o'clock this afternoon. The indications are that the fight will come off tomorrow morning.
The remainder of the story, which occupied about 12 inches of space, gave
Details of the gathering at the ring,
Details of the disagreement over a referee.
By 1872 the eastern papers were carrying a box score in base ball stories somewhat similar to the one used at present, except that errors do not seem to have been listed and the summary was limited to earned runs, umpire's name, and time of game. Sportsmanship was not highly developed. The New York Times ran a baseball story in its issue of August 16, 1872, in which the writer makes it obvious that his whole day, including his grammar, was ruined by the victory of the opposing team. The umpire appears to have had some sort of deep-seated grudge against the losers.
By 1872 the papers were beginning to devote a higher percentage of space to a wider range of sport news. There were still, however, many days on which little or no space was given up to this type of material. A few comparisons:
New York Tribune—8-page, 6-col. paper with 21½-inch columns, had 1030 column-inches of space over all; usually about 730 inches for non-advertising reading matter. Average space for the twelve days in August on which sport news appeared was 10½ inches, or less than per cent of the non-advertising space. Sports represented were horse-racing, prizefighting, cricket, baseball, and rowing. Horse-racing occupied 100 of the 126 inches of space, and prizefighting, 1 inch.
New York Times—Issues of eleven days examined—August 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31—contained a total of 374 inches of sports, an average of 34 inches a day. Of the total sports space, horse-racing occupied 225, or about 60 per cent. Cricket received 24 inches of space to 28 for baseball. Rowing received 25 inches. Yachting, Scottish games, and prizefighting shared the remainder.
Harrison R. Kincaid's Oregon State Journal in Eugene paid little attention to sports in the 70's; for that matter, never in his long career did Mr. Kincaid devote much space or attention to that phase of the news. In this he was not far from typical of the editors of his time. Once in a while, however, his paper would run an item dealing with such sports and pastimes as shooting (at targets), rollerskating, billiards, and croquet—which, as a matter of fact, aside from the routine hunting and fishing, was about all the sporting activity there was in the locality at that time.
Here's the way they were handled—with the lack of enthusiastic
