. It is to the introduction of base ball as a
national pastime, in fact, that the growth of athletic sports in general
in popularity is largely due; and the game pointed out to the mercantile
community of our large cities that "all work and no play" is the most
costly policy they can pursue, both in regard to the advantages to their
own health, and in the improvement in the work of their employees, the
combination of work and play judiciously, yielding results in better work
and more satisfactory service than was possible under the old rule. Thus,
the game has acted like a lever in lifting into public favor all athletic
sports.
A great deal is said about the special attraction of this and that
leading sport of the day. The turfman thinks there is nothing approaching
the excitement of a horse race, which from the start to the finish
occupies but a few minutes of time. The rower regards a three mile "shell"
race as the very acme of sporting pleasures; while the yachtsman looks
upon all other contests as of trifling importance compared with that
ending in the winning of his club regatta cup; and so on through the whole
category of sports of the field, the forest and the river.
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