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Show I TIM MURNANE I ON BASEBALL Thinks Washington a jH Great Ball Town. Erroneous Interpretation of Rules Given Umpires by League President. National League Must Stop Freed-man'fl Freed-man'fl Arbitrary Rule Regarding Harmony in Team "Work. For a real, lively, old-fashioned basrba.ll town, I thing at the prasent Um Washington. Wash-ington. D C, has all the beat of It. I saw the Senators drop two games to Boa-ton Boa-ton on Decoration day. and the large crowds were fairly wild with disappointment. disappoint-ment. A squad fallowed tho players' bus hurling abuse at tho victors. It was the days of the Lord Baltimore over again, with the colored population in evidence with cheap talk and a stray stone, thrown at tho bus. when there was no Motion between the nu-n on tho iicm. I can n..t unite, appreciate tho man at tho ball park who considers It a dutv to hurl abuse at tho visiting players In hope that some one will approve of bis efforts in rattling the pitcher It's bad enough to SCO tho Dlavere on the coaching linen going Through monkey-hln.s-.-ind I OOnfMI that I enjoy good-natured coaching put half tho spectators howling continuously to rattle a lot of old-timers seems like a waste of time, and Washington just now has th noisiest crowds I ever heard at a ball gnme Senator Gorman Enjoys Games. Among tho crowds enjoying the games at Washington was Senator Gorman, Just aa fond of the prime as he was before tne war when he was th. leading player on the White House lot The Senator was the first man to he chosen as the president presi-dent of a national baseball organization, and did much for tho sport up to 1S71, when Nick Young came to the front as the man to 1 id th- national organization. organiza-tion. ., Mr Young, too was at tho game. At-tornev-General Moody, with a party of friends, attends regularly. Mr Moody was president of tho New England league, before coming to Washington as a Congressman, Con-gressman, in tact. Washington is run of lovers of tho game. The departments employ many oia-tlmo ball plavers. ' Hong' Allison and Paul Hines are tho most celebrated of the lot. Allison was around to BOS the boys at the hotel. He was the catcher of the Cincinnati reds in 18r.!, and for a dozen years was tho star catcher in the country. coun-try. This was before mask, protector or big mitt was Invented. Allison was the first to use a glove while catching It was a driving glove with th.- fingers cul Off. Then he had two fingers made out of sole leather for tho left hand, and by th( use of laces managed man-aged to protect his hands. Ho was a grand ball player Paul Mines Is atlll plavlng with one of tho department teams. Hines It was who made tho famous single-handed trlplo play in 1878. Harmony In Baseball. Is perfect harmony essential to success In baseball? There seems to he a great difference of opinion on this subject. When a first-class ball team falls off in plav about the first thing vou will hear the" fans say Is: "Why, there can't be harmonv In the team. It Is the same crowd that was there last year, hut for some reason they don't win, and I am sure there Is dissension In the ranks." Take the Boston champions this season, sea-son, for example. I've heard a number of people say their poor standing was caused by several rows In tho team. I mentioned men-tioned this 'to "Cy" Young while in Washington Wash-ington this week and ho had a good, hearty laugh at my expense. "Why." be said, "the trouble with tho Boston club this year Is that we have too much harmony. Iast year our players were scrapping all the time, and this kept every one keyed up to his best work. Why, when I was In Cleveland It was a poof day when we didn't havo three or four drag-outs and yet every man worked his head off to win. "Take the old Baltimore club, or the Boston club when McCarthy and Duffy were there Tho old Chicago club, tho St Louis Browns, or tho New York Giants at the present time, and you will find that the players continually wrangled with each other, and tho only effect It had was to mako them a harder club to beat. I have always found where bail players aro not hitting the lose their spunk and beoome altogether too harmonious for their team's good. "Lot a player get his two safe hits In a game and ho Is the hanolost man In tho village that night. But when cut out without a hit ho commences at once to figure that his lamps are growing dim and his chances for a continuation at a magnificent salary speedily growing loss.'' Thcro Is no life In a team unless the boys aro hitting the ball, and the- more thoy hit the more they scrap and the more games go to their credit I think "Cy" Young was right in his claim that you must be oggreselvo and call each other's dumb plays. Dreyfuss and McGraw Mix TJp. The surprise of the season Is the awful time that Boston and New York aro having hav-ing to keep out of last place In tho American Amer-ican race. How havo tho mighty fallen! Thoy told me In Washington that Pat Dougherty was offered to them for $2000. Tho little mlx-up at tho Polo grounds between Barney Dreyfuss and John Mo Oraw was caused by tho Pittsburg man making use of a story that was floating about New York hint March to the effect that "Mac" left for tho Hot Springs without redeeming several markers with tho bookmakers. "Mac" denied tho story this spring Wrong Interpretation of Rules. According to tho umpires of the National Na-tional league they have been given Instructions In-structions by President Pulllam which completely change one of the Important rules of the game, and this without notifying the rules committee or the players and without the consent of tho American league, which, according to the national agreement, must bo consulted If ny flaying rules are changed. It was not long ago that the American league desired to modify tho rules so as not to call fouls "strikes" In Its games, but President Pulllam announced such action would be treated as a violation of the agreement and aa a hostile act toward the National league. Now It transpires that Pulllam has ordered his umpires to call a batsman out on an infield fly when there Is a runner at first basi only and less than two out, If, In the umpire's opinion, tho muff was Intentional The rule specifically states that there must be runners at first and second buses or first second and third bases, with Jess than two out, before an umpire can call a batsman out on a muffed Infield By Pul-llam's Pul-llam's purpuso is not apparent. It la not possible to mako a douhlo play by muffing an Infield fly with only one runner on base. If the batsman does his duty and runs out tho hit. He can beat any attempt at a double play easily it la only when a batsman quits and' does not run that the trick can be worked un less there are two men on bases, and Pulllam seems to want to protect the. thoughtless player from tho penalty of not playing baseball ail tho time. Ho also removes tho possibility of a quick Wltted player taking advantage of the carelessness of an opponent, and In baseball base-ball the prettiest kind of plays are those where headwork counts. Game-, often are won and lost bv "quick thinking" alone, and Pulllam makes a mistake If ho does not place every possible premium on brains, for the brainy players aro tho ones most sought for. Moreover, Pulllam Pul-llam gavo these Instructions without informing Die players. Consequently he did them art lnjustlco A baserunner. knowing that tho rules require blrn to run when ho Is at first base and no ono else on the circuit if an infielder muffs a flv, and not knowing of Pulllam's subversion sub-version of the rule, naturally will run on such a play and be put out unjustly. It was a mistake to change tho rule, hut a worse ono not to notify the players as well as the umpires, and, when nil the rest is said, Pulllam has gone beyond his powers and has disregarded the letter an: spirit of the national agreement according ac-cording to his own Interpretation of that document. Freednian Should Be Lynched. If the baseball league falls to call down the New York club officials for the attitude atti-tude they have assumed in the McGhraw-Drevfuss-Pulllam rose It will Indicate the old "bodv has become entirely subservient to the club In tho metropolis It Is easy enough to get an injunction of the kind sued out t Brush ibo other day, but experienced ex-perienced baseball men know that nothing noth-ing so Interferes with the government of baseball a-s to carry a fight Into court The New York rlub should be punished In some wav covertly if necessary by tho other cltihs. so that It would not repeat tricks of this kind, for the offense of last week was not the first. Freedman drove from the head of the National league the no blest ch;u-ncter that ever was connected with the game N. K Young -because Young refused to do the bidding of the New York rlub. Brush Is now following In Freedman's footsteps Not content with having a walk-over In tho raco for the penant the New York club proposes to show It Is tho whole thing In the big league In other ways. That Is the only point at Issue in the present controversj President Pulllam has attempted to follow fol-low In the footsteps of President Johnson of the American league In enforcing impartially im-partially the rules of tho game, punishing punish-ing offenders regardless of their InflUl nee and Importance in the league circuit The rapidity with which the American league wen! tO the front showed that this line of action was necessary. But now the New York club declares it will not submit sub-mit to the rulings of the league president Tho reason Is ihat it won t that's all The or.ly way to counteract that sort of stand Is to take action which will make the New Ybfk club sorry Freedman and Brush owe their power to the fact that their dub Is a strong drawing card at home and On ibe road, but It can't get along without with-out the other teams Therefore, the other clubs have H In their power to bring Brush and Freedman to time if they only Will do It. Harvard Player Turns Pro. Rumors are current at Cambridge that W C Matthews, the negro shortstop of the Harvard baseball team, who played end oh the football eleven, has signed a contract to play professional baseball with the Burlington. Yt . team this summer. sum-mer. The reports are to the efTect that Matthews Intends to Join the Burlington team Immediately after the last Yalo game. Matthews, while absolutel denying deny-ing this report, acknowledges that he will play summer baseball after the college col-lege year ends Because of the Clarkson case of Last season, tho Harvard athleltc authorities will probably trace tho rumor carefully, and If It should prove to bo true. Matthews win, In nil probability, be debarred from the team. Last year Just beforo the Yale series, clarkson. who was then captain of the team, signed with the New York Americans. He was immediately declared to have made himself him-self a professional by this act If Mat-thews Mat-thews has signed with the Burlington team, he Is also a professional, though It Is doubtful If his expression of Intention to play summer baseball Is sufficient to take him out of the amateur ranks |