, 1889-04-18
MILLIONS IN BALL.
A Talk With Manager Mutrie
on the Coming Season.
He is u Great Believer In the
Gisnts Very Naturally.
The New Rules Will work weii.-A Big
Boosa n Nail Playing LatcIy--Luck
Counts for Some thing.
This IL 10 be . great baseball year!

This 10 10 be great baseball year!
The season will not open until the. latter
part Of April, just about the time when
New York 10 celebrating the centennial Of
the inauguration Of George Washington
~ president OF the United States. II the
father Of his country could COME back and
see the New York club meet another Of ita
class on the diamond, he would fully un-
derstand what progress has been made
since the April day when he took the oath
Of office In the gallery Of the old city hall
10 Wall street.
However. New York 10 getting warmed
up, and ere long nothing but baseball will
be talked Of. spald,nR's braves having
made the round of che globe, having
| siugged the ball, 40 to speak. ut the autip.
odrs, under the frowninV brow OF the
| sphinx, on the burning sands OF Egypt,
before kings, princes. lords and lesser
| lights, are about TO open up shop again
here In the land OF the free and the home
OF the brave, where the p-opl- know good
| thing and know how to pay for IL. In Y
short time New York will be full of base-
| ball ul,n as it always ia Of baseball lovers.
IL there is an, one who can explain sat.
| irfactorily the CAUSES Of the surprising
popularity Of baseball he ought to come
forth and do it. u is reppaliDR AN oft told
tale to ray that its popularity IL constantly
| on the increase, yet 10 is 40, and worthy OF
repetition. Men like James Mutrie, the
manager OF the New York 'Giants." the
peDnant winners of the National League
for 1885, estimate that more than S3 O00,-
0O0 are directly interested in baseball at
! the present time. and that something like
| SIS 900 900 are invested and exchanged
upon the national game Ia the course OF
the year.
OF course more money than this ia ia.
vested in horse racing. But horse racing
cannot, after all. be- ranked ~ being ~
| popular u sport as baseball.
The iute gritty of the game is yet intact.
There may be pulling and druRging OF
horses. and charges OF both are frequent,
but AS yet no charges OF dishonesty have
been preferred against any Of our reputa-
biz baseball clubs.
Governor Hill Of New York has another
reason for the supremacy Of the game.
'Baseball." he says, "has, like the NV.
erage American, more dash, more enter
prise. more aim, more git up aud git to
it in a minute than anything else of its
Kind in any nation on earth ever attained
10 a life time. That's the secret of the
national games success in the United
country iu which 1t has been introduced.
At any rate the game ia IL SUCCESS, and
10 one " iii quarrel over the cause.
Tnere is probably no baseball man in
the country better known than James
| Mutrie, the manager eof the New
| York baseball club, sometimes known as
Truthful James," other times termed
| "Smiiing James, and not unfreauently
called plain Jim" Among the irat.rn.
l. ..,.kk
| Spalding, Harry Wright. Captain Anson
| aud other veterans Mr.. Mutrie bss he-n
| for nuuib-r of years with the New York
baseball club, and every gear until last
| year he went in for that championship
penosnt. and didnt yet it And every
| YEAR James would start In new and vow
| to get there. Last year he did yet there.
| And this year James IL nustlinx tor the
penuant again.
MUTRIE TALKS HOPEFULLY.
The big manager sat in his office the
other day busiIy engaged with good ci-
gar and schedule OF 1889 games.
This is to be great year for base-
ball" he SAID
"Bettpr than last yearp"
III think it will be much better" he re-
piled. The outlook il good all around.
| The trip that Spalding's men have taken
| will give boom to the game. but for that
| matter 1t was growing in q healthy man
ner before. Then again the teams are all
good ones, every one Of them, and people
| will always pay to see Il good game of ball.
There il good deal of rivay among the
teams too. New York holds the pen nant!
| Well. the other mines will do their beat to
take IL away, and | promise you New
| York will do its best to keep It. Ia conse
quence you will see hot fight, and the
| ueOple who know good thing will want
to SET it,"
"And what will the result of the 6eht
beP''
"Well, l think with any sort of luck
and barring Academia, New York will
hold the pennant. believe our team can
hold their own. But 1t niust be said that
Boston has u strong team. don't think
good ones. Chicago also has strong
nine"
but cannot a srong team prevail
against luck ?" | asked.
The veteran manager lay back in bis
chair and took another long puff at his
cigar. Gazing through the smoke he
seemed to see mascOts, hoodooes, fortune
tellers and q variety Of other things. 1t
was plain that he, like pretty nearly every
other baseball man, was more or less SUI
perstitious.
my FRIEND he snid, ''there 10 good
deal in luck. I'll give you an instance of
that. took the New York team to Bos.
ton season before last when we we're stand
ina frat rate. Every man In the team was
in the pink OF condition and At to play for
O mans lite. We beat the Boston boys
two games nicely. As we were coming
from Boston on the train Mickey Welch
came to me aud said: we have got the
pennant this time sure, jim Well. also
thought 80. We went ON to Phiiadel-
phia and felt sure Of pulling on the best
Of it. Well, We had just got the game