, 1892-02-21
BASEBALL PHENOMENA.
Concerning "Comers" Who
Failed to Come.
HIGH HOPES DASHED TO EARTH.

Young Mem Who Have Threatened to
RevoIutionize the National Game, but
It-There VIII BE Many Surprises Next
Season.
Winter is the harvest time of the ball
players for complimentary forecasts. On
other roads in the journey of life there are
sporadic cases where a man has leaped
into fame in a night, but it is while the
base paths are frozen tina the unknown
are dug out and placed upon pedestals for
public inspection. Some fulfill the prom
ises of those who nave discovered them.
Others rejoice in typographical notoriety
for a time. but when the hour comes to
caress the horsehide they are foundw want
ing. Ranked as exploded phenomenons,
they tumble back into obscurity unwept
and unsung. Such anne is not lasting. In
the ages to come, when the memories of
the wal of 1890 are not so narrowing, it
will be safe to refer to the most stipend
GUS list OF phenoms ever given to the en-
thusiastics-the roster of the ambitious
youngsters who wished to shine in the
places of those who had deserted League
for Brotherhood.
Phenoms may come and phenoms may go,
but Nick Young's roll will exist alone as
long as Yankee Doodle loves the game.
The crank loves to dwell among his idols.
To throw down his idols is a task that can
be accomplished in but one way. A dis
play of nerve at a critical moment, a base
hit when it was needed as badly as the
gentleman in Oklahoma did a gun, a slide
into the plate with the winning run on an
e~lectrifying, life saving play in the field
will make the ordinary crank forget home
and mother. While he is giving his larynx
athletic exercise he forgets the favorites OF
the past. He lives only to sound loud the
praises of the new.
History will show that a majority of the
young bloods do not last. Many of those
who were hailed as coming heroes in the
year of strife have fallen into number
company. Others are in reality out OF
sight. There are always a few who stick it
out. Dahlen and Davis are striking ex-
amples of the talent that lies hidden await
ing development. The counterfeits, how.
ever, are more plentiful than the genuine
article. Almost every follower of the game
can recall metaphorical ~poundings of the
drum and clashing of the cymbals of joy
over valued playing acquisitions that
proved sadly premature when the time
came for the lay dow of "the hand"
Some years ago Cincinnati was worked
up to the highest pitch of enthusiasm over
the high promises made for a young twirl.
er who had gained fame up in GAINESVILLE
by holding the st. Louis Browns to a couple
of hits. Walter Watson was signed. He
was as innocent looking a specimen as ever
left the farm. The first day he arrived in
town he was tackled by two bunko men,
and that night he plaintively asked if there
really was hay on his back. Watson waxed
fat, but he did no work.
Watson will pitch today" was the bull.
letin that was run so often that it might
just as well have been marked at. f." Fl.
nally, after a fortnight of disappointments,
Watson did pitch, and the panorama of the
other fellows getting around the bases was
one that made those who had banked" on
the rowes of the GAINESVILLE boy whistle
1.-THE Heart Bowed Down" Watson's So
journ was not heightened.
Old Hickory Carpenter also stumbled
across two "fnds'' while wintering in New
Orleans, and they also found refuge in the
Queen City. Michael Shea, the pitcher,
was one of them. There was no singing
HE Never Came Back" in the Crescent
City in his case. He arrived home on an
early train, and has since only figured in
the Southern and Texas leagues. James
E. Woulffe was heralded as 'the cotton
merchant" who had abandoned his bust.
ness for a love of the game. The merchant
was not at home in the field and the gods
of the bleachers were caustic. The Gin.
cinnati club soon gave Mr.. Woulfe per
mission to again shine among the factors
in cotton in the Pelican State. Later on
there was another great surprise promised
to the Porkopolitans. A pitcher who had
been king promised to resume his throne.
1t was DR.. Richmond. The other fellows
were very cruel. They made hits a good
deal faster than DR.. Richmond could pull
teeth, and he returned to take up the for
ceps, abandoning forever the ball field.
There is scarcely a city in the land that
is not full of such "reminiscences. The ad
ventures of the Eldorado battery in St.
Louis is a story as full of meat as an NJ.
Quad sketch. Chris Won der Abe signed
them for play and they worked out then
advance as carpenters tinkering on the
stands. Even New York has possessed a
first baseman who had his picture in more
prints than he ever played championship
gamesl
There are a score of youngsters who are
fated to go through the old treadmill OF
experience in the big league next spring.
Cleveland has one likely pitcher upon
whom l have been requested to keep my
eye" Enthusiasts who summered at Lake
Chautauqua Int ran down to jamestown to
see that team play ball say that George
Cuppy is likely to fool some people. In
the fall games Theodore Breitenstein made
a remarkable box record in St. Louis, and
the Browns have in Nick Moran a young
catcher whose work at Joliet in the team
with the beautiful title of 1.-THE Convicts''
attracted 40 little attention.
Louisville has been fishing in minor
league waters and has landed the Brad
ford battery of Jones and Hess. New
York has an assorted lot of pitchers, in
addition to a quartet tried and true.
Fred Woodcock, the pitcher that Pitts
burg has signed, is said to be a conner"
Tim Murnane declared to me that he de-
serves all the good words that have been
spoken about him, and the sage of Boston
has in his day picked out players in num-
Der more than a few. Uncle Arson has
been unusually quiet, for him, and the
Kelkaska michigan Pipp-
booked to fill Fred Pfeffer's shoes, is the
aalx plaEaS 10 has Gaa=aa a,4 = i.-i