Of baseball and bad roads

But this editor really got miffed a century ago, in April 1914, when the state of the road also interfered with baseball.

The first game of the season, between teams from St. Martinville and Broussard, was front page news in the edition of April 18. It was a "hotly contested" game, according to the report. There was no score for the first several innings, then, "when Broussard made one run, the players began to get excited and put in serious work, and a hard fight for victory was made by both clubs."

The game went into extra innings until "at the close of the eleventh inning, St. Martinville had scored five runs and Broussard four."

Exciting and hard-fought as it was, however, the game was poorly attended. The reason? The roads.

When the newspaper writer asked team members why so few people from Broussard came to the game, he was told that the threat of rain kept them away--not because they were afraid the game would be rained out, but because "they could not run the risk of returning on the [muddy road] if it rained."

"The same old song," the newspaper reported, the poorly kept road was "the curse of this section."

Elsewhere in the same edition there is a story about a survey by "several of our business people" of the roads in the parish. They found that "every road ... is in need of much attention. The drainage is not only sadly neglected, but in many places [roads] were impassable and will again become impassable when it rains."

That accursed road to Broussard drew particular attention. According to the newspaper, "An outrage was committed some time ago when [a] good high road ... was exchanged for a longer road which is always bad--impassable most of the time."

Said the editor, "We have begged long enough without being listened to. The need for good roads is apparent to all." He urged the people of the town to join in his outcry and demand that roads get fixed.

Small town merchants depended on folk from the countryside being able to get into town to shop, he pointed out.

"If the people ... want to keep their country trade, they have to rise to a man and with the country people, demand ... the attention which is needed upon our roads."

The newspaper reported good news and bad news several weeks later, in its edition of May 9.

The bad news was that St. Martinville's team had "put in some bad work" that week and lost two games, 7 to 3 to New Iberia, and 3 to 2 to St. Charles College in Grand Coteau.

The good news was that "the Police Jury was in regular session here Monday and have discussed road matters in a serious manner. ... We can now hope to see great activity on our public roads."

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You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jhbradshaw@bellsouth.net or P.O Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.