Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-08-24

absence of Childs, and as the nino is now made up it Is nearly the weakest batting combination in the National league Still they have pitchers which in n dcgrcc offsCt | that weakness, a point of advantage to which I called attention carly in the sea son The Pittsburgs' batting Is satisfac- tory, but they are weak ''in the box" If any western team ends the season in the front division, 1t will be either Cleveland. Plttsburg or Chicago. IL would not sur prise me to sce ths ChicaeOs pass tho Pitts burgs beforc Scpt. 30.
 Who will win the pcnnants IL looks like Boston now. With the east against the west for thc remainder of the sEsson, thcrc secm to bc only thrce cluhs which have a chancc for one two Sothru''-narnc- ly, the BostOns. New Works and Ralti- mons The PhiladclPhias, with their serious wCakncss in the box and Ihcir had position in the raCe, will do well to kCyp among the first six, and do nut heiIcvc the Clcvclands or the PittsburE,s cnn bct- ter their prCsCnt standing during thc rCssi of the season.
 The fight, thcrcfUrC, nArruws down to the BostOns. BaltimOrCs and New Works
 The champions arc playing their usual strong game at the s-'ason's clusc and I do not src how they can be hessdCi for any
 grIsat length uf time, innsInuch they meet cxRctly the salnc teams which the
 New Works and BaltinurCs mC,t fruIn this time till the SOth of OCtobcr. The BUs-
 tons pitching department is far rum be
 ing strong, but their batting. especially
 while nt home makes fhCm well nigh i'm
 vinciblc. If they can start west In SCp-
 tcmhcr with a lead uf thpC ur four gaines,
 the pennant will probably la aSsIINsd la them.
 The BaltimUrCs have St StTCngtllcnCJl what SccnCd for time tO is, fatal wCaknCss-
 kid Gleason Is pitching n strong gamc for them, and Esprr l. doing bsttCr than
 he did in Washington. probably hccaUse
 his field support is better. The New
 Works arc cncCurasgcd by the fact thai German appears tO have ruundcd into form, thus giving them a sCt of thrC>c of the best and most rclinhic pitchers in any League club Tho finish among the thrC'e leaders should bc a memorable one This year tho intcrcst Is not ccntCrcd
 alone in tho winner of tho pCnnant- Then
 is almost ns much desirc among the teams themselves to get second place as tO win tho championship. because the first two teams
 in the race will have that October fight for tho Temple cup. which cnst S7O0. but
 which will bc worth probably SS,O or sl0.O GOO to the contestants, and as the members of the two teams will divide the net gate receipts of the series in prOpOr-
 tions of S5 and G per cent it means frrn s2O0 to $500 extra money for each player | of the contendinG clubs. A knowledge of this fact will cause the baseball public to watch the struggle of the teams to win | out "sccond or bcttCr" With more than | usual interest, know from personal in- formation that the Bustons arc anxious | that tho New Works shall get the place, '" for in that event most of tho games of the extra series would bc played in New York, | whcrc the patronage Is so much grcatcr than in any other city. If We can't win it," said one of the Bostuns tO me a few wpcks ago, we would like to scc the New | Works get 1t and let US in second. To tell | you the truth, the tu ss would almost as | soon bc second as first if New York could end at the top. But of course shall endeavor tn win every game
 As the race rcaches the home stretch the | deplorable weakness in pitchers bcumcs more and more apparent. and the scurcs
 grow larger and larger. The hope of some ! that when the dog days came a few of the l "disappointments" would round to- has l not been realized. and it looks as if the | ranks of the order of has bccns'' will bs | materially recruited by the dcadwood ! from National League clubs Let us look l over the list The Bostons have one pitch
 CT, Nichols, upon whom they can mostly
 depend. but Stivetts and Staley arc weak
 at times, while their new man from the
 Pennsylvania State leaguo, HodsOn, hasn' t | given great prumise-
 II Perhaps New York is better of than any club in the League if German may be said to have rccoycrcd from the effect of
 his last winters illness, as secms probable In Rusie, Meckiu md German the club
 will come very near to having the thres
 leading pitraers of the League. Brook
 lyn's corps is cratic When Kennedy was Il NVNE is away up and Kennedy Is away OIL Daub Is unreliable. and Lucid. the new
 man from New England, has not bccn thoroughly tested
 Philadelphia has not a first class pitcher . in tho team, and most of them arc not even
 mcdIocrc- Washington has a star In Ncr- | OCT. The rest arc uncertain and not of more than fair ability. Baltimore can depend on McMahon- Gleason and Espcr, with good field support, should do fairly we'll The west Is wOrse of yet Pittshurs never knows whether its pitcher will b< | battcd for 20 runs or threc or four. Dwyei . is tho only ''twirlcr' in Cincinnati wh' | can be called even mediocre. BrietcnsteiI . is St. Louis only card. Anson has Griffiti and threc or four other pitchers who m [ hammered with resularity- Louisvill,
 can't claim one star on its pitching staii 1 | Cleveland alone of the western teams ha - | two good men for the center.
 Of all tho newcomers of the year 6riffitl | and Mercer alone have risen to promi hence Mercer Is the wonder of the ycal
 | His grcat work against the Bostons. Cleyc ; lands and Philadclphias stamps him as Q pitcher who has a brilliant futurN He q young and for @ man of slight build hs '. an endurance which is wonderful McrcS i, cnmc from the New England league | | last ycar and his success was almost IT l. \ stantaneousL Tho fact that hc has mad his reputation fin nearly the weakest teal of the League is all the moro to his crcdi Less than . month remains of tho minS , leagues seasons. yet wo find the wcstc'
 league, the Western association, tho Eas | ern league. the New England league ar !, ! the Pennsylvania State league all pror s ising to finish with unbroken circuits !. eight clubs each No other season In q [, history of the gamc ever saw such Q proI
 ising state of affairs in baseball the latt 70 part of August O. F. CAYLoR