Show it BASEBALL REVIEW tt > An Important Meeting of the i f 4 League to be Held I l ti I I t t t fi Ii i TEE RACE FOR THE PENNANT t r What Will Become or the St Lou f Team PrciIdentAGSpaldlnr a t t Return from Mlchlcau F I i I I CHICAGO August 231SS6 r Correspondence of THE nmuu J J fortnight ago your correspondent f t in commenting upon the race for the League pennant stated that the Detroit I I 1 heavy hitters were still leading the othe t teams with a majority of three games I I that Chicago was following with two t more games to its credit than New York t t possessed and that Philadelphia Boston I + Bos-ton St Louis Kansas City and Washington Wash-ington were coming along in the order f named I bare nothing different to jay d this week as to the position of the clubs In r I r tney being exactly as I have stated j above Since last writing yon however how-ever the condition of things foreshadowed fore-shadowed by the transfer of Dunlap f from the St Louis to the Detroit team I 4 i has about arrived Mr Lucas has vir t tjally retired from the baseball arena r p by transferring his interest in the Sty St-y t J J i LouIs club to one of the other directors i Mr Espenchied and the eventual disbandment L dis-bandment of the old Maroons or at least a complete change in the management manage-ment thereof seems now but a question of time A special meeting of the League oft of-t ficers has been called for next Wednesday Wednes-day In the city presumably to take 1 action upon the situation and what may be the outcome of that meeting < is at this writing difficult to fortell As was the cats when the famous Buf faloDetroit deal was effected there is f by no means a dearth of rumors and it is not difficult to find any number of f wiseacres who know and unhesitatingly predict the result The St Louis franchise I fran-chise they say will be purchased by the League and the Maroon players resold re-sold to the clubs who will pay the best price for them Another prediction is that the American Ameri-can Association ranks will be broken into by the admission of one of the latter lat-ter dubs to fill the vacancy which will Il I have been caused by the Bt Louis dls E S bandmeat and Pittsburtt or the St r t Louis Browns have been selected by the 9 tf prophets as the clubs which will secede t from the ranks of the younger association t It 4 associa-tion to joih the League The truth is 4 that none of these things are at all likely i like-ly to occur at present i ltt The most likely outcome of the retirement t retire-ment of Mr Lucas is the purchase of I itit his teams franchise by some syndicate who will play the team during the balance bal-ance of this season and strengthen it it 1 this winter to represent the Hound City = in the League next year Should this not be none however the franchise < < oft 34 of-t J the clpb will probably be purchased by fi 1n tl j some other club in the League the best i of the players transferred to the ranks 1 1 of the purchasing club under theE the-E auspices of which the ifaroons little J a disfigured perhaps by the Inroads that I t J will thus be made upon its ranks but j still capable of getting a nine together I y ilf In the field will finish the seasons L season-s However notning of a definite nature j can be known until the club which is I f now in the hands of its recent purchaser r 1 1 pur-chaser Mr Espenchied has been dist c dis-t posed of and such disposition will very likely take place within the next few days I i l I meta St Louis man last evening Zt who is well posted upon baseball affairs ir t In St Louis and asked his opinion concerning con-cerning Mr Lucas action t Well n he said Lucas has unqucs I V t tionablv sold what interest had in 1 his team and now that the management manage-ment has passed from his bands nothing I F 1 noth-ing that may happen would surprise j1 It me I x i meWho is this man Espencbied I < asked s askedA brotherinlaw of Lucas and a 44i stockholder in the club 1 I J Is there any truth in the statement 1 s that the club property and franchise t were mortgaged by Lucas to Espsn c t shied 7 j I do not think so Espenchied Is a I j V shrewd sharp business man and is interested I in-terested In baseball simply for the I amount money ke may be able to r3d i get out of it He does not care a 1 t lor the game himself and has invested ii no sentiment with his money Now j 1 s Lucas on the contrary Is no business t A nan in my opinion In fact none oft of-t 11 the Lucases with the exception of Joe 1 i and they were all left with a barrel of jf money to divide among themselves have developed any very extraordinary I abilit and my wonder is that they I have kept their moreyas long as they i have Of course I do not know any 11 thing of a positive nature concerning t I the transfer Lucas stock to his broth H erinlaw but I think that the two probably prob-ably came together in a downdown hotel to talk matters over and Lucas Y in a spirit of disgust said to Esp n r2 shied Give me = 20000 and take the whole business This would have been t r just what Espenchied desired for be I was probably interested to the tune of a 4 1i few thousand himslf and has all along f been very leary of Henrys management of the dabs affairs Bo I take it that ± he jumped at the chance through a de I fb Eire to get complete control of the fran 1 I j cnise aud dispose of it to the best advantage ad-vantage Of course I do not know that he pair 33 003 for it but he paid enough in my opinion to take all of his brother J mlawa interest i What are the prospects for another syndicate being formed in St Louis to take possession of the franchise I I think very good We have several wealthy brewers who are deeply interested r r Inter-ested IB the game and they might be 1 induced to take stock in a new organization t organi-zation Then there are the street carp car-p ple who could well afford considering c rg consider-ing that they carry to and from the r ° l park all the people who attend the t gamesto take a good big block of the Q stock Indeed it would not be at all surprisine tojme were Espenchied to f i find a purchaser for his team in St Louis without going outside to do itt it-t = The events of the next few data canS 1 can-S cely fail to determine the question one way or the other At this writing Chicago has boat two ry of its present series of three gamee with the Detroit sluggers and should it lose r the entire series by losings to days came no one here would be suiprised such a result would give the baseball prophets an almost limitless expanse of guessing grounds in their effort to pick be pennant winner Chicago though has a few more games to play on Its Some grounds before going upon its final trip down east and until these are placed no one can tell what the finish of the schedule may bring Note Dunlaps official record up to August 6th was 277 totals 317 fielding 919 Anson Is making almost as good a cacheras he is a first baseman this season The latest betting isl to 10 cents that Phil Powers will not last a month as a League umpire New York has tun against a pretty tough opponent in the Phillies dropping drop-ping two cut of three games Ewing has been doing great work with the bat In nix games up to August 18 he made 13 hits with a total of 23 Tonne Nash of the Bostons leads that club both at the bat and in the field with Earn Wise a good second Ensue Wiman has been very much annoyed by the reports that he bought the Maroon franchise He Bays he did not wantit Gafhieys resignation as a League umpire has been accepted end be has been installed as manager of the Washington Wash-ington club In the last twenty games played by the Bostons up to and including last Saturday they have earned 75 runs to the 85 runs of their opponents Hines the Washingtons heavy batten bat-ten has made nine home runs this season sea-son which is more than any player in the country has accomplished lip to August 18th the clubs had won the following number of game on their own grounds Detroits won 37 lost G New Yorks 34 7 Chicago 359 Phil adelpbias 29 11 Boston 20 18 St Louis 13 25 Washlngtons 1029Kan las Citys 823 Every time New York loses a game Gothamites lay the fault at the pitchers door New York baseball reporters are responsible for much of this feeling however and it may be remarked htre that what New York reporters do not know about baseball would fill a book President A G Spalding returned yesterday from Hastings Michigan where he has been personally adjusting the loss by fire of bis large factory there Fortunately the firms warehouse ware-house oontalningzome 40000 worth of baseballs bats cricket and lawn tennis outfits and other sporting good was not burned although badly scorched by the flames Cox CBCOAR |