BEST PERFORMANCES BY AMATEURS
The New York Racquet Club was the first to institute a national championship of amateurs (1887–88–89–90), which it did not attempt to renew. There was no second essay until the Amateur Athletic Union entered the field in 1898–99. Anything in the nature of amateur record, therefore, may be said to begin in 1887 and end in 1890, to resume in another direction in 1898 and continue until now.
AVERAGES AT REGULAR THREE-BALL GAME.
17.33 in 300 (championship)—Orville Oddie, Jr., 1889.
11.03 in 1500, gen. av. (championship), Orville Oddie, Jr., 1887.
RUNS AT REGULAR THREE-BALL GAME.
257 in 300 (non-championship), Arthur R. Townsend, 1890.
195 in 300 (championship)—Orville Oddie, Jr., 1889.
BEST RECORD AVERAGES AT 14:2 BALKLINE.
57.14 in 400 (championship)—C. Demarest, Chicago, 1908.
42.86 in 300 (tie game of championship tournament)—J. F. Poggenburg, New York, 1907.
BEST RECORD RUN AT 14:2.
202 in 400 (championship)—C. Demarest, Chicago, 1908.
BEST RECORD RUNS AT 18:2.
175 in 400 (championship)—L. Rérolle, Paris, France, 1908.
151 in 400 (championship)—C. Demarest, N. Y. City, 1908.
BEST RECORD AVERAGES AT 18:2.
33.33 in 400 (championship)—Lucien Rérolle, Paris, France, 1903.
28.57 in 400 (championship)—C. Demarest, N. Y. City, 1908.
BEST GENERAL AVERAGES AT 18:2.
20 in four games (1600 points, championship)—C. Demarest, N. Y. City, 1908.
16.26 in five games (2000 points, championship)—R. Mortier, Paris, 1908.
15.91 in seven games (2800 points, championship)—L. Rérolle, Paris, 1903.
BEST PUBLIC MATCH RECORDS.
109 run in 1200 (non-championship)—L. Rérolle, Paris, France, 1904.
12.24 average in 1200 (non-championship)—L. Rérolle, Paris, 1904.
IRREGULAR CONTESTS
Ives vs. John Roberts. Henley’s Circus, London, Eng., May 29th to June 2, 1893.—$5,000 a side, 1,000 points nightly. I., 6000—run, 2540; R., 3821—run, 249. Roberts’s total has been variously given. The figures here are from Major Broadfoot’s “Billiards.”
This was styled a “compromise match” at the English winning-and-losing game on an English 6 × 12 six-pocket table.
CENTRAL MUSIC HALL. Chicago, September 18–23.—$5,000 a side. Ives, 6000; Roberts, 5303.
LENOX LYCEUM. N. Y. City, October 2–7th.—$5,000 a side, R., 10,000; I., 8738.
De Oro vs. Roberts. On October 16–21st following, at Madison Square Garden, N. Y. City, these experts played alternately on an English and an American ball-pool table for an announced stake of $1,000 a side and the championship of the world, De Oro winning by 1000 balls to 927. No two players can ever be justified in creating a championship.
Hugo Kerkau vs. Johann Trebar. In 1900 these experts, German and Hungarian, engaged in more than one series of “straight rail” games in the chief cities of their respective countries. The two were known to be far apart in skill. In one series, Kerkau scored 40,000 to Trebar’s 4998, and made runs of 1656, 1743, 2194, and 3843. It invalidates these runs as comparisons with the lesser deeds of earlier men that, although scarcely through fault of Kerkau, they were not achieved under similar conditions. Years before he ran his 3843, Kerkau ran 3092 against Woerz in Berlin. This was under the old rule as to “frozen” balls, but it was probably also on a 4½ × 9 or smaller table. The 3092 were made in January, 1896. When, not far from that time, Kerkau was here, he showed capacity for but about half that height on a 5 × 10.