Life — September 5, 1912 — page 17: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon depicts baseball arriving in Hell, with devils and demons depicted as the inhabitants. The caption "New Arrivals Struck Out Every Time" plays on baseball terminology—being "struck out" means failure in the sport, but here suggests newcomers to Hell are perpetually failing or suffering. The cartoon appears to be social commentary on baseball's popularity or cultural impact circa 1917. The detailed rendering shows Hell's landscape populated with demonic figures observing a baseball game, with what appears to be a "Box Office" sign visible—possibly satirizing baseball's commercial success or the sport's perceived corrupting influence. The exact target of satire remains unclear without additional context, though it likely critiques either baseball's cultural dominance, its commercialism, or contemporary anxieties about the sport's moral implications.