Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-08-25
THE NINTH INNING NOW
Caylor's Comment on the Clos
 ing Baseball Season.
LUCKLESS THIRTEEN'S HAVOC.

 Western and California LeaGues-Pitcher
 HAwke's Wonderful Work \ sainst Wash
 inGton.
 The National league race for the percant Is settling down into a condition that makes 1t rather easy to see the end. The BostoES will without doubt come out an easy win uer The Pittsburg club has been figuring it out so that 1t claims good chance 70 beat the Bostous OF the homestretCh- That task is hardly possibility. The PittsbUrEs are playing good ball and ought to take sec ond place from the Clevelauds, The Phil ade!phias have temporarily gone tO pieces, and it Is now no sure thing that the New Works will not beat them cut. The metro politan Giants have at last got into seem ing form" and are playing such ball as would have made them equals of the Bos tons had they done the same kind of play | ing earlier in the season. The first three l clubs in the race at the end should be tLe | BostCus PittsburCs and Cleve!ands in the l order named. IL is long time till Sept. 1 So. but these clubs will undoubtedly finish l one, two, three
 There Is something in the oft told story l of luck as applied to base ball, and of course luck is of two kinds-Good and bad IhNa- | delphia and Cleveland are justified In cCm- planning of an unfair distribution of the hard kind in their favor. l. has had much to do in keeping them down in the race The Philadelphias are desperately weak encd by the loss of their star player, Billy Hamilton. who is stricken with typhoid fever Hamilton's illne>> js also loss 10 the entire League He w4> a star indeed. For several years be led the players of the country as batter and alsn as base run ner. while his fielding has always been phc- nomenal It is hard to estimate the real worth to team of a man like Hamilton. nor yet to figure out the percentage rt | weakness which his absence from uiue would occasion
 Besides the los of Hamilton the PLila- | delphias. just at the height ot their ~uc | cess. were deprived of the scrN iCr> ui H'ylr, Hollmaun and Reilly. and Thompson, ihs;T | heavy hitting outtivldvr. deN vloVyi H lame | hess that WAS a serious handicap t1 Ei~ | work. The Cievelnuds have also had au | unusual share uf absvnteciSm from their team by reason of Injuries, Tvhvau, McAl | leer, O'Couuor and Zjmmer have all been | placed hors du combat within the li>I month.
 On the other hand. the Bostor~ have been extremely fortunate. Only v@e vt | their players-Merr!tt-ha met w.tA in | juries since early in the season. But ], l. | not luck that has put the BoStou> >o far ahead in the race. IL j. good ball. team work; playing the tricks of the game Their | men Ai ( N Ul lug together AS NtaL man EN | cry player knows al all times just whI; Is expected of him and just what h.> Com radeS on the nine will do under any kind Ut | circumstances They know All the trl, kS of play. too. and never fail to wuIA them to advantage. The ollI, IAl ANvTIgeS will show that the Bu>tuus have made many more sacrifice hits during the eest>ua than any other club, They have won u.uIv hy working around runs one at a time than by I haft l1srE of
 A favorite play has been to allow o;.r Lt-t
 runner to be caught between h.~t~ N LlIy
 the man on third watches his opi0rtuolty and scores. At least seven games Et,t
 been won by them this year on tL t, p., ,e
 of strategy.
 These be fearful times for Uncle An~,n | For the tir>t time in his IouE life on tIv diamond he is fighting de~pvr tfrly to k--r out of last pl1ce. Gradually clIh a:t,I ,...a has passed lis ''Colts," uI.t!l uuv v;.lN ~,
 rem ain hvh:ud. and they are Cnu..,- ,p fast. The experience k decidedly Lev to the veteran, Usually at this season 4 the year he has been hAmmeTing arHut.t l.. ty the top. To be tioUuderiug at the }-,'' t,si k deeply humiliatjnG. To add to Li> tIyu
 bles Le has a l1 hands high Charley harss
 which occasionally keeps him in thy e'I
 ble, and his star player Ryan auI.a..:.,-- that his recent railroad injuries are ~' >...:
 ous that he will not be able 10 play d. t-. this year. Alas for the old man
 My recent prediction that tLe W->:,rU
 league would organize and enter usN' --s
 son on a large scale has been confirmed suppose II k safe Ia say that St, Paul, Min . neapolis, Milwaukee, Kansas City a,.I
 Omaha will have six Vf the leaLtI- C''s's> | If wisdom controls the Conftr-.>,. ,i ;,-. <s
 men when they get together, they N. , make their organization one of eight q .i-
 and avoid the weakness of a l2 club Ciy,-.i- which aided largely the disruption vt Int
 southern league this summer.
 The Mississippi valley has had a season 7 of rest from the excitemeuts of the national game, and the people should be ripe fnl
 the sport next spring. The year of l>i
 promises to find baseball enthusiasm al
 high tide once more, and the Venture d organizing in the west will not be satyvuLe,
 with the former amount of risk.
 The diSbanding of the southern and Cali
 fornia leagues was the result of had uana--.-
 ment rather than of natural decline i!l t.-
 terest- Last spring pointed out ~-vv-L
 serious mistakes made by the SuuIi.,rt l | league. One was the increase of thvlr cir f cult from to l2 cities; another WAS the oru 0 tinuauce of the double championship af,si the National league had dropped II, thin was a miserably arransrd schedule g. [ games.
 In addition tO all this, few of the club 8 yielded to the temptation of money hrld ou' e to them by National league CluhS for lh, s release of favorite players Other club ] | partoOk of the craze. and a steady emierl
 tiou of the suatheru clubs best player~ ~e
 in to the north early in July. The rv<ul
 was not hard to forssee. People in th, | south naturally became diSGuStei and wit h
 drew their patronage. Then came the eu,
 very speedily.
 In California there were too many game | and too few Cluts- Four clubs make aS uu
 profitable league as do l2- The h,>t mum
 Der Is eight, and the National league vii
 not be long struggling under the hAudGcai of a I3 curnered circuit.
 Several recOris for the season have teeI
 made Pitcher Hawke Of the Baltimore
 holds the reCord in his line of work by
 shutting out the WaShinStOns on Aug !, | without a single base hit. Captain Don
 ovan of the PittsburSs holds the ouJfivlJ D recoryi. He played in +9 consecutive game q without an error. killrn of the same cIul f played in l3 consecutive games which h. 1T club won. and that Is also a recOrd. In tht b.a kun.sE ,,f