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DUCKPIN BOWLING--A BALTIMORE ORIGINAL

Elizabeth "Toots" Barger      1961     Robert Fisher                        1961

William Brozey                      1962     Dave Volk                               1964

Alva Brown                            1964     Nova Hamilton                       1967

Jean Stewart                         1970     Ethel Dize                               1971

Audrey "Sis" Atkinson           1972    Cliff Kidd                                 1984

Anita Rothman                       1991    Carole Gittings                       1991

Patricia A. Malthan                1994    Edward C. Darling                 1994

Jean Robinson                       1996    Adele Asimenios                   1998

Linda Johansen                     1998    Minerva "Min" Weisenborn   2006

Bea Sieck                               2009     Walter Brooks                       2014

BALTIMORE DUCKPIN HALL OF FAMERS

Duckpin bowling is a variation of 10-pin bowling. The balls used in duckpin bowling are 4-3/4 in (12 cm) to 5 in (12.7 cm) in diameter (which is slightly larger than a softball), weigh 3 lb 6 oz (1.5 kg) to 3 lb 12 oz (1.7 kg) each, and lack finger holes. They are thus significantly smaller than those used in ten-pin bowling but are slightly larger and heavier than those used in candlepin bowling. The pins, while arranged in a triangular fashion identical to that used in ten-pin bowling, are shorter, smaller, and lighter than their ten-pin equivalents which makes it more difficult to achieve a strike. For this reason (and similar to candlepin bowling), the bowler is allowed three rolls per frame (as opposed to the standard two rolls per frame in ten-pin bowling).

The origin of the sport is a subject of some debate. One possible origin is that duckpin bowling began in Baltimore around 1900, at a bowling, billiards and pool hall owned by future baseball Hall of Famers John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson, both of the then Baltimore Orioles.

However, according to a 2005 baseball book by Howard W. Rosenberg (Cap Anson 3: Muggsy John McGraw and the Tricksters: Baseball's Fun Age of Rule Bending), an article from May 1894 in the Lowell Sun confirms the existence of duckpins. Rosenberg traced the story of crediting the origins of duckpins to McGraw and Robinson as far back as Shirley Povich of The Washington Post in the late 1930s. Rosenberg in 2014 came across a new earliest such claim, in the Pittsburgh Press of March 3, 1929.

Rosenberg's book methodically accounted for Baltimore newspaper reporting in late 1899 and early 1900, when duckpin bowling suddenly appeared in Baltimore. The Baltimore Sun of December 28, 1899, said that at the McGraw-Robinson bowling, billiards and pool hall the night before, the facility's manager had introduced duckpins. The Sun did not cast the introduction as nationally significant. A possible explanation for the introduction is that Robinson is a native of Massachusetts.

Duckpin bowling has rules similar to ten-pin bowling. In a 10-frame game, bowlers try to knock down pins in the fewest rolls per frame. Bowlers have three balls per frame, instead of two in ten-pin bowling, to knock over a set of 10 pins. If a bowler knocks down all 10 pins with their first roll in a frame, it is scored as a strike. If all the pins are knocked down in two rolls, the bowler has made a spare. If all the pins are knocked down in three rolls, it is scored as a ten, as in candlepins, with no bonus. If pins are still standing after the third ball, the bowler gets one point for each pin knocked down. According to the NDBC, the official high score in a sanctioned game is 279, rolled by Pete Signore Jr. in 1992, although higher scores have been reported, including a 300. During the sports heyday in the 1970s in Baltimore, there were two different TV shows; both on WMAR-TV dedicated to duckpin bowling:

This show only required contestants to make one strike for the jackpot — a significantly harder task in duckpin bowling than in standard tenpins.

At one point, the show alternated between duckpin and tenpin bowlers.

There are only 2-3 cities that still have Duckpin bowling. Baltimore is one of the last.  (Wikipedia)

Elizabeth 'Toots' Barger, 'Queen of Duckpins,' held all the records

September 29, 1998 By Frederick N. Rasmussen, Baltimore Sun

Elizabeth "Toots" Barger, the legendary duckpin bowler who won every local tournament championship, every major duckpin tournament in the nation and held every world record in a career that spanned nearly a quarter of a century, died yesterday of cancer at the Edenton Retirement Center in Frederick. She was 85 and formerly lived in Pasadena.

Mrs. Barger, who in 1961 became the second woman to be inducted into the Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame, and the first female bowler, was nicknamed "Tootsie" by an aunt. She later shortened it to "Toots" and always wore it embroidered on her colorful bowling shirts.

While many of her records were eventually broken because of improved lane conditions, her accomplishments remain staggering.

She began her career at Seidel's in the 4400 block of Belair Road in 1939, when she pinch hit in her cousin's duckpin league and rolled a 107 average her first time out.

By the time she retired in 1961, she had been rated No. 1 in the country 13 times. She won the prestigious Evening Sun tournament 12 times in 22 years, including six straight from 1946 to 1951.

Called the "Queen of the Duckpins," she won the U.S. Classic three times and the Dixie Classic seven times. It was said her very presence in a duckpin alley shook the composure of the women who competed against her.

In her prime, the striking brunette elegantly hurled the 3-pound, 10-ounce balls with deadly precision at the 12-inch-high pins and came up averaging 128 per game.

She attributed her success not to speed but to accuracy, and despite the passing of the years, her average was only off by nine pins by the 1980s.

In a 1950 newspaper interview, she explained her strategy: "I just shoot for 600 each time out, because I know, by keeping a 120 per game average, that will keep me near the top. Anything over 600 per set is just pure velvet."

When she retired, The Evening Sun said, "Above all, it was an era of sheer brillance in the clutch, when her competitive spirit more than anything else, provided the decisive ingredient in the capture of her innumerable titles. Far more often than not she came from behind, leaving the feeling that she never was out of contention until the last ball was rolled."

"She had all of the physical attributes. She was strong, accurate and had the determination to win," said Cliff Kidd, 82, who was the No. 1 duckpin bowler in the country in the 1944-1945 season and former owner of Southway, a South Baltimore duckpin institution.

"She had a straightforward approach and dropped the ball four or five feet past the foul line. She was very, very accurate," said Mr. Kidd, a Northeast Baltimore resident, who still bowls with a senior citizen duckpin league.

Steve Litrenta, vice president of Pinland Bowling Lanes, is the son of Mike Litrenta, a championship duckpin bowler and contemporary of Mrs. Barger's. Since 1951, the elder Mr. Litrenta has owned the Dundalk alley, where she bowled with day leagues two or three times a week until several years ago.

"My father always said she was the 'greatest female bowler that ever lived.' He also admired her temperament and the way she kept her cool and stayed in the game," said the son.

For nearly three decades, Pinland has been the site of the Barger Open each November.

"She dominated her sport and established records in bowling that no other woman approached," said John F. Steadman, Sun sports columnist, who recalled her as being "extremely modest" and "outgoing."

"She was a phenomenal lady who seemed to be around the game forever," said Lance O'Hara, co-owner with his father of Seidel's. "While she excelled at it, it always at heart remained a game for her."

Mr. O'Hara credits her for popularizing duckpin bowling during the 1940s and 1950s. Legend claims that the game, played with smaller than standard balls and pins was invented in Baltimore.

During those years, Baltimore was said to have had the highest number of bowling alleys per 1,000 residents. Alleys were scattered across the city in basements, neighborhood churches, above shops and movie theaters. Television increased the game's popularity as local tournaments were often broadcast live.

A charter member of the national Duckpin Hall of Fame and a member of the National Duckpin Youth Association and Baltimore's Bowling Proprietors Association, Mrs. Barger taught bowling for years to both children and adults. At one time, she owned and operated the Liberty Heights Bowling Academy.

She donated a signed bowling ball with "Toots" on the top and a pair of her bowling shoes to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, where they are on display.

She had her first knee replacement in 1984 and after having the other knee knee replaced in 1994, she finally stopped bowling in 1995.

She explained in an interview with The Evening Sun at the time, "I can't bend my knees the way I once did. You just lose that edge."

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