, 1891-08-15
ISPEACE IN SIGHT?
The Baseball War Will End
Soon---Perhaps.
Rem. MILFORD, IRIS, WISDOM.

He Says the Association and League VIII
Soon, of Necessity, Come to TermE.
The Fight for the Pennant Is Still Ex-
citing and Uncertain.
Copyright, 1891, by American Press Associa-
toni
The way of tE3 transgressor has never
been pictured as being bordered with
~azaleas, and it is equally certain that the
paths trodden by the clans who nave chosen
to ignore the safeguards of professional
ball are full Of sharp, Jagged rocks and
hidden pitfalls Unless the Queen OF Folly
has seized some of these magnates and
nodded them to be her unthinking slaves,
there will be peace in the baseball world
before the fall campaigns are commenced
There is n demand all along the line for a
cessation of hostilities, and it would be but
acting the part of wisdom to heed the call.
There have been great grists of stories
from two hoppers during the past week.
One bears the stamp of Mars and heralds
more bitter strife. The other, with per
haps more of an impress of truth, breathes
messages of peace and renewed good will.
1t seems utter madness to talk of further
hand to hand conflicts, and yet j. Earle
wagner has lent himself to the task Of
spreading the tale that Pittsburg, Brook
lgh anu SulCRiRO WOulu All nave ASSOclA-
ton clubs and twenty-five cent ball next
year, and that the Association would hurl
defiance at the League in their W strong
holds.
1t Is hard to realize that such talk is
born of sanity. The wrecked fortunes of
1890, with the CHASTITY remembrance Of the
failure of H. V. Lucas and his confreres in
1854, are funeral pyres that warn financiers
of the ruin that awaits such a venture.
Brooklyn's failure last year with an accu-
mutation of unpaid bills still haunts the
Association Chicago rejected cheap ball
when such men as Staley and Beckley were
stars in the Western association. The city
is absurdly partisan in its leanings to the
League, and Association matters are dis.
missed with a line.
With such n chilly reception assured, is
it reasonable to suppose that bankruptcy
will be courted therei And Pittsburgh
h occupancy of the Smoky City is based
upon the abandonment of Louisville-one
of the founders of the Association-a city
that has stood by the American during its
ten years of life. Is it possible for men of
good business sense to assert that Pitts
burg with two clubs would be better than
the p%eaceable possession of Louisville with
no opposition Cincinnati has been a ter
rible weight asound the neck of the Asso-
citation this year, and it is not likely that
the younger body will rush madly into
any more such boxes.
1.-THE national agreement is the only sal
walton OF professional baseball" said A. S.
Stern to me this week. mo organization
can live without its protection. The man
who invests a dollar in baseball outside
that agreement contracts to lose it ana
many more"
cit is absurd to think that the Associa-
ton will load up with more towns where
opposition will be met" declared Manager
]. @. Chapman, of the Louisvilles. ''Their
experience this year has been disastrous.
and they've got one or two fights of that
sort too many nowI'
On one side are these warlike shorts,
but for all that they have not drowned the
rustic of the wings of the angel of peace.
Peace is coming. Good business men do not
rush madly OF in a course that can but end
in their own destruction. In the dog days,
when the click of the turnstile is not heard
in a continual chorus, there will be time for
reflection. MISUNDERSTANDING for base
ball-is likely to have a harbor of refuge
for King Kel's men. Their rejection at
Cincinnati has been complete. No PARTISAN
ship can blind the eyes to that fact. The
HOLSTERS woul welcome them with open
arms. and n fall series between Cincinnati
and indianapolis is an event likely to occur.
The possibilities of a grand reunion in
the baseball family are great, The season,
which opened with a needless civil war,
can close in n blaze of old fashioned glory
of the 1889 pattern. The champions of
League, Association and Western could
engage in a triangular battle for the bunt-
ing to represent the worlds champion
ship. In past years the contests have been
too many in number; it has made the
fight drag YEARLY. With three clubs it
would be different. The west would revive
under such an innovation, and it would
well be worth the outlay. The League has
been maintaining a dignifed silence, but
it can afford to meet the Association half
way in the negotiations for peace, which it
is to be hoped will prove lasting.
TIL League race continues to rank as the
greatest in the history of the pioneer body.
No clubs, save New York and Chicago,
have enjoyed old time winning streaks
this year, and while these rivals nave been
playing seesaw at the front since early in
the season Boston has drawn dangerously
near. There is absolutely no certainty
in picking the winner. A squirt would
place any of the eight right in the first di-
vision. Spurts, however, are not common
this year, for never was the League so
equally divided in playing strength. Its
circuit is a model. Cincinnati won its way
into seventh place while on the road. One
blot on the record is Pittsburg's babyish
quarrel. The club is not hopelessly in the
rear, but instead OF dwelling upon the
closeness of the fight the Smoky City
scribes delight to live among the tombs.
They picked out Pittsburg for a pennant
winner ia the winter, and are bowling
mad because the fireside predictions failed.
These paper teams never do" Captain
Comiskey's inglorious failure in the Play
sr's league will always be overwhelming
evidence in confederation of such a plat
form.
On what little things does a champion
ship hitchI New York mourns Buck Ew-
ing with a lame shoulder and Jack Glass
cock with a felon to nurse. Boston grieved
because Bobby Lowe lost "a fingernail in
practice. Cincinnati's pulse stopped mo.
%mentarily when Holidays hand was
crushed to the wall beneath a heavy trunk.
The collision at Eastern park which sent
Burns and Collins to the hospital caused
a thrill of horror throughout the land. The
merest trife OF. ar Academia swollen
finger or a bruised leg-might cost the flag
In such a fight as the eight League clubs
are making. Cincinnati's capture of Curtis
md Halligan came like a godsend to the
Hub that has guarded the eight hole nearly
all year.
Captain Comiskey has pluckily kept at
1t and he hopes to a k the lead from Bos-
ton while the Association men from the
Hub are trailing in the west.
Rem. MuLFoRD, JR
Call at David's drug store for sod
water.