Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-04-12

| THE BASE BALL SEASON.
II win BE Opened in the Six Larger Cities
This Afternoon.
| SIZING Up THE DIFFERENT TEAMs-How THE
LOCAL TEAM COMPARES IN FIELDING, BATTING
| AND IN THE BOX WITH OTHER TEAMs-PoINTs
OF WEAKNESS AND STRENGTH IN THE CLUBS
The finest base ball organization that ever
existed will today begin its history. Tho first
championship season of the year will open in
Washington. Baltimore, Philadelphia, CinthD-
natl, Louisville and St. Louis. Owing to
the intelligent and impartial work OF
the committee on players the terms
will be more evenly matched on tho
start than ever before. greater in
terest in the game will be felt this year than
ever in the cities Of the league. for it will be
the first time that the majority Of them will
see the picked players OF the late association
and league. Hitherto through ignorance each
organization has been derided by the cities hold
ing membership in the other. The league
cities affected to despise the association teams.
CHASING them as cheap and anlateurlsh. whlie
| the association cities have called the hague
players overrated and have Deems. Now ior
| the first time, league and assocfauon Pl"!eIs
mingle and'a juster appreciation OF 'neir mesl.s
| will follow Already this result has oeen
| noticeable in New York, where the cranks nave
well nigh exhausted themselves In the praise
| of BOYLE ard Fuller. Fuller, however. the Ne"
| York papers seem to forget, Is an OLD wash
inston player, a member OF the former league
| team Of this city. oo
Before the flag drops for the great race OF "
the qusdrennial year. when everything Amer
| lean is great and splendid, it might De Wen 70
look over the teams, scan their apparent
strength and weakness and make a forecast OF
where thew will be when the winner crosses the
line.
THE SENATOR'S.
First as to the Washington team. In the
calculations made elsewhere our team IL not
estimated very high. One tout says that 1t
| will have hard road to travel in spite OF the
infusion of league blood" Another says 1t is
| weak in the box and not especially strong In
| the field or at the bat" The review OF the
| local team given in these columns on Saturday
refutes these statements to considerable ex-
tent. In the field We have Larkln, Danny
Richardson Hardie Richardson and Radford,
and the records show that there 10 not
stronger infeld in the country. Brook
| lyns is the only infield that compares with 1t.
New York's cannot begin to equal 1t. Chicagos
adelphia's approach it, but are no
better. As to hard hitters, there are Donovan
and Duffee above the 800 mark, and Milligan
| Just on the mark. Then, too, there are Larkin.
both the Richardson's and Mcclure. who are
hitters away above the average, leaving only
Radford and Hoy who could in any way be
termed weak at the bat. But they are run
getters. HOY made more runs than any mem
Der of the association last year, and whether
he gets them by balls or hits and bases by skill
full running he gets them and that is what wins
games. No. there is no weaknessi in the field or
at the bat As to the box. knell and kilien stood
second and third among association pitchers
last year. and ASSOCIATION pitchers have shown
that they were fully equal to league pitchers.
Gastright, Dolan, Foreman and Kllroy have all
shown themselves to be good, though with the
exception Of Foreman they have not faced
league batsmen. 1t would be foolish to say Of
any Of them without trial that they are weak.
They may make monkeys out of the league
assigning position in the rear to washington's
team.
1.-THE BEANEArERs."
As regards Boston. 1t is generally looked
upon as a pennant winner. 1t has the prestige
of one seasons championship and it has got
good men from the association in Duffy and
Mccarthy. Its infield is a strong one, and in
GARRISON, Stivetts and Nichols it is strong in
the box, and with CANCEL and Bennett it is
well fixed behind the bat Whether Kelly will
be a source of weakness or of strength remains
WARDS WONDERS.
Ward has a magnificent intield in Brouthers.
himself Joyce and Corcoran, and it is likely to
be stone wall for ground hits and liners. The
outfeld remains unchanged. 1t is composed
Of hard hitters. 1t is in the box that Brooklyn
is at present weak. Until Haddock and Lovett
are signed Brooklyn must get along with ex-
perimental twirlers wko have not - yet made
much Of . reputation.
THE qcAKERa
The same criticism applies to the Philadel-
phis team. Keefe may regain his old form and
he may not. Certainly New York would not
have allowed him to 60 If it had not been sup
posed his day was past. He certainly showed
last year that his wrist had for the time lost its
cunning. Thornton has pitched some remark
able ball but no one can tell how long he will
last. Carsey is promising. but that Is about
all He needs a catcher who understands him
to steady him. What he can do against
league batsmen remains TO be seen. His
record last year was not bril-.
liant one. though it must be said
that he gave Washington faithful and energetic
work. In Conner, Mailman, Mulvey and Allen.
q mixture Of league and association men, there
is a strong infeld, but it has not played to-
gether q single season and their team work is a
matter Of the future. Thompson, DelehantJ
and Hamilton make q rd-hitting and we'll
fielding outfeld. but in no way superior to
Washington's Clements and Cross are good
catchers, but Washington would NOT give Nc
CURE and Milligan for them.
THE ORIOLES.
Baltimore's team is generally regarded here
as the weakest Of the eastern mines. 1t is un-
deniably weak in the box and, barring Buf1in-
ton. Healy. its best pitcher, is an unknown
quantity this year. His arm may be all right
and it may not. Whistler, Shindle Gilbert and
Pickett make an infield that is not re-
marksbly strong. 1t is one from which occa-
sional brilliant plays can be expected, but not
one that can be depended on for a steady,
errorless game. Whistler is probably the
best of the loS- He is good fielder
and fair hitter. From his connection
with the Washington club when it was in the
Atlantic Association Washingtonians are
familiar with his work. He is an earnest
ambitious and conscientious player and q
strength to any team. He was q regular God
send to the New Yorks in 1890 when they were
in such straits. The outield il neither strong
in fielding or in batting.
THE REDS"
Now that Rhines is disabled the Cincinnatis
are for the time being weak in the box A
great deal is expected Of Comiskey, but Comis-
keys success with the St. Louis Browns Law
mostly in the fact that he had . much better
team than any other in the association. When
it was weakened it dropped. Both the infield