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Show BASE BALL MATTERS. CURRENT NEWS AND NOTES OF THE GAME. atones of the Chicago American I.eago Team Tails Annul the Hunting Habit Lrif Davis of fltlatrar Trustees-In Trustees-In a Hold on Minor League. TKISTHATINO A AID. President Power announces that the contemplated raid of the National League on the playera of the Eastern League waa forestalled by tha Ineer-twin Ineer-twin of the following rlaiien In ll Eastern League contracta of 1901: "Tha second partjf further agrees that tha firHt party ihall have tha option op-tion and right to renew thla contract, with all 111 terms, provisions and con-dltlona, con-dltlona, for tha bane hall seaaon Immediately Imme-diately encceedlng the one herein pro-Tided pro-Tided for, provided that a notice of tha exercising of aurh option be given the second party by a writing adtlress-ed adtlress-ed to him at hla laat place of abode prior to 8eptsmber 15 of the current year of thla contract" Formal notice has been served on every player by hla club In accordance with the above provlao and Prealdent Power clalma that the playera ao notified noti-fied are legally under contract for another an-other season. After the clnae of the eaatern league season Its players are free to go where they pleaae, but unlets un-lets their eervlces are aold they mutt. under their 1901 contract report to their respective cluba neit spring, according ac-cording to the contention of Mr. Po er and hla associates. It ts a Ipki proposition that will be pasied on by tha courts. The decision of the LaJoto ( case Is to sweeping that a layman'a faith In all contracts between cluba snd plsyers Is shaken. The Philadelphia Philadel-phia common pleaa benrh held that a contract between a club and player was not enforceable by a court of ' equity. Of what value la a contract with a player to a club If he cannot I be compelled to give It his services? , An action for damagea will undoubted ly He, hut a Judgment agalnat the average aver-age ball player la not worth the paper It Is written on. It Is true that the ( reservation clause In the Eaatern League co'ntrart Is not perpetual, aa 1 ' ' waa the cam In that of IJole. but , where Is the "mutuality" feature which the Philadelphia Jurist declar- ' ed lacking In the National league In- , BtrumentT If the plnyer Is bound to his club for two yenrs, Is his employe .. er compelled to retain his services for that period, or It la not true that the player haa nothing to say about the length of the contract? His club can terminate It upon ten days' notice; be must live up to It for two yenrs, however how-ever dissatisfied he may. be. Certainly there Is no mutuality In such an arrangement. ar-rangement. I JONK.S ON BUKT1NO. . "There Is as much science In bunting bunt-ing as there Is In a place hitting," says Jones, the great American League bunter ot the ChlcagoWhlte Stockings. "To drop the ball In front of the plate and at tha same time out of reach of tha pitcher, catcher, third and first basemen, requires a great deal ot prac- 9 'ties and skill. The first thing Is to fool, If possible, the Inflelders as to where you Intend to bunt at all. The , manner of holding the stick. ot course, 'determines that. If tha bat la held short and bunting motions are mads while the pitcher Is winding up pre-,peratory pre-,peratory to delivering tha ball, every one It looking for a bunt and It's a thousand to one ahot that you can't beat It out no matter where tha ball Is placed. On the other hand such , motions will draw In ths Infield and than It la your opportunity to pop a 'little one right over third base. "Ths time when a bunt la needed most hi when the game la close and with a man on baae and no outs bs eaa be advanced by a sacrifice bit. Whan attempting to sacrifice I make , sure of where the bsll Is going, dis regarding entirely whether 1 get to rat or not Tha Intention Is not ao w FIELDER A. JONES, sack to best out the bunt as to advance ad-vance the base runner and so particular particu-lar pains should be taken to place the kail so that tha base runner will not be forced, even though you abould bs thrown out at first "But when the bases are empty and the Infield Is a trills slow In getting In on the bunts, then best them out at all basards, I never look to see where the ball falls under such circumstances, circum-stances, but aa quick as ths bet touches It rm away for tha Brat bag. "To place the ball aafely when hlt-tlug hlt-tlug to the outfield one muat be able to Judge pretty accurately the time of a ball and know exactly when to hit It. For me, a left hand hllter, to pull to right field, I have to hit at the ball .before It gets to me. To put It Into left I wait until It la nearly past ms, and to center It ahould be met squarely square-ly In front. Many ball playera cannot - rra .,, , ..ii .......I null the l'n 11 at all. and It Is the Vnow edge of the abilities rtf ball players In this line that enables outfielders to play for them and often cut off hits snd runs that otherwise would mean defeat." i sm iiavis or i-iTinnrnot. A. I), Davis, better known professionally profes-sionally as IWty Davis, ths right fielder of ths Plttthurg club, waa born at Naahvllle, Tenn., on Sept. 21, U7I. He learned to play ball In the city of hit nativity and made his debut as a professional with Mobile In ISM. He signed with Detroit for 17 and In the next race went to Minneapolis, where he remained until this sesson, which he started with the Brooklyn club. He did not play up to his record rec-ord last spring snd llanlon released him. President Dreyfus of ths Pittsburg Pitts-burg club, signed him at once and hs It ons of the most vslusbls of ths Plratea. He leads hit teama at ths bat w A. D. DAV18. and hla fielding and bass running have been the featurea of many games. IMCRCANB woiuk't pat, The protest ot Prssldsnt Sexton sgslnst ths proposed Incrasse of the salary limit of the lowa-Indlana-llllnola League la well grounded. Patrons have been given good ball and almost all the cluba have made money under tha conditions which existed ex-isted during the present sesson. The league Is prosperous, why should It not be made permanent? Ita future will be Jeopardised It tha limit the playera are paid Is raised. It Is probable prob-able that the stsra will be miming next aeaaon, but the rank and file of the playera will remain with their respective clubs snd there Is plonty of promlalng talent ripe for development The people want to ace well-matched tesms In well-plsyed and wall-conducted games. An exceeilve salary limit will give the larger cities an advantage ad-vantage which will bring about tha bankruptcy of the clubs In ths smsller communities. Civil pride plays an Important Im-portant part In minor league affairs and often leada to the carrying of a heavier financial burden than the receipts re-ceipts of a club Justifies. President Sexton Is right and those who have cooperated co-operated with him In reviving baae ball In the field that waa practically abandoned ahould heed the warning that be gives. As was to be expected, there were mistakes and disappointment! disappoint-ment! this year, but none so serious as to threaten the life of the league. Kv-anavllla, Kv-anavllla, for Instance, mads a wrstched start, but tha club's patrona ware loyal and now they have a team that la a source ot pride and profit SHACKAKD'S CHEAT FLAT Sheckard 'a dash, however, stands oat as tha greatest of the eeason on the local grounds. With two out and 4 run needed to tie. It required Just such an unexpected spurt as that made by the speedy left fielder to wla the day. With the orack of the ball, as Dotaa smashed a single ovsr Demon fs head, be waa off like a ptatol shot There were murmurs of lurprtte, snlsgled with alarm, whsa Sheckard turned second and kept pa to third as Hamilton Hamil-ton stooped to take the kalL The murmurs were changed to shouta ef Joy aa the ball eluded Hamilton aad waa rumbled by Blagle. Past thin shot the reckleaa sprinter, catting the baae. It waa claimed, by several feet, although the umpire failed to see ft. The bsll wss relayed to ths plate la faat time, faster It seemed than the crowd wished It, but Sheckard waa alert, and, aa .Moran . received the sphere, he hurled himself at the whitewashed white-washed alab an lnatant before the catcher'a handa came down. At least, so Emails decided, although Sheckard did not touch the plate. Moran gav no notice of this, however, and while he sloped to argue with the empire over the decision, Sheckard walked back and performed the necessary duty. This mads the run doubly certain, and ths crowd, which hsd awaited ths umpire's um-pire's decision with bated breath, went beside Itself with dellgbt Brooklyn Eagle. Fred Plsffsr, Chicago's old second baseman. Is still In ths game. He la managsr of ths White Sox of Chicago and baa on hla team Oeorge Tread-way, Tread-way, formerly ot Baltimore; Dr. Her-ley Her-ley Parker and Oeorge Long, a brother of the Boston National league car . As a baas-runnlng aggregation t ; ably a wuras lot never .re In one bunch than makes ne , ,, t York te'.ni. If Is uot ii .u-r are s-MecUlly si w, . itn in.. It. -" .., c (i- , ' . . owr-"i-ii. ,tf.M.. .--n, they eats I cover ground fast enough, but because they hsve neither the Judgment nor the ability to start propsrly. |
