Candlepins for Cash!

I'm not much of a bowler. 

Not that I ever tried to be much of a bowler. I'm 75. Have I been bowling two dozen, maybe three dozen times, in my life? All I know is that I wasn't very good at it. Not that my game is an absolute disgrace. Playing tenpin, i.e., "big ball bowling," I have managed to get my score up in triple digits. And when I use the kiddie bumpers - which eliminate the possibility of gutter balls - I'm reasonably, mediocrely okay-ish.

But candlepin bowling? Yikes, that game is just brutal. One time, I actually "achieved" a small ball score of 13. (Yes, you read that correctly.)

Candlepin bowling is one of those New England things. Like calling soda "tonic," and corner stores "spas" (as if), and the porches on three deckers "piazzas" (as if). And like many wonderful items, candlepin bowling (tiny, fits-in- your hand ball; skinny cylindrical pins) was invented in Worcester. (Other wonderful Worcestessr inventions: the mass-produced Valentine, the monkey wrench, and the smiley face.)

But Valentines, monkey wrenches, and smiley faces are easy. Candlepin bowling is hard.

The ball is little, so it's harder to get much mojo on it. And the ball doesn't weigh any more than a pin. Sure, it's got momentum going for it as it hurtles down the alley - as long as you keep it out of the gutter - but in big ball, the ball outweighs a pin. By a lot. 

Unlike with tenpin bowling, no one has ever scored a perfect candlepin game. And a lot of folks, even regulars, never bowl a strike. Unlike with ten pin, where even a lousy bowler scores an occasional strike. (C.f., me.)

But Worcester's a tough, gritty town, and the degree of difficulty doesn't phase Worcester-ites. (Unless you're me when it comes to candlepins.) We don't shy away from challenges. Candlepins 'r' us.

In fact, Worcester is celebrating candlepin bowling at the Worcester Historical Museum, with an exhibit that runs through March. 

“History museums don’t always have to be Civil War, World War II kind of dusty stories,” said Vanessa Bumpus, an exhibit coordinator at the Worcester Historical Museum. “Candlepin’s an important part of our story.”

The exhibit features everything from old candlepin bowling balls and rulebooks to pictures of the game’s inventors and legendary figures it became popular among ... *cough cough* Babe Ruth. (Source: WGBH)

I don't know what's up with that *cough cough* Babe Ruth thing. Babe was an avid bowler, both tenpin and candlepin. There's even a picture of him, wearing him some pretty snappy bowling shoes, and picking just the right small ball to send down the alley. (The picture has to be authentic. Seriously, who would go to the bother of Photoshopping the Babe picking out a bowling ball?)

I, of course, never saw Babe Ruth bowl. Or play baseball, for that matter. He died the year before I was born.

But as a kid, there were a couple of candlepin bowling TV shows on Saturdays, the most noted of which was Candlepins for Cash. (There weren't all that many TV choices back in the day, and if you were stuck inside on a blustery Saturday, you had to make do with bowling or pro wrestling with the likes of Haystack Calhoun.)

In its heyday, there were 250 candlepin alleys in New England. Now there are just 75. Alas, the last candlepin bowling alley in Worcester closed a few years back. 

Q. Will I get out to Worcester to see the candlepin bowling exhibit?

A. Probably not.

But I love the very idea of it, and my heart is always gladdened when things Worcester are honored.

Let's hear it for Worcester's very own candlepin bowling!

_______________________________________

When he was a kid, one of the many odd jobs my father had was pinsetter in a bowling alley. No way to know whether it was tenpin or candlepin, but I'm betting candlepin.