Show ABOUT THE LEAGUE I Probably the National League will Have Eight Clubs THE BROTHERHOOD BULLETIN i The American Association a Thing of the PastAbout the Atlantic Association Asso-ciation The baseball situation is still in a very unsatisfactory un-satisfactory condition No one knows just what the lines will ba as to next seasons campaign The National league will do business busi-ness as usual but just how many clubs they will have is still an open question I thought at one time that they would keep all ten clubs going but events now indicate that when the season opens the League will have eight clubs and no more Some of the evi dence that leads me to this conclusion is pub lic such as the signing of Wilmot byChicago and the attempt to sign Hoy by the same clubBoth Both of these men would have been re leased for a consideration by the Washington club This move in selling the releases of two of the best men on their reserve list the fact that tho Washington club has no grounds and private remarks made by President Hewitt from time to time suggest that Washington will bo lost in tho shuffle for a new deal The only thing calculated to discredit i this conclusion is the reported state I ment that Henry R Vonderhoist of Baltimore Balti-more haspurchiS ann interestin the Wash ington i club but that has report not been confirmedjand it wouldnt signify if it was If the League wants eight clubs and does not want any more Washington would have tog to-g e up the ship The willingness of Glass cock and Denny to sign with Indianapolis and the terrific salaries guaranteed them arc out of all proportion the toinability the Indianapolis men to pay Mr Brush the pxesident of the club cer tainly must have some security somewhere because as Indianapoliscanllot cannot stand the present pres-ent salaries it surely cannot afford the colossal colos-sal figures promised to the seven men who left the Brotherhood It begins to look as if Messrs Brush and Hewitt agreed to stay until spring and sign all the men they could and then sell out tho club to the highest bidders Indications multiply mul-tiply that Mr Day expects all tho Indianapo lis men in New York city and I havent a doubt that they will come here if that injunc tion suit does not lie aainst th I nln v > < 11 even if it does I expect New York to get either Denny or Glasscock or both for Ward ORourke Gore and some others will never again play ball in a team owned Cry I the present pres-ent New York club They may possibly bo enjoined and engaged by the New York club but they are not likely to do much more active ac-tive service than is found in running ones self in the bench There would be plenty of room then for Denny and Glasscock The League is doing fairly well in securing players for 1800 They have so far engaged fifteen promising youngsters have signed a nucleus of professional first class experts to train and steady the teams Chicago has Anson Hutchinson Burns Wihndt and Martin Mar-tin Sullivan Boston has Clarksou Hardie Gauzel McGarr and Smith Philadelphia has Delebauty Clements Schriver Gleasgn Thompson Mulvey Myers Decker Day and Anderson Pittsburg has Beckley Miller Sun day and Hacker Indi1napoli has Glasscock I Denny Boyle Russje Buckley Getzoin and Sun rSj Cleveland has Zinimer McKcau laud Beatin Cincinnati and Brpoldyn have a full team and New York so far has only secured JOB Hornuug and Sam Crane The indications are that HalficJd Welgi Murphy ODay Tiernau oiul Whitney will stand by Mr Day This will make fortythree good men outside of the regular champion tear s I of Cincinnati aud Brooklyn and the young sters referred to The Brotherhood players are breaking a little now and it begins to look as though it would end in a goodly number of men re turning if there is not a stampede to tho League There can be no doubt that the League will bo doing business as usual in the summer of Silo and the chances ura that Washington and Indianapolis trill bo temporarily laid 10 Tho Brotherhood has held its meeting and issued its first bulletin Among the seventy three League players alleged to be signed in hat bulletin at least six haro put their names to League contracts The bulletin claims sixteen American association and four minor league men The list proves what awful prevaricators the Brotherhood league leaders have proved themselves Al Johnson John-son declared that the Brotherhood had signed 18 I I men when it comes to a show down they could only produce a list of ninetyone men to which two have since been added If they havo misrepresented other things on the same scale their league is not half so stable as they think it is But it is stable enough to count on them to start the seacon unless the law steps in and tells the playersthe old leaguers that they cant do it you know And the Aniercan association What of itl It is dead beyond resurrection Tho Ath letics will join the Atlantic association and St Louis will get into the Western association associa-tion if it can There isnt one chance in a hundred that the American association can lin rmlvinized into life The actual demise of that once great league will throw the Louisville and Columbus players on the mar ket and tho National league will surely get tho good men of both teams The Atlantic association will have a strong if not compact six club circuit with Worcester Worces-ter New Haven Hartford Baltimore Ath letics and Newark This w6uld mean that Philadelphia will be asked to support three clubs in IfcUO while Boston Pittsburg Cleve land New York and Chicago will be asked to support two Neither Pittsburg Cleve land nor Philadelphia can tandthe pressure unless there are no conflicting datesand that is practically unavoidable A scheme has bean talked of that includes putting American association teams in each National league city to play on tho exact schedule adopted by the League at twenty five cents admission and to work in with the Brotherhood teams who will arrange their schedule so as not to compete with the other clubs at all This would be a pretty scheme and would surely be a vast injury to the National Na-tional league but the Association clubs wouldnt get enough to move than half sup port them Who would mako good Ther Brotherhood say the schemers Oh no the Brotherhood will have its hands full and will want all l the money it can raise to make good its own deficiencies Jhe first season The scheme will not go into operation Tho Buffalo Brotherhood people think that they will havo a clear field They are quite liable to find themselves mistaken for a good International league club with a quarter t riff will divide tho patronage there and there is pretty sure to be such a team there Tho National ue will carry the war into Africa lHAJisn |