, 1890-06-29
THEY
w. 1. Harris Writes About the
Western Baseball League.
GOOD PLAYERS AND BIG CROWDS.

st. Paul is the Only Weak Spot in the
Aggregation, and New Capital VIII Soon
d Strength There-some Queer Nick
nRmos-The Fight Of the Big Leagues.
Ten thousand people attended the two
ball games at Minneapolis on Decoration
day, 1900 one game at Omaha and 5000
w games at Denver. In all, 1900. Had
1t not rained at Kansas City the total
would have been increased 10 q, 900. And
these games were played by the Western
association, a minor league, so called, but
surely a good one to draw within a couple
Of thousand as many people TO FIVE games
as the American association did TO seven.
One Of the causes OF this good attendance
WAS the closeness Of the fight for the pen
nhnt.
The teams appear to be about as evenly
balanced as 1t is possible to have them.
The circuit consists of Denver, Colo; Des
Moines, la; Kansas City, Mo-; Milwaukee.
Wis; Minneapolis, MINI; Omaha, Neb.
Sioux City, Ia, and st. Paul, MINI. Here
are eight teams representing five states,
and not one has won less han ten games
or more than twenty ut this writing.
By the way, they have queer nicknames
for the western clubs. The Des Moines
team are spoken OF as the HAwkeyes; the
Sioux Citys are designated Corn Huskers;
the Minneapolis men are dubbed the MIL
lers; the Milwaukees are called the Brew
ers; the st. Pauls are rather appropriately
termed the Apostles; they call the Omaha
team the Omahogs, and the Denvers are
styled the Mountaineers. The only team
which has no set name Ii the Kansas Citys.
One bright young writer has styled them
the hot weather players. When they were
in the National league they were called the
Cowboys IN the east. From my recollec-
tom of them at that time and the usual
luck of visiting teams to Kansas City /
suggest TO my western brethren, II they
really need a name to designate them as
the Petrels, for they nave a strong resem-
blance TO those stormy bipeds, inasmuch
as rainy weather has always followed in
their wake.
The Minneapolis team has Ryn, Hengle,
Miller and O'Day for an inheld, with Car
roll, Foster and Minnehan for an outfeld.
Myers Is their best catcher, with Dugdale
to help him out. The pitchers are Hark-
ness, Mitchell, Shreve, Duke and Hudson.
Some of these men are noted in baseball
circles-for instance, George Myers, the
great catcher OF the st. Louis and Indian
apolis teams; Elmer Foster. once a Giant,
and perhaps as great an outfielder as ever
played In the League; O'Day, of last sea-
sons Lowells; Hengle, once an umpire;
Hudson, late of the Browns, of st. Louis,
and Shreve, Of indianapolis and Detroit.
Mitchell, / think, is the young man who
had a brief trial with the Phillies. This
team is unde the management of Sam
Morton, as shrewd and able a man as the
west has in the minor league baseball bust
ness. Those who are strange to eastern
people are all classed as good men.
There are many good men on the other
teams. Among those whose names are
known everywhere are Poorman, Dalrym-
pie, Shoch, Alberts and Kricg, of the Mil
waukees; Flanagan, Dolan, Fusselback
and McCullar, Of Des Moines; VIII White.
MoGlene, Mcclellan and Dave Rowe, of
Denver; Burns, Hoover, Stearns, Swartzel,
Carpenter, Manning and Elmer Smith, of
Kansas City; Cleveland and Tanning, of
Omaha; Cline and Kappel, OF Sioux City.
All of these men are playing good ball and
the association apparently possesses some
first class pitching talent. Among the
pitchers little known in the east, who
have first class ability, are Thornton, of
Milwaukee,; Kennedy, of Denver; Devlin,
of Sioux City; Hart and Sommer, of Des
Moines. 1t Is noticeable hat Tanning, Ell
mer Smith, Shreve, Mitchell and Swartzel
are keeping up their good work.
IntTb uppehTb 10 Dt only one really weak
spot In the Western association, and thati Is
at st Paul, but some new capital has been
interested and it is now expected that the
team will play the season out. From all
appearances the association will have the
most prosperous season of its career from
both n playing and financial standpoint, as
the baseball war does not seem to affect
any of the cities of its circuit.
A friend asked me a few days ago:
when both sides are weary of losing
money how will the conflict between
League and Brotherhood be settleds" This
Is a question that is agitating the minds
of a great many people, and none more SO
than the magnates OF the two leagues.
Both are already tired of losing money.
And both are nearly ready to make a set
Element Pride and money will probably
carry them through the season. What
them Does anybody know Can anybody
name the RESULT
Judging from present indications any
prediction would necessarily point to a
compromise OF some sort. 1t is surely
either a case of amalgamation, compromise
quit. It is a wise man who could now
point out which one it will be. The losses
will be large on both sides. One or two
things, however, seem to be certain. The
Brotherhood will have to quit in Buffalo
anl in Brooklyn, and the League in
PiAsburg, If there is a second year
of the war. There is small doubt
also that the ball players OF '91, 'g2
and 'Q3 will get smaller salaries than the
players of 80 and 80. The war has proved
shat there are as good fish in ths baseball
sea as ever came out of it, and plenty Of
them, too. Whether there is one league or
two in 1901 the woods will be full of ca
pable ball players, and there will be SO
of them that a salary reduction must
necessarily follow, except in the cases of
men who rave long contracts or who are
in the clubs for which they
play.
There is only one course that can be
taken which will at once bring the profess
sional game up again TO the notch of pros
perity 1t occupied in 1850, and that is an
amalgamation of the two leagues into one
which shall be run under a national agree
ment and under the rules of the National
league. A compromise arrangement, with
a different division of territory, new names
for Players league clubs and a non-con-
schedule may effect the same re-
suit, but 1t would take about four times as
long to bring it about.
w. /. HARRIS.