The new Nike commercial is amazing. If you have not seen the ad, it features Lance Armstrong boxing, Serena Williams serving a volleyball and Randy Johnson bowling.
But, while amassing a 300 game in bowling may be impressive for a pitcher, Nike's commercial isn't the first time a baseball star had helped bowling.
Babe Ruth was a large fan of duckpin bowling, a miniature form of bowling. It began as a form of bowling with a smaller ball, but eventually added smaller pins and got the nickname "duckpin" because John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson compared the small pins flying about to a flock of flying ducks.
Long since, duckpin bowling has been standardized by the National Duckpin Bowling Congress, which was formed in 1927 to regulate the sport.
The best way to explain the sport, as I understand it, is to compare it to a combination of skee-ball and bowling. Except you don't get tickets that you can exchange for candy or poorly made toys after playing a game of duckpin bowling.
The major difference between bowling and the duckpin bowling is that there is a third chance to knock down pins, although it does not count as a spare.
Duckpin bowling continued to grow, especially from the Washington, D.C., area to Connecticut.
But duckpin bowling was not limited to the East Coast. Duckpin bowling has spread throughout much of the country, including the Midwest. In fact, if duckpin bowling seems like something you might enjoy, head to Indianapolis to the Atomic Bowl or the Action Bowl Fountain Square.
Perhaps the most interesting piece of information about duckpin bowling is the fact that no one -- ever -- has bowled a 300 game. While a 300 game of bowling may be impressive, a 300 game of duckpin bowling would be historic.
Unlike some other fast-growing sports, duckpin bowling may be on the decline. At one point there were 60,000 sanctioned duckpin bowlers in the country, but now there are only 14,000.
So head to Indy and pick up one of the miniature balls and chuck it at a bunch of small pins, and help support a dying sport.
Write to Will at wjohargan@bsu.edu
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