Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-08-13

4 a'uNA HM up tuch WCstcfh
| tWWAsUSMN with two games at
|. SNe wv Pittsburg on Labor
~. day, September 5. Then
they viii return to play
two games here with Cleveland, Louisville,
Cincinnati, st. Louis and Chicago and three
games each with New York, Brooklyn and Phil
adelphia. Three games will follow in Boston,
| two in New York, returning to play two here
! with Baltimore. Then two games in Brooklyn
and Philadelphia will follow and the season will
close here with two games with the Bostons.
who opened the years playing here on April
IL. There will be twenty nine games away
from home and twenty-three at home.
By the latest statistics made up Of the work Of
the various clubs IN the league the Washingtons
stand NTH in batting and tenth in fielding
This shows that the club has somewhat fallen
on In batting since the close Of the first season.
Ihen they stood:fourth in batting and, as now,
tenth In fielding. The low standing in fielding
during the first season was due to the constant
changing Of tine infeld, the shifting of men
from shortstop and second and third Bases
Had the men played the positions to which they
were assigned at the beginning of the first sea-
have been higher. Richardson was on second.
Radford at short and Hardie Richardson was on
third. Donovan was covering left field Man.
ager Barnie was dissatisfied with Donovan
work i'd the field and he accordingly put Hardie
Richardson in left and tried Dowd at third
hardle Richardson's arm had not been sea-
soned and he was afraid to trust it on long
throws. This caused dissatisfaction.
Dowd did not cover third satisfactorily
and Radford WAS tried there. He did
better. At this time the club was PLAYING win
ming ball and stood fifth in the race Then be-
gan a series OF changes which have continued
up TO the present. The club dropped lower
and lower. When Dan Richardson went TO
short and Dowd TO second, Radford to the field
and Robinson to third an infield was obtained
that lasted throughout the first season. The
club then went up the list and finally ended at
the head of the second division. With the sec
ond season more changes were made and soon
the down grade was again struck, and now
Washington Is back IN tenth place. 1t occurs
to the unprejudiced observer to ask if Washing
ton would not have Jared better with the old
original nine that began the season last April
What is the secret of a base ball managers
success! Evidently there are different causes
sometimes nine is SO strong that it outclasses
the other mines. Its success is due then, to the
good judgment of the men who selected the
team "ln other cases ii comes from the play
ing together OF team season after season. The
perfection of team work is then attained In
other cases success comes from the excellent
feeling between the manager and the PLAYERS
Undoubtedly the success of the New Yorks when
they were champions came largely from the
fast that Mutrie could get the best work out of
his men. He was not base ball general As
a manager he was undoubtedly inferior to Pow
ers. who succeeded him, but he "jol.ed" the
men along. They played for his sake as well as
their own. Their interests were the same. The
same feeling existed toward Managers Wright
and Barnle. who, however. as managers were
much the superior of Mutrie. As a general
thing good feeling must exist between manager
and players for team to be successful.
''The man who planned the base ball diamond
was far-slghted, said, man who has given
considerable thought to the national game the
other day. sit was planned for the day of
perfection in base ball. and not for the game as
it was first played, and only one change has
been made in all these years of improvement
in the game-the pitcher has been moved fur
Their back. Take the distance from first base to
second and from home to second, for instance.
How many close decisions there are at second
base. The runner has a much shorter distance
to go than the ball has to travel from the
catcher to second, vet both are accomplished in
about the same time. An umpire has to be
very near to make an accurate decision. 1t
seems as though one thing was weighed against
another. Then take the distance to third base.
1t is much shorter for the catcher to throw but
this is somewhat counterbalanced by the fact
that the ball must be thrown from the right
side and with the batsman in the way the
catcher must wheel around to do it, So it be-
comes close decision there with fast runner
trying to make the steal. I tell You the man
who planned the base ball diamond had long
head"
y. P. Taylor always writes entertainingly on
base ball, whether accurately or not His latest
screed has been on poker playing among base
ball players. He holds that it is most demoraliz-
ing and injurious. and he argues well, but the
force Of the argument is considerably lessened
by the fact that the two teams having the
greatest poker players-New Yorks and St
Louis-won the championships Of their respec-
tive organizations the year they INDUCED most
in poker.
The double season experiment has been a
great thing for the Baltimores and the New
1orks. Here two teams hopeiessly in the ruck
were given a fresh start, and with the aid Of
fresh material they have kept we'll to the 'front.'
New York has been benefited by Rusie and
Crane getting into first-class condition, and, as
general thing. the fielders have been having
an easy time. When clubs like the Brooklyns
are kept down to two hits it elbows that there is
first-class pitching being done. As fielders the
New forks are not much. As soon as their
pitchers are hit hard they go to pieces. When
the New Iorks make errors it will be found that
Burke. Fuller and Denny Lyons are the ones
that make them. With weak pitchers the team
would be nowhere. The condition Of the New
Yofks is the exact opposite Of the Washingtons
Baltimore has been winning through hard hit
ting. There's not a man on the team but can
be depended upon for a hard hit. Their pitch
| ers have been pitching fair ball and conse-
quently they have kept up near the front.
The Stars announcement Of the changes in
the local team was read with much interest BY
local patrons. Local cranks never tire Of
squeezing" for the home club. There is no
other city where hope dwells so persistent as
here. Even with losing team and little pros
pect of its being anything else the attendance
Mt the games has kept up surprisingly. There
is always the hope that luck will turn, for there
| il the deep-seated conviction that the team has
| good material and only needs intelligent dlrec-
ton to secure a creditable place. That much
| has been shown in the games that have been
played here. 1t is expected that Browning and
Twitchell will raise the clubs batting average.
They have the reputation of being hard hit ters,
but have not been brilliant az fielders. For
some reason they have not been in demand by
| the league clubs Browning has been tried by
the Louisvilles and Cincinnatis this year and
has been discarded. That Of course does not
prove that he is not valuable, though it might
| indicate that. Twitchell has been seen here
| frequently and his work is better known.
Mark Baldwin is as good pitcher as he ever
was, but the Ptttsburg players have no conf
dence in him any more and do not play ms good
| ball a. with other harder working pitchers in
/ the box.
The official attendance at Pittsburg during