Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1889-10-12
AROUND THE DIAMOND.
CLOSE OF THE LEAGUE BASEBALL
SEASON.

prospects Tor Next season.
The National league championship
season of 1899 has ended and never before
in the history of baseball championship
contests has the race been so close or so des-
perate On the last Saturday noon Boston
and New York were each confident of win
ming the pennant while Chicago and Phila-
delphia were each as equally sure that the
third place in the race was theirs AS the
result of the last days games New York
steps over Bostons head and carries off
the pennant; Chicago wrests third place
from Philadelphia Cleveland and Pitts
burg stand tied for fifth place.
Without doubt the disappointment felt
by lovers OF the game and admirers of the
team in Boston is bitter. With the highest
salaried team in the circuit and one of
the most successful team managers in the
country, Boston has made a strong effort
to carry off champion honors That the
team was looked upon as a winner by nine
out of ten baseball enthusiasts throughout
the country is probably true, and none
were more confident of victory than Man
ager Hart and his players. The sudden
and unex plainable letdown Of its strongest
hitters at time when they should have
been doing their best stick work, has be-
yond question hurt the team more than
anything else.
As between Boston and New York the
greater credit Is due the latter. Boston
has at no time this season played ball
under such disadvantages as the Giants
have faced. Had Harris aggreg cation been
located on Manhattan island and the
Giants at the Hub it is quite likely that
Boston would not have been in the race
during the last two weeks. There is little
room for question as to which is the better
team In one point of play only has Bos-
ton been the equal of the Giants its bat
ting When it comes to fielding, running
bases, team work, and infeld strength, the
| Gothamites are greatly the superiors of
the Bostouians. 1t is safe to say that
while Boston will to a great extent have
the sympathy of baseball lovers every
where, there are few who are not glad to
see the Giants win their second successive
league pennart.
! Chicago Is to be congratulated upon It's
brilliant finish Without its team captain,
and with its infeld broken, the home team
has played ball which would have won the
| pennant had it been begun during the first
half of the season. There are many who
! at different stages of the race, when the
outlook was anything but rosy for The
! Blacks considered them out of the fight
entirely, yet it is unlikely that these same
! prophets ever saw cleaner game of base
! ball than the Chicago team put up during
! the last week of the cham ionship season.
While the season has been bright one
from an artistic standpoint, it has been a
! disappointment financially to all but two
clubs in the league circuit. Boston has
made great deal of money during the
last six months, and Philadelphia has done
well, but Washington, Indianapolis, and
Pittsburg have lost, and neither New
! York nor Chicago, III the veruacular of
the baseball magnate, "has made a dol
lar This statement may, of course, be
taken with grain of allowance. Chicago
may find itself with few thousand dol
lars on the right side of the ledger, but
such gain as this is not looked upon as
worth the seasons trouble by baseball
club magnates.
Had New York been able to play the
season through upon the old polo grounds
it would have made money this season, as
it did last, but the expense of fitting up
new grounds and the loss of patronage
sustained during the weeks the team
played upon Staten Island have more than
offset the receipts of the season
The poor showing Chicago made at the
]
paratively light attendance at the home
! grounds, but the incement weather has
also eaten big slice out of the Chicago
receipts, as well as those of every other
team in the circuit.
With Pittsburg's misfortunes the public
is familiar, and the fact that indianapolis
and Washington, though at times playing
brilliant ball, have been unable to make
anything better OF themselves than tail
enders,n has been the cause of their poor
attendance.
Cleveland as result Of its brilliant work
in the first half of the season, proved a
drawing card, and before it began to take
tumble had guaranteed itself against
loss although it will probably not now de.
clare any large dividends
/ From present indications the winter will
not lack activity in baseball circles. Be-
yond question u determined effort will be
made by league players during the coming
months to complete and strengthen a cir
cult composed of brotherhood clubs which
will next season com pete for patronage
with the clubs of the National league. If
they are successful, next season will in
/ augurate q baseball war which can only
end with the ruin of either the league or
the BROTHERHOOD. Meantime the league
will have much important legislation to
carry through. A not improbable change
will be discussed in the league circuit by
which Cincinnati and Brooklyn may take
the places of Washington and In tian-
apolis in the league next season
Of the minor organizations Of the country
the international and Western associations
have been fairly successful. In the circuit
Of the latter, Minneapolis, which last year
lost s. 900 and dropped out of the race,
has proved a phenomenon, and is said to
have cleared close upon $50 900. st. Paul
is said to have cleared $4,000, Milwaukee
81, 600, and Omaha II ono. But for tho
sale of Crooks to Columbus, however, tho
pennaut winner, would have been losers.
Denver quits with S., 600 ia pocket, while
Des Moines loses $1,000, Sioux City 80, 900.