The morning news., 1889-04-09


well. These three cities are the best with
Philadelphia coming next, for the reason
that 1t is twenty-five cent city, and not
because it doesn't take in bass call. The
rest come after. In New York the attend
ance, upon base ball games range from
5000 on ordinary days to 1000 or more on
holidays 1t depends a good deal on the
teams that are playing"
"How are the changes in the rules and
the system of classification going to work"
II believe they will work well. Moving
the pitchers box back and reducing the
number of balls upon which batter may
take his base will, l think, improve the
batting and reduce the power of the
pitcher. As for the matter of classih-
cation it will not affect the players now
signed with teams, but only new men.
They will be graded and paid according
to their grading. Men like Ewing, Mike
Kelly, Keefe, Welch, aud men of their
class are not affected by it. The plan was
adopted for the benefit of weak clubs that
could not afford to pay star PLAYERS. You
see some players as soon as they made
home run or good field play would expect
their clubs to raise their pay the next year.
Well, if base ball paid everywhere this
might do. But as a matter of fact only four
or five clubs made any money last year.
The Bostons made money. so did the
Chicagos; so did the Philadelphas believe,
and" concluded the manager, 1.-THE New
Yorks made little, but Lave my doubts
about the rest"
There will be some argument over this
matter of Classification" the manager con-
tinued, but it will wear off, OF course,
there will be star players that the public
will always make much of. l don't go
in much for record players myself" said
the astute Mr.. Mutrie. II have noticed
that a winning club draws, and that no star
Il lnot, 0l,, -
81 never discuss individual players" said
Manager Mutrie. 81 think the league play
ers are superior to those of the American
Association as rule, but there are great
players in both. Buck Ewing Of the New
York club is great player. So are Keefe
| and Welsh so is Gore and so are Richard
son and Connor and Ternan; SO are Mike
Wening; so are Morris and Calvin: so are
Anson, Ward, Morrell, Burns, Farrell and
any number Of others that can be named
The woods are full Of them; However |
| think the pennant will come to New York
in 1882"
"Base ball has certainly developed won
derfully Of late years." continued Smiling
Jtmes 81 can remember when Mike
| Kelly was anything but $4,000 beauty
in financial sense, for he ran bases on the
Columbus, o. base ball club in his bare feet.
Why, AL Spalding played ball for $50
month and John Ward played for mighty
small salary | had Tim K eefe, the king
of the pitchers, for $50 per month, and
George Gore for $40. Just think of it'll
Some of the stars of base ball playing for
| $40 or $l2 per week. Things have changed
haven't they9 Just think of Tim Keefe
or John Ward or Mike Kelly PLAYING ball
for $40 per week now. tell you it's big
change.
"If you want to get another idea of the
popularity of base ball with the American
puolc you want to look up the list of the
smaller base ball clubs. How many, for
instance, do you think there are in Pnila-
delphiam
The scribe disclaimed any knowledge of
the number, and after the base ball mag
nate had taken another pull at his cigar
he went on:
''The woods are full of ball players.
''There are 507 amateur clubs in Philadel-
phia that we have list of, and | don't
know how many more there may be be-
Sides L am getting up other lists, but they
are not complete. However, it is safe to
say that there are several thousand clubs Of
the kind in the country. Then take the pro-
fessional and semi i-professio la clubs in the
National League, the American Asso-
citation, the international leagues, tie
northwestern league, the southern league,
a d others. Why there must be 600 or 700
Ol Juokls rIOHl OulS YOU CdA uuuoT
stand why capitalists invest in base ball
clubs Us the great American game"
said the manager. "and it's getting greater
all the time" Mr.. Mutrie declined to dis
GUS the relative chauces of clubs other
than the New York nine for the
pc IDant. Other base ball men in New
York seemed to share Manager Mutrie's
opnion to a large extent. A canvass
among a number of those who claim to
know something about the national game,
brought a variety of views, but a con-
sensus of them all may be interesting. If
a majority of those knowing are anything
like right, the standing Of tho clubs in the
National League at the end Of the season
will be something like the list published
below
The list may look different in October.
l. New York.
2. Boston.
8. Chicago.
f. PIttsourg.
5. Philadelphia
Indianapolis.
Cleveland and Washington-no choice
1t is easy to make up lists about this
tin1e but it will be interesting to see just
how far away from the right thing this
particular list will be in the latter part of
next October. DAVID WECHSLER.
Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria