Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-11
A REVIEW OF SPORTS.
Opinions About the Old and
New League Teams.
PUBLIC INTEREST WANING.
Some Remarks About the Retirement
of Dominick Mccartney.
THE KEMP M'LEAN BOAT FACE
PUBLIC INTEREST WANING.
THE KEMP M'LEAN BOAT FACE

The week just ended has been miserable
one for baseball, no matter from what stand
point we look at it. Internal dlsruptlons
among those who dish 1t out to the public,
combined with unfavorable weather, has ap-
parentIy caused American citizens to look
upon those directly interested in the game
as ordinary human beings. Public estima-
tion didn't by any means get as low as that
during the last two or three years, but the
week has proven to US that public estima-
ton is undergoing a great change. 1t bail
players and those who support them wish to
keep mp that spirit of hero worship which
has made many of them wealthy they must
change their tactics. Not only have we had
poor attendances and bad weather, but we
have had some very wretched ball playing.
1t is not necessary to 60 into any figuring to
show this. Results speak for themselves.
There have been some very rank exhibitions
on both sides, but the majority of clean-cut
games have been on the side of the old
League. There is no denying that fact
Comparisons are often very unpleasant, but
there are times when comparisons are neces-
sarv, and they are necessary now. Therefore,
it is quite fair TO say that while the new
League has had the bulk of patronage, the
old League has been giving the best exhibi-
tions of ball playing. 1t seems now safe to
say that there are one or two clubs
in the National League which equal any
team we have seen for long time. l don't
hesitate TO saw that the Philadelphia Ma
tional League team is the peer of any aggre-
cation in the country, and, this being so,
there is indeed considerable credit due to
those who have strongly tried to build up the
team from the ruins that last years players
left. If the work already done this season
by the respective teams were any kind of
criterion it would be safe to say that Man
sger Wright has team OF pennant winners.
Anson's new team is also doing we'll, and is
of the improving kind. Boston is in difficult
ties just now, but when the disabled players
of that club are all right again the team will,
l expect, soon forge its way toward
the front. The Pittsburg National League
club is not doing as we'll
as it will do simply because it is not
through its experimenting period. 1t
started out with host of untested young
men, and in putting these youngsters through
the mill it is certain that many defeats will
be encountered. However, as those who
don't stand the test are weeded out we will
be better able to judge as to the correct
N0aA4A1 Vi luS bedu Nch 1OEA Slll1 re-
mains a disappointment, and Cleveland is
improving considerably. Cincinnati and
Brooklyn are just what they always have
been-two good teams.
The Players Teams.
Manager Hanlon and his men have not
met with the success that many of us ex-
pected. Although they have not done all
that I thought they would do 1 am not at all
discouraged about their future as far as
good ball playing is concerned. 1 still feel
confident that the Players will give good
account of themselves, providing the pitch
ers keep in line. My readers will have OBJ
served that have always been somewhat
timid about the pitchers. This timidity is
the result of SO many disappointments in the
past. 1t has been the rock on which we
have split very often, indeed. 1t seems to
me that what is most required bv Manager
hanlon's pitchers is plenty of hard work and
honest living. No man in the baseball
business is more in earnest than is Manager
Hanlon, and 1 know that his instructions
to the pitchers particularly are of the very
best kind. At the present time player who
will not faithfully adhere to the admonitions
of a trustworthy and honest man like Man
ager Hanlon is an migrate. The pitchers
are not in their best condition, and that is
all there is about it. John Tener has not
had the chance that the others have had.
He apparently has more outside work to do
than could reasonably be expected of a
pitcher, but be is willing hand. However,
1 anticipate that the playing qualities OF
the entire team will soon be at their best 1
hope they will. Boston is doing the best
work o. the lot, and so have its players as |
team proven themselves a little better |
than Chicago. New York, like the other |
New York team, continues to be rank fail
ure, and New York patrons of the game |
have every reason to be disgusted at the |
wreck of their splendid team of last wear. |
The other teams are just something like |
what they were when they started out-very
uncertain quantities.
Those Bold Declarations.
During the week everybody at all con-
nected with the baseball conflict has de- /
clared himself in the most emphatic manner
10 the effect that he will remain in the fight /
until he hasn't cent left rather than lose.
All this is the veriest nonsense. I don't
think that there is a man in the business
who In the least means any such thing;
II is not common sense and certainly akin
TO the most idiotic conceptions of good bust
ness principles. When We simmer eyery-
thing down think that all this wild talk
simply means that each party will hold out
to a reasonable extent and no further The
meeting held by the directors OF the local
n. L. club, report of which
appeared in yesterdays DISPATCH, goes
to prove the correctness of nv
contention. There is no reason to suppose
that those directors or any other directors
will continue TO meet time and time again
and put up about $4,000 to keep lot of
baseball players. l am persuaded that in
very many instances this must be done on
both sides, and this probability brings us
face to face with that familiar feature of
gate receipts only for the workers of the
new League. If matters do not turn con-
siderably for the better the players of the
new League must receive their salaries from
sources other than the receipts. The ques-
ton is: Who will pay them? We will all
await the result with great interest. Mark,
! don't wish to infer that they won't
be paid. 1 feel confident that should
the receipts not yield sufficient
cash to pay salaries in full
the hackers of the respective clubs
will make good the deficiency; but.
and this but is significant, only for certain
time. In Pittsburg the new League play
ers will have the best of the battle. simply
because they have placed themselves nearer
the masses by reducing their price to 25
cents. If the old club continues at the old
rate of 30 cents their efforts, fear, will be
almost a total loss. have always held the
opinion that 25 cents is quite sufficient to
pay to 60 into a baseball ground and the
club that adopts that price deserves popular
support. 1t is simply extortion to hundreds
of bard working citizens to compel them TO
paw a half dollar to get on hard board un-
der the effects of a scorching sun or damp
and rheumatic breeding winds to see ball
game