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Show GET MINDS BACK ON THEIR GAME J Evan Predicts Better Ball j Will Be Seen Next Year I Than Ever Before. l I iBl ll-I.V I V.S. in ope of hia in- ter- utmic articles on baseball, ' T'fr-,irc(jrtM-Uer "TTilntca for the 1 f.iti. than for vars when the; uante r' imips n'xt sjrinif. Ii thlnka : j tht finally the deck a have been j Weafti tf all diaturbina; influence. In! I re-H-,t ari rertafn Inhirloua practices! jha H t-it'pt into the sport, which hav j ltt n-b',1 to d tr-rt fr-m Ha r'm.irkable j popularity. The elimination of a lot : -t "hot Mr." whi.-h has attended al- j moat rviTv t-nusual move, is nure to j pro e r freshing to fandom. writes Kvana. dwelling fn the subject of the future. j j Tile Mtandard f baseball In 1019 . pnil.aMv will .not be up to that which I V.VM-.;! ifi--r Li) '.lit.- w.ir. It wiH. Iiiw-j ' t-v .1-, 1-c NiijH rinr Kruik- t o.ill than .that furii .?hed by the major leagues : thf pat two year, he contimiea. ; Thcro ; no denying that the war was ( the bii-cest factor in lowering thet tini'nrii of the game. The influence wuj .crted in an Indirect manner. t it had an inhiriou effect on the work jof the nthletea. 1 will try lo explain. ' The successful hall dub Is the ag- m--..lition that IIVM alid lil'l hHSHball i from the attirt to the clowe, of the aea-1 aea-1 son ltiaehall must be uppermost in ith.- m-nds -f cverv tdaver. if he is to1 Kve his club and the public hU best -ffortJ. Such a condition did not xtst , in IH17 an.l 1918. The subject conald- 1 ered wan war. Since most of the play- J ! .im ulu in th. draft, the war. not I I haxenaij. occupied their attention. In the hotel lobby, on th- train. In the j f luhhouue, on the benh yes, even on the field -the war. f(l. its attending i fesitures.- offered food for thought to ( he athletes. P-aae hits, the most prized thing in the world, next to money, to the hall 1 p 'nvera. lost their appeal entirely when It ho" allies asHumcd the offensive In, Jinvr TTfrcn a b.ill iMyer loses his love for the sound of the base hit It's about time to close shop. Players were being called In the draft, which usually made the athlete think more j about when his number wouid be reached than when his batting average i would Jump to .300. The war news. not the aiiort page, commanded the 'attention of player. To top It off, the 1 wir I'H a. spll'IT of neprlSfdon ! which Is not In keeping with the p'V-I p'V-I ing of high class, aggressive baseball. I The war over, the athletes have nothing to funs about now but baseball, and the standard of play Is sure to be j unproved. There will be some familiar ! fac missing, because It Is asking too I much to hope that all the athletes now in Kra nee will be back by openln g time. While the work of such players will be missed, and in a measure may seriously affect the efficiency of certain cer-tain clubs, fandoro is sure to excuse any shortcomings. It seems to me that baseball will be given a great boost if some of the big fellows are not ' able, to get back until the season is on. It strikes mo tliat baseball l certain; to enjoy a big season in ltfia f ormany j reasons, among them being that fans, including the inanv so diers who have not seen a professional game for month are readv for it. I feel the players will be ready to give their beat I efforts at all times. Recently 1 read that a certain major ! league club owner would welcome back i all his players who enlisted or were called In the draft. Many of the play-era play-era on that team took to the ship-anls, ship-anls, I have no desire to comment, on such cases. In many Instances players having deferred classification , went to work In shipyards and steel works b cause they believed the poe-sibiiiiiet poe-sibiiiiiet offered them overshadowed their chances In baseball. Huith player, play-er, ,;id nothing for which they should be censured. Thousands of others hav- In it deferred classification did the s.iine thing. In their caea no enm-m enm-m nt was made-, but the ball player. c ittantly before the public, was not o.erlooked when he hiked to the shipyard ship-yard or steei league. There were, per-nape. per-nape. some players without deferred classification who beat the barrier by tretliiig under cover. What attitude the fan wi'l take toward such players remains to be seen. |