At least that ballplayer was 'gentlemanly'

Newspapers have long been criticized for crossing the line between “reporting” and “editorializing,” and for prying into people’s private lives.

That may have been the case in June 1910 when the Roswell Record told its readers about the marriage of a Clovis baseball player.

“The marriage of Miss (Mable) Ballard comes as a surprise to all,” the paper reported.

“She is one of Roswell’s prettiest and most popular young women and that an out of town man would win her heart and hand without even the knowledge of her parents adds to his glory.”

The Roswell paper’s report was picked up by the Roosevelt County Herald in Portales on June 23, 1910, published under the headline “Miss Ballard marries Slip Freeman.”

Freeman, the article said, worked for the Santa Fe railroad and played on the railroad baseball team.

Ballard was traveling with her mother on a train, bound for California. But when the train stopped in Clovis, Mable scampered off to see her ballplaying boyfriend.

That’s when “they went uptown and were married,” the article said. “Miss Ballard returned to the train and went on to California with her mother, saying nothing of the marriage.”

Freeman announced the marriage publicly a few days later when his baseball team played a game in Roswell.

He told a reporter that his initial plan was only to take Mable out to eat; but they had an hour and 15 minutes to kill before the train departed for California. During the meal, they decided to tie the knot.

“He regrets that he married without getting the consent of the bride’s parents, but says that on account of the way it came up, he had to do it,” the paper reported.

Freeman also told the reporter, he’d do it again.

The newspaper told its readers that Freeman “has been known here (Roswell) only during his recent visits with the Clovis baseball team, but he has made a good impression by gentlemanly conduct, both on the diamond and as a private citizen.”

Roswell (and Portales) readers also learned from the report that Slip Freeman “is a son of our popular jeweler, A.N. Freeman, and has many friends here who wish for him a rosy future.”

The paper offered no information about how Ballard’s parents felt about the entire ordeal.

Perhaps that was prying a bit too far.

David Stevens writes about regional history for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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