Show BASE BALL rhe the great leagues great activity in minor organizations common 1 beime lenae seeing to tw cli aimen in ln the councils of the leaguers this spring laving having succeeded to the throne occupied by extravagance until tile realm was marked by ruins monuments to enthusiasm not backed by the tile requisite cash the minors are springing up like mushrooms rhe the southern league la Is in line with new orleans atlanta montgomery chattanooga macon memphis mobile and anti birmingham ming mingham hain in the circuit the south atlantic league will provide baseball for charleston columbia greenville savannah and charlotte while either columbus or augusta ga will fill up that vacant chair the eastern league has fixed ita its fences and resurrected the athletics thus giving philadelphia two clubs there ara am more state and interstate leagues in an form than can bo be counted on ones fingers when the bell rings for the retirement fro from n the box of the artists who deal largely in curves in shoots and occasional straight balls of that variety called whiskered by y tho the elect the great majority step down anil and out of the game gaine most pitchers find their days of usefulness on the diamond limited m cited to the time that they are busily engaged in putting them over the plate when the hour arrives and it Is revealed that their delivery has hist lost its magical charm those who ho once found none but words of praise in their sporting vocabulary rise to figuratively banish them from the field then they pass on into a slow slower r class pel perhaps haps and finally into dobli oblivion v lon that is simply history the records record s of the fifteen years that the national league has been on earth bear out that assertion of course not one of the pioneer pitchers of the league remains in line today indeed captain A C anson of tho the chica goes Is the only man who has taken part in every campaign since the birth of that organization of the eighteen pitchers who participated in the struggle during the american associations first year of life in 1882 just one tony Mul laneis Is wearing a uniform today only one ever essayed to fill any other position successfully that was guy hecker and find when ho be lost bi his batting eye he grac grace trully Rilly went into retirement of the seventeen league pitchers at work in that year of the associations babyhood days four are still in harness three are numbered with the pitchers galvin of pittsburg tim keefe of the phillies and amiling mickey welch of the new forks yorks the other is captain john montgomery ward of the brooklynn Brook lyns and ho he was the only one of the seventeen who made a hit in a role other than that of twirler of course there are exceptions to this rule but they are no more numerous than the chinese in ireland only a few of the dyed in the wool cranks know that the cincinnati clubs entire outfield once posed ns as members of the society of Twirl twirlers ers in good and regular standing that Is correct every one of them lias has taken the degrees tip oneill and captain ward were fellow pitchers on new yorks roll in ISM 1834 and 1883 1885 tip went over to st louis and pitched in seventeen games for de browns and captain comiskey always had a way of utilizing heavy hitting pitchers in the field and both bob caruthers and david scissors foutz have served apprenticeships in the garden james jamen NV holliday better known as the bug began his career as a pitcher for the st josephs back in 1883 and billy halligan now on duty in right for the reds pitched a little bit for binghamton in IM 1888 in the past cincinnati also In trusted its field to ex pitchers tor for pop corkhill Cork bill now with pittsburg was amateur crackerjack and during his time ho he stepped in at critical stages and saved games that seemed to be lost george white wings ulso also twinkled a bit as a western star of the box but after ho he went to cincinnati cinnoti his pitch erial lal debut and farewell performance were crowded into the same afternoon lie ile faced baltimore and the orioles never had a more delightful picnic in fit their lives the home runs and triplet triples went out like lovely colored balls from a big roman candle and when the trouble was all over the monumental city delegation had lad a few les less s than thirty runs white wings never pitched then them was wa joe knight who was with cincinnati in 1800 lie ile began asa as a canuck and pitched for hamilton ont the heavy hitting pitchers are always sure of renewed leases on life in some other positions position captain george van of the Balti baltimore mores was in ensnared ins in california and taken to chicago to join uncle ansons pitching corps lie ile deserted the box for the field so did mike tiernan the great overseer of the right wing in new york elmer smith was such a terror at bat that when his arm lost its cunning temporarily out in kansas city he be was a at t once installed in left gil hatfield E eddie die sales veach al maul and M L J mattimore were all pitchers but they h ey have drifted out of the major organ organizations I 1 lations zat ions 1 I have one of my old boys with me this year remarked manager pat powers of the giants to me tha the other day that la Is mike tiernan he ile pitched at trenton back in that was the first team I 1 ever handled tom daly of the brook lyns lyus made his debut in that team and we picked up calliope miller and shortstop top leo smith on the brooklyn lots smith is 13 one of the best fielders who ever played in that position and if it he only had bad the knack of hitting the ball nothing could ke keep L 13 him out of the big league to my mind the greatest fielding shortstop today Is snap lang my how ho lie can sail sall that ball across the dla now it t sounds queer for me to make such an assertion but if 1 I had to make a choice today I 1 would give lang a place on any team I 1 managed in preference to jack glasscock glasscock would make more hits of course but lang would cut oft off more singles in a year than glasscock Glash cock would rap out snap is another brilliant player who haa has been sadly handicapped by an inability to slug the ball 11 this talk was in the nature of a revelation a and shows why new york was not no t anxious to press its claim against pebbly jack before the dawn of peace tiernan was also a member of manager powers old jersey city crowd and in electing to give joseph red mack a chance at second the new now leader of the giants did not do so blindly as some of his critics seem to think mack played good ball for him in a buffalo uniform last season lira MULFORD jn JIL |