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Show I Big League Magnates Anxious About Stars I By T. H. Murnane III In gfiea oeen wie unat h a blT lesgae Claoi ;-tIk he ie ninc bark" lie ralla on all his best friend to "hoort" iilm with tho publlr. Now whether ihf apr-Mes to the following eulORT of nbrtoty MaihBwon is something Ujt fiuui . mu'. decide for UMOlSOh c. Tim MtirDae, "na of 'tie it rone-J writers on Ixuehall. V.rs tutrrer'lnc views on the probmb'.Mttes of tte racou In the two tig leaguei. 7"IIAT p flood of disappointments with the seasonnnly ten days old: Rx -champion plavrrs drawing down bis salaries for poor work, and the Mub tiroratin jvorryi!fls to death, fearing the :; reliable players will not come back, v.iilrh inar the los of at least $100,000 where great teams lo pieces collapse col-lapse tut Miev often do in baaebalL Msi?n:iis know Uiat ro eel tho big money they in:Rt have a tefljn In th-rc th-rc f. Till? Is i -:,., true of the cities .r New Vork. I'hiladelpliiH. Chicago 8ml St Lou, with Pittsburg the most unreasonable un-reasonable ;irm:' of baswall fans in the world, simply because tlvv havn n linked li-nked to naive line cluh each season". I feel quite certain 1 that New Fork, rittybiire: j-t.c Um Phillies will soon pel hrk into their pj-opcr BtrlO 4v6 for?" to tho front, but not so sure of the Chi-H Chi-H rHKO Cuh. This remarkable dub Is on H i ho down rrade. They are no!, foared B nnr more, and It wiM tnko not only the I hustling of Frank Cbar.ee. but a ! new makers to start the CuM on the right road There are brains to burn tied up T:th .Miirpl-.vs bo.vs, and they will no il'-ubt work rheJr way Ui a good position ve?. Their chancea for the honors, how ever, l.p- vanlfhod like snow hrforo a i.. i gmi w'' the present Hnenp. Frank SelMt left a great ball team fo i"i;in. and UurpHy. wonder how muofc Mr. sei( ua.- appreciated by those who it ! In'io soft berth as the result hlB goctd Judcmcnt? u jma-AN'S Ipgratltude to man makes. 1V1 oountlo?s thousands " mourn." FrenJc Eelee. tjjtie of th pamest feHowa thai ever crossed the pike, . ailed on Chi-I'ae.'i Chi-I'ae.'i friendP. or his friends in folorado lild. for a little ahl as he wai slowly nsttlnp siway li the shadow of the Kooky mounteitlK. Did be get it? 'Jn!' from toe (Tid Roman. Tominkev . nnd otheiTi not under ohllKntionB. There i1 hound tO be a ic-al raoe In i tho Kational league ir,! season. Yon rnuet ink" your medicine in baeeheJl, i paiit glory ount for Utile. I look fbr ti'.e N-w York ';;inti to forge to the front U1 a f days, ond it tmII then ho a'- after McGrovw'a boys The Boston BniVsa will bo u'S pt- cent tronger than last year. There can be found fans in this cftv willing to wager high hats that .Toh'i Ward will land nis i"om In the first division. T can't see a position as-high a that for Ward thi year with the talent on hand. Kling is itching fully up to his beet work for ihe t'hicago fulls This veteran has enthused en-thused over hia new joh and tho Boston tans, cs well a', playrt--. Jlke his work . nid his manners. The American league will soon settle down to five oluba. four looking for the Athletics' scalp. Detroit Is doing much better than wa looked for, and with a pitching staff Hush Jennlnfrs can count nls team in the running. The Boston Red Sox look better than at any time since 1904 As a bitting team thev have few equals and the players play-ers are young and full of confidence. The speed boys are euro of the first division, divi-sion, with a i'lno 'hancc to climb higher, with a weather 'e out for the bljr mone. Connie Mack- will have no Uriie this sumnwr for a vacation to Kurope or a visit to th new Irish parliament The Highlanders got poor start, but will get together later on. Atlanta proved a poor training ground and Far-reH's Far-reH's men are far from j?oo( condition. St. Louis will do better than last season. sea-son. This mail George St oval will prove a blp hnlp to tho Hedges boys. GRIFFITH will win more eames for Washington than were pulled off by the Senators ia6t season. .Ilmmie Callahan Calla-han must sill) experiment with the Chicago Chi-cago Whit, Sox. He is still forced to depend roo mimh on lid Walsh. That Jlmmle will got there in time is mv hofisi h-Hrf. T can't see where Harrv Do vis is any Improvement over Stoval in getting results. It was Connie Mack's disposition and kind heart toward his players that made him a great manager: .ilso a' keen knowledge of the pa me. Davis Da-vis Is not built on the Mack model. He has the players and should finallv jret the results, backed by Charley Souier?. a king anions sportsmen. Here is hoping that all of the rood fellows fel-lows do well, and this goes for the mi nors as well as for the majors, and for the magnates and players alike. Wjtlj the single exception of Chrlstv Mathewson no pitcher now before the American public can be compared lo Eddie Ed-die Plank of the Philadelphia Athletics. Mathewson Is the living wonder among baseball pitchers. Radbouvne, Clarkson, Tim Keefe, Charley NichOU. Amos Rusie and Charley Bufflngton will long bo remembered re-membered for their great work in the box for the- National league, but all were lacking In the qualities as a whole, that wont to make up a Mathewson for a dozen years. For Individual work It would bo Impossible to Imagine anvthlnp more brilliant than the. pitching of Charley Char-ley Ridbourao for Providence in 'S4. Rad petered out after two or three years of fltie work. Hero we nnd Mathewson, After twelve years on the ball field, about as cood as ever. Mathewson is the one pitcher that tries, apparently, to put every ball over the plato foY a strike. No other man ever adopted The same line of defense. Mathewson Ma-thewson pitched every- hall with the same preliminary motion, shortening up with men on bases, but pitching the different curves and shoots with the same preliminary prelim-inary swing, making It Impossible for tho batsman to call the turn. 1 Mathewsnn's assortment, consists of a fal high hall, a drop, sharp out nine an-J hit fade-away ball, or inshoot, first Introduced by William Sweeney of the Proxidenco club, who still holds the record rec-ord in the major leagues for strikeouts, with nineteen turned in at the Boston South End grounds In '84 HAVING perfect control, and ftevei wasting a ball, the batsman inusl guess the style of ball that Mathewson is about to deliver. If you guess right Mathewson 's curves are not hard to find, a they ana always over the plate, but the trouble is that the batsman is forcd to Kuesa. and he will seldom get the samo curve twice in sueceesion. the proposition settling down to a case of calling the turn. i"atchers need no signs to catch Mathewson. and signal tipping becomes a lost art with Matty in the box. Working along these lines, you seldom find Mathewson extending himself. And for this reason, t Is more than llkelv that unless physically unfit for work, the greatest, pitcher of them all. will T.a :i factor In the game for years to come, simply because He has perfect control, while sending the ball over the plate, to break In four different directions. I spoke of Eddie Plank, who has shown remarkable form with the Athletics, now on his twelfth year with the Athletics. Plank Is a left bander, using a crossfire cross-fire lie. has excellent command and a fine knowledge of working his man With a straight ball on the outside of the plate and a sweeping curve a.cross the plate he has performed successfully, always working under a strain, and really effective only against certain clubs, while to Mathewson all players look alike, the free hitter. moTe apt to find one of Mfltty s curves than the careful player. In the games last fall against the New York Giants, Jack Coombs of the Athletics, worked along the same lines as Mathewson and did a remarkably remark-ably fine piece of work Coombs's command com-mand was v.ot equal to that of Mathew-son Mathew-son s but his line of attack was superb and a great surprise to the National league players. In the first game of that series the first twelve balls delivered by Mathewson Mathew-son were strikes, missed or called, the fielders knowing the ball will be over the plate, are in better tune for fast. Interesting Inter-esting fielding, and will not become worried wor-ried with men on basea; It also kills off base-running, as the catchers are in a position to throw after taking: the ball. Mathewson can depend on his support while Plank is continually looking for strikeouts. With Eddie Plank it la a case of hard work, while the Now York box man oould pitch six good games in one week as Radbourne and other groat pitchers did years ago, and never feel the eTfects. The one great trouble with the young pitchers of the present day Is lack of control. Mrs. Flubduli Why shouldn't women servo on Juries? Mr Flubdub r suppose the courts are afraid a husband and wife might be drawn on the same Jury. Puck. |