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The Thrilling Young Mr. Arscott

It is thrilling when so rare a young talent bursts onto the scene to become, immediately, the best performer in his field. That is what young Bobby Arscott has done for British baseball.

Arscott is from the market town of Daventry and matriculated from University College Nottingham with a degree in French three years ago. He played in the baseball club at the college and was of course considered quite good, but did not consider seriously pursuing baseball as a professional endeavour, as a lucrative civil service career was calling him.

To fill his free time, Arscott registered with the Linby Colliery Baseball Club in the Nottinghamshire Baseball Combination League, an amateur outfit in the county. Arscott was far and away the best player in the League straightaway, and he caught the eye of Mr. Stephen Hartnell, chairman of the League who also is a cousin of James Oxley, general manager of the Blackburn Rovers club.

Mr. Oxley arranged for an audition for Arscott, and he could scarcely believe his good fortune at what he beheld. Arscott came to the Blackburn audition a fully finished product, with some of the most advanced contact batting skills and batting eye Mr. Oxley had ever seen, and Arscott’s speed and base running skills has few peers.

Arscott burst onto the League scene this past season posting the best season any newcomer has ever delivered, batting .420 with 174 hits, including 19 twos and 25 threes, drawing 114 bases on balls, and stealing an incredible 108 bases, the new high mark of the League. For his effort, both the Newcomer of the Year and the Batsman of the Year awards were bestowed upon him, and he also placed third in the voting for Baseballer of the Year, but only because Blackburn placed fourth in the table instead of first. Nevertheless, he is already widely considered the best position all round player in the British game.

British baseball supporters, and especially those in Blackburn, Lancashire, are very excited at the prospect of several more seasons of exciting production that will surely emanate from the young Bobby Arscott. Keep your eye on him!