Life, 1922-08-31 · page 5 of 36
Life — August 31, 1922 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct sections: **"The National Pastime"** (left column) is a dialogue between Jane and an unnamed male speaker explaining baseball rules. Jane asks basic questions about the sport—why a man with a bat stands alone, why only one hand is used—and the speaker patiently explains positions, base-running, and scoring. The tone is gently satirical, portraying Jane as unfamiliar with baseball, a quintessentially American sport. This likely reflects early 20th-century attitudes about women's perceived lack of interest in sports. **The cartoon below** titled "The Visiting Team Gets a Lift from a Fan" shows spectators helping a horse-drawn wagon carrying a baseball team. It's a humorous scene about fan enthusiasm for visiting athletes. The right column contains "Proverbs from the Russian," unrelated aphorisms, and a brief exchange titled "Right!" about perceptions of "dry" people—likely referring to Prohibition-era attitudes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE The National Pastime \NE always insisted that she wanted to share all my pleasures. | was not quite so.sure about it, but diplomacy has its uses, so I said nothing. 2 \t length it became impossible to postpone again taking her to the ball I drew a long breath, mut- da prayer for guidance, and gaye in. hat man out there on the mound led the pitcher. He pitches,” That man with the bat—with the b—is the batter. He hits the Why?” asked Jane. It doesn't matter,” I continued. ile didn’t hit it. If he had suc- ceeded, however, he would have run towards that sack, which is called first base, and if he gets there before the ball he is safe.” But I thought you said this game was not dangerous,” Jane objected. “Only to otherwise happy mar- riages,” I responded. “Oh!” said Jane. “If a man gets to first base,” I re- sumed, “the succeeding batters try to advance him by hitting the ball. If he goes all the way around, past second and third bases, and. reaches home plate without being put out, a run is scored for his team. “When three men are put out, the other side comes to the bat, and when each side has had nine turns at bat the game is over. The team that makes the most runs wins “Is that clear?” I asked. “Perfectly,” Jane assured me. “But one thing I don’t understand.” “What is it?” I inquired. “Why is it,” Jane queried, “why is it that the men wear mittens only on one hand? It seems so silly.” A senile judge decided that my subsequent remarks constituted men- tal cruelty. J. K.M. 3 Proverbs from the Russian SWITCH in time may save Lenine. * * * You can’t eat your caviar and en- joy it, too. * * * A friend in need is usually a Bolshevik. * * * A rolling stone gathers in no Mus- covite. * * All that is gold embitters. * *% Count that day lost’ whose low descending sun Sees no plot thickened, or no bomb begun. Righto! Hey: What percentage of the people do you think are really “dry”? Dey: No more than one-half of one per cent. The ‘Visiting Team Gets a Lift from a Fan comicbooks.com