The Sportlight - April 27, 1926
By Grantland Rice
(Copyright, 1926, New York Tribune, Inc.; Trademark Registered, U. S. Patent Office)
From the Soul of the Crowd
They have gripped us—you and me—in the sweat heap of the throng; They have chained us to the job—and we may not break away; And we may not follow now where the red road winds along Through the sun and wind and rain to the edge of night and day.
They have gripped us—you and me—but our dreams have snapped the chains, And with rag and pack have left by the still uncharted trails Through the starlight and the storms, by the mountain peaks and plains Where the seventh sea unrolls to a thousand shining sails.
They may look on us as slaves or as captives of the town, But we know how wrong they are, though our weary bodies bend, As our free souls range the hills where the torrents hurtle down, And we take an untrod path by a road that knows no end.
We can hear their tramping feet as the millions come and go, We can feel the greed and hate where the weary struggle through, But our souls are in the woods where the blooms are thick as snow, And our dreams are in the hills where the open sky is blue.
Baseball’s “Institutions”
A baseball “institution,” in this particular sense, is a ball player beyond trading or selling, one who is part of the city or town.
There have been only a few. Christy Mathewson was one. He began and finished his pitching career as a New York Giant. It was only when he broke into the managerial field that he went to Cincinnati.
Hans Wagner was the same with Pittsburg.
There are three or four left. Ty Cobb is part of Detroit. Walter Johnson is part of Washington. Hornsby and Sisler are part of St. Louis.
To sell or trade any one of these would have been the same as selling the franchise.
Few ball players have started and finished long careers in the same city without a change. It would be hard to visualize Ty Cobb in another city—or Walter Johnson pitching for another team.
No one in the old days could have imagined Christy Mathewson in his prime coming back and pitching against the Giants. And Walter Johnson pitching against Washington would find the universe upside down.
Source: The Boston Globe, April 27, 1926
