Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-09-22
OUTDOOR SPORTS.
coMIsKEY,s CHANCE.


Facts Generating the Deal by Which He
Is to Captain the PhIlIIes Next Season.
The statement that the great general
and leading 1irst-baseman, Charles Com
isley, will manage and captain the
Philadelphia Players Club xtseason,is
correct, says the Sporting Life of that
city, with just one proviso, viz, that Com
iskey obtains his release from the Chi
cago Players Club, which has an option
upon his services for two years more.
Steps to secure Comiskey's release were
taken at the recent special meeting of
the Players League in New York, and
it is believed that the Chicago club will
not stand in the way of the great cap
tain's advancement. Comiskey is dis
satisfied with the result of his labors
and the condition of affairs in the Chi
cago team, and the Chicago club will I'M
doubtedly conclude to give him chance
in a more congenial field.
The deal with Comiskey himself was
made some time ago-in fact, when his
team was last in Philadelphia. He then
pledged himself to play in Philadelphia
next season provided he could get an
honorable release from Chicago. He
even offered to sign provisional con-
tract, but that was declined, as Comis-
keys word is as good as his bond, and it
may be considered settled that he will
lead the Philadelphia Players team to
victory next season.
Comiskey will receive from the Phila-
delphia Players Club for the next three
years the highest salary e0er paid a bali
player, manager or captain. The Wagner
brothers propose not only to have
champion team in Philadelphia next
season If money, skill and brains can
secure it, but they also propose to show
the world and the local public that
they will run the club in liberal man
ner hitherto unknown in local baseball
matters. They are willing to give the
return for liberal support, and will put
out their cash in big chunks in spite
of the sneers of the outside world that
Philadelphia is but twenty-five cent
city. They believe that even if it is
a twenty-fve-cent town it is decidedly
the best baseball city in America, thor
oughly appreciative of honest efforts to
cater literally to local pride, and that it
will make up in numerical patronage
what it lacks in the price of admission.
At any rate they have determined to
put the local public to the test, and
have, therefore, had the nerve to go
into big deal at an expense which
would have been considered enormous
even for fifty-cent city with the finan-
cial resources and possibilities of Boston
or Chicago.
Enormous as Comiskey's salary will
be that alone would not have tempted
him to leave Chicago, where his salary
is also Incredibly large. That's where
his home is and his interests are
centered, and he made some sacrifices
and took long chances merely in order
to play in his native city. True, he has
suffered in reputation there This season,
his work has been unsatisfactory to
himself and he has been handicapped
in many ways, but that would all have
been remedied next season and the
chances are that he would have re-
gained the managerial laurels lost this
season.
But in the Philadelphia team he sees
sure thing in the way of winning glory
and honor. 1t is a well-balanced team,
something like the old ST. Louis Browns,
without any swell-headed stars, equally
strong in all departments, fine f1elders,
good base-runners and above the aver
age in batting, and only lacking leader
like Comiskey to bring out the SUPER
lative inherent ability. In short,
Charley Comiskey Is in love with the
Philadelphia team and thinks it can be
made world-beater. and that fact more
than any thing else-even the tremen-
dous salary-~induced him to cast his lot
with 1t next season. Indeed he frankly
stated when the deal was made that he
would not leave Chicago, even for more
money, for any other but the Philadel-
phia Players team, which, by the way,