Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-04-27
A REVIEW OF SPORTS,
Features of the Start in the
Championship Races
FOR THE TWO REMNANTS.
Some Reasons for Twenty-Five Cent
10 Baseball in PittSburg.
FOR THE TWO REMNANTS.
GOSSIP ABOUT LEADING PUGILIsTS


The veriest baseball crank alive to-da,
will certainly not be ungrateful enough Il
say there is not plenty of baseball now. I
there should be in existence such an migrate
such an Unsuitable and never-to-be-satisfeC
wretch 1 don't want to meet him. Plenty
of baseball, why, 1 should think there is
indeed, there is so much of it that many
people are declaring with vengeance thai
it is fast becoming nuisance. There never
was an extraordinarily high tide, but that
there was an extraordinarily low one; and
there never was a commercial initiation but
there was a commercial depression. We
may make our minds up, therefore, that all
this nonsense, quarreling and booming oi
baseball will have its evil effects. If such
be not the case it will be contrary to
the lessons of experience. Well, we are
only the first week into the season vet, so
that we will likely see lots of fun and MANY
surprises before this "cruel war is over" So
far there has been nothing very entertaining
in the contests that have taken place. l re-
fer to the games generally. 1t wouldn't be
fair to expect to see everything in apple pie
order at this early stage. Clubs or teams
have not by any means gotten settled down
to their respective gaits yet. The general
playing of the week has proven this. Ger
tainly there have been a few good contests,
but generally speaking we have had some
rank exhibitions on both sides.
y
The Weeks Games.
Rain has during the week prevented sew
eral games in both Leagues, but sufficient
number have been played to warrant few
remarks. As 1 have just stated. the aver
age playing has not been up to the usual
standard, but this to a great extent is to be
expected at present. There have been some
surprises and disappointments, however. 1
am inclined to think that the Chicago P.
L. Club is not as strong on the field as it Is
on paper. The performance of Comiskey's
men here showed them to be ANYTHING but
effective batters, and there is good reason
for saying that the local P. L. club is much
stronger IN that respect than the Chicagos.
Batting is chief essential of championship
form; it covers many faults just like big
drum in a small imperfect brass band. The
old DeIroits came out victorious over many
q rocky path by good stick work But
fail to see wherein the championship bat
ting form is to be found in the Chicago
team as whole, and because of
Its absence 1 confess that 1 am
so far disappointed in that team. True,
the season is very, very young yet
and that power of which 1 speak NAV be
latent and almost ready to present ITSELF
John Wards team has done WELL and, if all
goes right, ought to be factor in the race;
just as good as Boston. Boston has few
charms for me. l may be gravely mistaken
in what used to be the mysterious club, but
If it does anv good we will be at loss to
account for the form displayed by the same
players last season. Our own team has done
very well. l am not going to say first class,
because the players can do much better than
they have done. 1 know they can. They |
gave a miserable exhibition on the opening
day, but Calvin more than redeemed him. |
self on Wednesday. Fridays game was |
another of the questionable kind, and it |
was, indeed, great surprise to me that the |
Clevelsnd's came here and won their first |
game. That result knocks baseball form |
completely on the head, and to invest |
the runners according to their public |
form looks an absolute certainty compared |
with the public form of baseball. However, |
! have still much faith in the local team. If |
the pitchers keep all right the players will |
take care of themselves. Philadelphia is
not settled down yet by any means and we
will all be better able to judge of that and
other teams few weeks later
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The Old League Features.
There have also been good and bad fea-
lures in the National League games. The
local colts have not done frst-class by any
means, but they have done some good work.
When dealing with this team it certainly is
not fair for any of us 10 particularly empha-
size the bad points and lose sight OF the good
ones. am aware that many people would
like to see the young men entirely
collapse at once. This is not fair.
1t is not American, and their short
comings, whatever they may be, de-
serve as much leniency at least, as the
shortcomings of those stars who are for the
time popular. The work of the local Ma
tional League team OF course has not been
first class but tell me club that has come
near that standard in either organization.
Why, almost the most wretched display of
ball playing known for years in a champi-
onship season has heen that of the Cleye-
lands at Buffalo. Yet the Clevelands come
here and defeat our very strong team. Let
us deal fairly all round. Nor do 1 believe
that even four games with the Cincinnati
team will give anything like a thorough
test of the local youngsters. 1t will take
weeks to prove thoroughly what that team
can do. Almost every year we find teams
start out in the most wretched
style and land at or near the
top. Anson has a good and improving
team; Cincinnati is all right and Cleveland.
like Pittsburg, is very uncertain. So far it |
seems to me that Philadelphia and Boston /
are the pick of the League, although New
York has not shown its best form vet. |
Brooklyn seems in many respects to be |
little behind. However, the race has lust :
started and the goal is a long distance off. |
None of us know what will take place be-
ore the end is reached. Anything is liable
o happen. So far the attendance has been
greatly In favor of the Players League, but
wen that, at this stage, does not prove much.
Che great question to solve is, will either
1arty be self-supporting? The sooner we
ind that out the better, because two clubs {
re not wanted in more cities than Pittspurg. c
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The General Situation. !
The general baseball situation is Just as b
ncertain and as unpleasant as ever Now a
hat the actual conflict has begun partisan | $
ceiling is more rampant than it ever was d
nd the contendlng parties are evidently n
lore determined than ever to down each | a
ther That one Of the parties will more or &