The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-07-07
TOO MANY TAIL ENDERS
The Cause of the Slump in
Baseball Finances.
TUEwEAEER CLUBSFAILTODRAW
%. p. CayIor Discusses tho fians Fro-
nosed for the Improvement OF the Sit
no,ion-Tbe Strong. Steady Pull of the
uos,on Team-Cincinnatis Loom UP.

| ,,.on Team-Cfncinnatis Loom Up.
During the eighth inning Of recent New
York. Brooklyn game at the Polo grounds,
LIN tho former team were driving the
stoeI bsrbs Of defeat into Captain Ward S
| prideoroous. an earnest 'ro0ter" for the
Rrooklvns made this remark in my hear
ing: ,,., -
ne the philadelphia have the Bostons
beaten. those bum Giants come along and
take a game from the Brooklyns. Now
tbis came can do them no earthly good in
the race. and it may mean the loss OF the
! championship TO the Brooklyns. J can't
| understand it,"
Here was a man living in city where
baseball has been played in all its honesty
for half a score of years indulging in that
| kind of talk. lie should have known By
experience that it is just such instances as
loomed up in that New York-Brooklyn
game which furnished insurmountabie
proofs that the national game IS absolutely
honest and square
The Bostons on that day were beaten be-
fore the New Yorks began their victorious
assault upon the BroOklyns. A victory TO
the latter then would have been OF almost
/ inestimable worth, and az an aid TO the
| New Yorks in their race standing 1t was
hardly factor Yet they played just as
/ earnestly 10 win as though the game was
to decide whether they should be cham
| pions.
That conference Of the League baseball
! maQnates at the Fifth Avenue hotel, IN
! New York city, was born Of trouble all
over the circuit. Truth compels the con
/ fession that the prosperous condition OF
| things which was anticipated after the In
dianapolis consolidation last winter has not
! materialized. Every club but one-the
! Cincinnatis-has a deficit TO face on It's
| hooks this season. The magnates there
fore met to discuss the causes which led TO
| this alarming state aud 20 see If they could
not agree upon a remedy
II was not hard 10 locate the cause.
| There are too many tail enders," ana
"tail enders." or losing clubs, are always
weak in drawing powers both at home and
abroad. This hurts, financially, not only
themselves, but every one of the strong
clubs
While the cause was apparent to all, the
remedy was not matter Of assent The
best plan Of course would be TO strengthen
all the weak teams, but the older and
stronger clubs were not willing to volun-
ter material for that work, and as the ma
tional agreement locks up all the newly
developed talent it is easier to locate the
weak points in baseball at present than 1t
is to provide the remedy.
TIE final agreement TO restrict each club
to thirteen players at first seemed a good
plan by which TO reach the end desired
But q carful inspection Of the clubs list Of
players puts a different phase on the stu
alton With the exception Of the Bostons.
not one club has surplus over the re-
stricted number from which q strengthen
ing player can be selected. ! therefore
cannot conceive how any Of the weak club
can strengthen their teams by this plan
For OF course each club which has more
than thirteen men on its pay roll will re-
lease those whose worth is the least. The
history of baseball shows that charity il
the same among magnates that it is the
world overt begins at home and ends
there.
II is generally acknowledged that the
twelve club circuit was a mistake, but IL
is p mistake which is almost irremediable
The receipts from unattractive games
have been so much smaller than was an
ticipated that the kitty" Of 10 per cent. Of
the gross receipts Of each game which was
provided for the general fund and applied
TO paying off the Leagues obligations from
the buy-outs at Indianapolis had TO be
raised to i219 cents.
1t understood that this same condition
of slump pervades to Il degree among
the clubs OF the minor associations Bus
as they have, under a salary limit rule, pro
yided for much smaller expenditures than
IN other years, they can stand the strain
better than the big League, where clubs
pay salaries which are on the average 20
per cent. larger than they were in lSs9-the
most prosperous year in the history of the
game
The thirteen limit established at the
Fifth Avenue conference proves that the
magnates are not superstltious II the play
ers are. That number was agreed 10 50
that each team might retain three bat
teries or three pitchers, two catchers and
general utility man.
IL now seems probable that the Bostons
will win the first League championship,
which comes 10 an end on the 18th Of July.
Their team is playing a strong, steady
game. and one hears from all sides the
opinion that II is the strongest team ever
organized That belief is not founded on
fact. Ii caunot compare in general strength
with the Boston team OF 1875 nor with the
Chicago team Of 1876 10 is strong ia
pitching and fielding, but is not even
moderately strong batting team. There
are not more than three men in the cOllec-
ton who have ever mustered among the
800 per cent. battcrs OF the country; the
three are Kelly, Stoyey and Duffy.
The first eastern trip OF the western clubs
Of the League has shown the Cincinnatis 20
be the strongest OF the six. Comiskeys
eleven victories out Of eighteen games il
reckoned As remarkable record for d team
on the road II the Bostons had not such
lead the Cincinnatis would be a danger.
Gus foe-for they have a series of eighteen
games on their own grounds, and they are
known 70 be the strongest home team in
the country.
After their magnificent squirt just before
their departure for the east, the Chicagos
fell back into the rut Of defeat Anson's
trouble comes from temporary weakness
IN the pitchers box. Gumbert and Luby
have been incapacitated and Hutchinson
was overworked. The latters feat Of
pitching three games in two successive
days is without parallel during late years,
The Louisvilles are badly crippled and
worse demoralized, while the st. Louis