Billiards from the year 1911, playing 18.2?

haystj

haystj

AzB Silver Member
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I like to look up history of Billiards in Washington DC (there were many, many rooms back in the day), and I found this piece.

Has anybody ever heard of the game 18.2?


Here’s a small mention of the place in the Washington Post on September 29th, 1911.

George Slosson, the well-known billiard expert, will come to this city on October 16 to play a match with Tom Gallagher, of New York, an old-time professional, who at present is in this city. They will play 400 points at the 18.2 game.
Play will be at the rooms of William F. Putnam, 819 Fourteenth street, and will mark the opening of this new billiard hall. The match will be open to the public.


http://ghostsofdc.org/2012/08/08/pu...liard+Parlor:+The+Finest+in+the+United+States
 
Pushout

Pushout

AzB Silver Member
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If I remember right, this was an attempt to make the game more challenging rather than just the simple ball to ball scoring of Straight Rail Billiards. You were allowed to make so many point before moving the balls out of balk. I can't recall the exact wording. Bob Jewett would know, I'm sure. I think this was finally replaced by Three Cushion.
 
J

jwh1942

AzB Silver Member
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could this have been balkline billiards? If so, they discontinued the game when Hoppe became unbeatable, I believe. Hope to hear whether this is correct from someone like Jewett or some other history expert.
 
KeithS66

KeithS66

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Yes that is balkline. 18.2 refers to the line space and the number of points allowed before a ball had to be driven across a line. Hope Schaefer (jr) and Cochran were all great balkline players. Schaefer may have been the best of the three overall. It's a great control game and more difficult than it looks. A technique was to try to get the balls straddling a line to get more points without driving a ball away.

Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk
 
P

pdcue

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jwh1942 said:
could this have been balkline billiards? If so, they discontinued the game when Hoppe became unbeatable, I believe. Hope to hear whether this is correct from someone like Jewett or some other history expert.
Click to expand...

Though Hoppe was a dominant champion, he was far from unbeatable. He switched to
3 cushion only because the game no longer appealed to spectators.

Dan McGorty tells of doing an exhibition tour with Jake Schaefer Jr., who insisted on playing
a set of Balkline prior to their 3 Cushion matches. He could never come close in Balkline.

Commenting on the demise of Balkline Danny explained that at the end of a match,
"they had to fire off a cannon to wake the spectators up"

Dale
 
Siz

Siz

AzB Silver Member
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pdcue said:
Though Hoppe was a dominant champion, he was far from unbeatable. He switched to 3 cushion only because the game no longer appealed to spectators.

Dale
Click to expand...

According to Robert Byrne's 'Wonderful world of pool & billiards':

Schaefer beat Hoppe in 1921 in a tournament memorable because of the shock waves it send through the billiard world, which had come to think of Hoppe as invincible.... [after Cochran had won in 1927] Hoppe never again was able to win an 18.2 balkline tournament, as they became dominated by Cochran and Schaefer.... Hoppe did not enjoy losing the balkline supremacy he had held since 1906. When Cochran and Schaefer deposed him, he reacted by "retiring" from the game. [p219]

Of course Hoppe didn't do so badly subsequently at 3 cushion...
 
P

pdcue

AzB Silver Member
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Siz said:
According to Robert Byrne's 'Wonderful world of pool & billiards':

Schaefer beat Hoppe in 1921 in a tournament memorable because of the shock waves it send through the billiard world, which had come to think of Hoppe as invincible.... [after Cochran had won in 1927] Hoppe never again was able to win an 18.2 balkline tournament, as they became dominated by Cochran and Schaefer.... Hoppe did not enjoy losing the balkline supremacy he had held since 1906. When Cochran and Schaefer deposed him, he reacted by "retiring" from the game. [p219]

Of course Hoppe didn't do so badly subsequently at 3 cushion...
Click to expand...

So "only" was overstated?

Dale
 
Cornerman

Cornerman

Cue Author...Sometimes
Gold Member
Silver Member
haystj said:
I like to look up history of Billiards in Washington DC (there were many, many rooms back in the day), and I found this piece.

Has anybody ever heard of the game 18.2?


Here’s a small mention of the place in the Washington Post on September 29th, 1911.

George Slosson, the well-known billiard expert, will come to this city on October 16 to play a match with Tom Gallagher, of New York, an old-time professional, who at present is in this city. They will play 400 points at the 18.2 game.
Play will be at the rooms of William F. Putnam, 819 Fourteenth street, and will mark the opening of this new billiard hall. The match will be open to the public.


http://ghostsofdc.org/2012/08/08/pu...liard+Parlor:+The+Finest+in+the+United+States
Click to expand...
In the Efren Reyes article, this is the game he reportedly played as far as caroms are concerned.
 
K

KissedOut

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
And while the small games (straight rail, the 3 versions of balkline and one-cushion) are dead in the US they are still played actively, and very well, in Europe and elsewhere.
 
N

nickgeo

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Been there....

In my youth balkline games were still played by some of the "older" fellows. I learned a bit from one of those gents. Exquisitely tough game. A "gather shot" might require driving the first hit object ball to go around the table while the cue ball gentlycontacted the second object ball and all 3 balls wound up in a cluster for an easy next shot. You needed a level of control of speed, English, and aim that is rarely seen in pool - an exception being one-pocket.
 
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