Ogden Standard-Examiner | 1920-04-18 | Page 23 | Minor Leagues Face Big Year

:NUH0H LEAGUES j FACE BIG Yl Banner Season is Anticipated I by Smaller Baseball Circuits Cir-cuits in U. S. ;' (By JACK VEIOCK) ! International Nevs Sporting Editor. NEW YORK, April 13. The minor leagues . are getting ready to open i what promises to be a banner season, j Slowly but surely the minois are coining back into their own, though I the process of reconstruction a number num-ber of circuits that were shattered by '"Angel3" must be found here and ; there to take over franchises and in , some cases new cities and towns arc being taken into the fold by the Na-I Na-I lional Association. ' The general prospect for the minors .throughout the United States and Canada is brighter this year than it 'lias been since the year just prior to the Federal League war. The people of the country are turning to amuse-( amuse-( ments, particularly all forms of oul-. oul-. door sports, and basebull, as usual, outranks all others. In 1919 the minor leagues that were in operation enjoyed the most prosperous pros-perous season they have- had in more than five years. The big minors in particular, did exceptionally well. New ' leagues springing up in various parts ! of the United States this year will .greatly increase the number to operate oper-ate over That of 1019, when fifteen leagues started the season and thirteen thir-teen finished their pennant races. The lrimher of players who will bo listed by the National Association this year )iomlses to exceed the 3.000 mark, as omparcd with 2,500 players who be-;an be-;an the season of 1919 with the various vari-ous minor league clubs last spring. Leagues that are to be revived or reorganized and resume operations this spring aro: Blue Kidge, Corn Belt, Cotton ' States, Illinois-Missouri, Central Association Oklahoma-Kansas and the Nebraska State League. The Pacific Coast. American Association Asso-ciation New International. Western. Southern. Texas, Eastern Three-I, ! Western Canada, Virginia, Florida ' Slate. New England and the reconstructed recon-structed Northwestern, all of which I were in the field at the beginning of - the 1919 season and all of which fin-1 fin-1 ished the season, with the exception of the Northwestern and New England . leagues, are ready for the bell. . A sure sign that the minoc. league .magnates are convinced that prosperity pros-perity is once again knocking at the jdoor was seen in the large number of j minor league clubs that sent their I for spring training. Never before in I the history of baseball, under the pro-j pro-j tecting wing of the National associu-! associu-! Hon, alive so many minor league clubs 'gone south. Practically every team in H (both the American association and tNew International League arranged I spring training trips and schedules and many of the big minor league clubs took advantage of the opportuni-J opportuni-J ty to get valuable practice in games against major league clubs. The National association, which has Ql been so successful in building up the HI pastime, has been in operation just HI i twenty years this spring. It was or- HI ganised in 1900 and at the outset em- HI braced nine minor leagues. In 1903 HI the association boasted twenty-three II league memberships, and in 1912, the HI high water mark for baseball, its HI membership was increased to fifty. flM Three hundred and thirty-six cities Ml and towns of the. United States and Ul Canada were affiliated with the Na tional association in that year. In all I there will be something like thirty legues in operation this year, and within two or three more years the association will be back at tho fifty IIJ mark. Surely, minor league ball s IH coming back to its own. - IJH