New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-11-13
CHANGES IN AMER CAN SPORTS.

CHANCES IN AMER CAN SPORIS
In these dull days of November the in
forest in outdoor sports is chiefly concentrated
on college football and on athletic games
Racing and baseball have both retired into the
background The thorCughbredS will not me%
again in New-Yorl State until May 10, 1875
| and the capitalists who have been supplying
the funds of the baseball clubs arc busy III
preparing their plans for next year. In Doth
donartmcnts OF recreation and rivalry there
has been much to disappOint and dlShcalten
the admirers OF these sports. baseball mas
been managed with so little Judgment, skill
and sagacity this year as seriously to endahgcr
its hold upon the liking Of the American
people A thoroughgoing revolution in meth
DDS and policy must take place before inc
opcn,ny # play III 1898, or there Will be no
satisfactory returns TO the investors in base
ball stock hereafter. 1t is not difficult to dlS-
cover the chief sources of trouble. They are
the same the world over in every sort OF
snort like baseball or racing, where large
revenues come in from gate receipts. In such
sports an eager struggle for dividends sets IN,
and rival interests dispute and struggle to-
rether In irving TO secure the largest posi-
BILE shares Of the profits. There has been al
together too much greed and avarice displayed
both by the hackers of baseball clubs and by
the players Themselves. In everything con-
nected with the game investors, managers ana
PLAYERS must be satisfied with more moderate
returns hereafter and not be so ambitious to
enrich themselves suddenly. If they do not
harmonic their conflicting claims and restrain
themselves within due bounds they will 50
weary the American people with their qllrrels
and their plumbers that the national game
will sink into degradation and diSIepute, and 1t
will no longer be possible to get together
great multitude of people 10 see contests be-
tween the professional clubs.
The season has been an unfortunate one IN
the main for the racing associations. The at
tendance at the tracks of the four great jockey
clubs of the East-thc Monmouth Park Assoc
citation. the New-York. Concy Island and Brook
lyn Jockey clubs-haS not compared well with
the crowds of previous years. and there has
been 4 conspicuous falling of in the popu-
lartv of the sport and in the enthusiasm dis
played over the battles of the thoroughbreds.
II has been a remarkable year for the trottcrs,
and the interest in trotting has been kept up
10 a high pitch by the extraordinary achieve
ments in record breaking that have been put
10 the credit of horses, mares, colts and iilles
in all parts of the country. The Improvements
in the sulky have enhanced the speed OF all
trotters 10 marvellous extent. uorses and
mares, that with the od-fashioned sulky could
not make a record below 2 80, have been
troiting this season In . Is, and even in less
time Among all classes of people who take
an interest in the possibilities Of swift progress
over space in any sort of vehicle on wheels, ex-
pectation is all agog TO note what may come
next in approaching the two-mnutcs goal for |
the trotter. In comparison with tho running |
of thoroughbred horses the exploits of the |
trotters have occupied far larger place in |
the public attention than had been the case
in earlier years reaction from the climax
of prosperity and enthusiasm which the jockey !
clubs reached in 1891 has been noteworthy all |
over the country
Undoubtedly the pooroOms have inflicted |
serious injuries upon the racotracks, hut the |
of racing properties is largely |
in fault for the comparative GOODNESS and
apathy with which the great masses of the
lovers of sport and recreation have been re-
garding running races this year. 4 radical
change in methods and policy is even
moro necessary in the management of
the turf than it is in the management
of baseball. The managers of our racing as
sociations must display less greed for divi-
dcnds and more care for public opinion. II is
plain that they do not now enjoy the confidence
Of the great majority of the public, or the at
tendance at the racetracls would have been
far greater this season. They must set TO work
to earn that confidence and TO retain il they
must conduct racing in such a way that no
suspicious of fraud shall be aroused they should
refuse licenses 10 owners trainers and jockeys
who have been guilty of practices that brought
lscrcdit upon the turf; they should exclude
from their tracks owners with such records
and regulations as bling disgrace upon every
hing with which these owners are associated
hey must put check to the unfair dealings
IF extrayagant plungcrS; they must keep the
betting ring under proper restraint: they must
get rid of all the rascals who now infcst tho
acetrack Then, and not until then. will
he American turf regain its former place in
The affections and admiration of American
overs of high-claSs sport
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Az INFAMOUS TRADE IN AFRICA.