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Show I I TWO MEN THAT j iDEBOOISE Johnny Kling and Larry Mc-j Mc-j Lean Arc Termed "Chronic Baseball Kickers." PRESIDENT TAFT IS I .BOOSTING COLLEGE CREWS ' ! Cree Tells Players How to Get ' ,' Next to Curves of Fast Pitchers. H BY MANHATTAN. . 3y Leased Wire to The Tribune. NEW YORK, April 23. Uncle Sam is point: to take n hand, or lias taken a hand, rather, to insure success for the national roeatta of 1910, which is to he held in Washington. The news ; that the stnto department of (he United L ' States government would lend its co f , operation to make the rcpattn a success Vj ! and an international affair, if possib c, lias been hailed with great kIpo. The ' ' regatta will bo held on the Potomac ) river in August. The executive com- g, mittec of tho National Association of BH -.J Amateur Oarsmen worked quiot.lv lo ( have the matter made oflicial, and the fC i Washington representative of that as- 1 Rociation. Claude I?. Zappone, has j , ", been indefatigable- in his efforts to have prooer action taken. As is well known. President Taft is a great ad- . ' mirer of rowing, having pulled in Vale's varsitv at New London against Harvard, and last year, on the occa- BJ sion of tho regatta, lont his influence BT, to bring success to tho meet, and again this season he is observing with inter- B est the details of the coming national regatta. B A letter bearing the oflicial seal of B tho state department, and signed by . I Secrotnry Knox, has been sent to all B , the representative foreign legations. urging them to call the attention of B their nomc govcrnmcntH to the interna- i tionnl rcgntta, and requesting (hem (o B ' ' make entries in Clio various events. it B is a masterly piece of diplomacy on tho B .,' part of the controlling officers of the B association, and President Pilkiugton, B 'I Secretary Fortmycr and Chairman Zan- B ;i- pone arc couutig in for considerable B' praise. B When wo come to think it over, the two men who niado tho biggest noise ''it in tho baseball field this spring were i - tj catchers. They were Lnrry McLean of B tho Cincinnati Reds and .Johnny Kling of the Chicago Cubs. Doth were at B war with the team magnates over B ' . infractions of tho rules. Johnny, after H, being out of the game a season, evi- B denced u disposition to get back, but H ut the last minute he balked at a re- B . duction of salary. Larry kept in the Bh limelight for two month while ho B ''j-! wrangled with the Beds' management B' -'J J notablo opposition to the noise Hj , made by these two catchers was George B Gibson of the world 's champion B t ' Pirates, probably (he niftiest backstop B i,i in the National league. When George B . Quietly signed up for this year, Barney BT ' Dreyfus wept tears of joy. Gcorg'o Bj didn't, nak for inoro money, hut upon H . ! reading his contract, after signing it, B )! he was surprised to find that his pay H bad been raised $500 for tho season. B The University of Texas was uusuc- B ccssful this spring in arranging a H sclicdulo for a dual track meet with a H team from the University of Missouri, i but even if the project did fall through, B it is a good sign of the broadening of B iniercollegiate athletics in tho great southwest. The management of the H ' :.; Lone Star track team offered to pav 1 the expenses of the trip if the moot B vero held next month nt Austin, .4 TexHB. W. ,r. M'onilaw, coach of tho H ' vj Tiger track team, decided that another H ' t meet in May would mako the team's B ij schedule too hard, and turned tho offer B down. H Few baseball players havo stuck t'o B I 3 one city like Theodora Broitonstein hns . j to New Orleans. Tho old fellow seems B ' 'j to havo drunk of the fountain of per- Bu , potual youth in the Crcscont City. A Breitenstein is one of tho old-timers in H ! baseLall, but can still hold up his end KT with tho youngsters. BF r I Tf the practico inaugurated by Roger m: Brcanahan at St. Louis is' carried out , in the future, baseball practice mav i ; be carried on for some time overj , ' i spring behind locked gates with no one I . looking on. I hardly think this possi- , , blc, howevor, for the fana wero saying j i '; harsh things about the Cardinals at tho " " ' 'w timo when Roger and his iollj' crew arrivod in St. Louis, and Bresnahan .1 ' took this method of spiting the fanat-- ! S 1 ics. Star chamber sessions are some- : 9, !' thing now in professional baseball. i t 111 Presidont Taft will, if ho is in Wash- ' E ington, be a spectator when tho Wash- B " I 8 inpton-BaUimoro iutcr-city Marathon B i J !' race is run May 7. H. j j A. A. U. Athlotics. B., ? t ' ji I havo heard a great deal of com- i j jl plaint recently that athletes in small ij towns do not strictly observe tho A. BL ji A. U. rules all the year round. This B' ft particularly applies to rural districts Bjt - I and out of the way places where the BA strength of tho great governing body is not strongly felt. Tho A. A. U. f has a big job in front of it to keep ,V l-i amateur sport clean. To sec the real ? f ;i raw happenings ono has to travel a , K l.jii do somothing to uplift tho amateurs i ; J ,J rules are never enforced and where I I jli, tho men can do almost anything they 'i . I'I'h, please. Parts of Pennsylvania arc also jj I '! pretty had, the worst being the dis- i y trict nronnd Pittsburg. Pcoplo who kit have tho proper amateur spirit around I'3 the Smoky city nro hoping that the y j new club tho Pittsburg A. A. will It 1 do something to uplift the amateurs ; , I there,, for indeed they are bndly in .j need of it. It is comical to watch the i J J J actions of tho amntours. I 1 1 ' ' Birdie Cree, tho hard-hitting second . basomnn of tho Now York American team, has some good advice for amateur ama-teur basoball plnycrs who aspiro to ho Hans Wagners or Ty Cobs with tho stick. Obscrvo the following from Birdie: Watch tho Ball. "It is necessary to watch the ball. Keep an eye on it from the second it leaves the pitcher's hand. When 3'ou havo trained your eye to this task the chances of being hit are at a minimum. mini-mum. Tho greatest fault with ball players is that they loso track of tho ball when it leaves the pitcher's hand and strike whero thoy think it ought to be. Strength is not necessary to become .a 'slugger.' Give tho pellet a sharp tap and it will travel as far as though you put all your weight up against the bat." Everything is now in readiness for tho Pennsylvania university relay meet on Prnnklin field on the 30th. From tho present indications this meet will surely eclipse any of its predecessors. In tho milo thero are such entries from tho west as Chicago, last year's winner, win-ner, and Michigan and Illinois, second sec-ond and third rospoctivel'. Along with these there arc Dartmouth, Columbia and PennsjMvania itself. Michigan md Illinois havo last year 'a teams practically intact, and Chicago is said to have a better aggregation than that which landed first last yar. Yale is the present champion in tho two miles, and it is only natural to expect that sho will bo on hand again with a strong combination. The New Haven runners will be opposed b' Princeton, Missouri, Illinois and Pennsylvania. A suitable gridiron for tho Missouri-Kansns Missouri-Kansns football game in Kansas City, in caso tho university authorities de-siro de-siro to use t, is now assured. In fact, tho field will bo ready for use by the 15th of next month. A grunt big grand" Btand is in tho course of erection, which will nccommodatc nearly 5000 people. There are bleachers, nls'o. The now field will contain a regulation regu-lation baseball diamond, a football field, a quarter-mile running track, a 120-yard straightaway, a practico diamond and pitching pits, which can bo UBCd for all kinds of field ovents. Large rooms containing lockers and showers arc being built under tho stands. Baseball bnts differ in size and shapo as much as tho players who use thorn. Lycry good batter has his favorite stick and will use no other.. The strange pari of it is that many of tho big fellows use a small, well-spaced war clubj and a couple of tho '"rabbits" '"rab-bits" wiold somothing resembling a wagon tongue. An instance of this is tho wood pilo that "Rebel" Oakes, a former Cincinnati star, but now with the. Cardinals, uses. A man can scarcely scarce-ly lmngine such n little fellow swinging so lnrgo and heavy a bat as Oakes does. The oppesito side of tho caso is represented by Bresnahan, who, while largo in Htnture, hits with a reasonably rea-sonably small club. After a glnnco at tho Hans Wagner bat, ono would think that tho Flying Dutchman might iust ns well go and pull up n young and promising tree and use that to destroy the hopes of tho young and old pitch era. |