Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1894-03-12
BASEBALL OUTLOOK
Recent Changes IN the
Rules Described.
BUNT HIT AND TRAPPED BALL.
Fly Ball to Infield Is Out, Whether
Caught or Not if Fielder Reaches 1t.

ahead. In little more than month cham
pionship games will be daily events. Mean
while the clubs are gathering together THEN
teams, fitting up their grounds and boast
ing Of their prospects. Anson bet two suits
OF clothes last week on his belief in his
Colts, and so the preliminary season in base
ball may be said TO be open.
About the first OF the major teams TO ap
pear on the diamond will be the st. Louis
Browns. Mr.. Won der Abe, like the loyal
Irishman he Is, has arranged game in st.
Louis for St. Patrick's day In the after.
noon. Mr.. Won der Abe has always been
considered shrewd magnate, and this last
bid for the Irish patronage does him credit.
Several of the League teams will report
at Hot Springs within the next fortnight,
the champion Bostons will make TRIP
down into Virginia, and a few teams will
train at home. The Southern league has
scheduled its championship season TO begin
April IL. The National league opens it's race
April 10, and the Eastern and the Western
leagues begin operations about May /.
Every indication points to wonderfully
prosperous season throughout the United
States. The National league, Eastern
league, New England league, Southern
league, Western league, Western associ
alton, Pennsylvania State league and sew.
eral minor state leagues are already fully
organized and equipped and are preparing
for championship struggles. One Of the
most distinctive proofs Of the spreading
popularity of the national game Ia the fact
that while the Mississippi valley last yeal
had no minor baseball organization that
vast territory this year will have two power
full club combinations-the Western league
and the Western association.
The announcement that the National
league clubs paid of nearly 800 900 Of in
debtedness last year, and that almost ev.
cry one OF them made money besides In the
face of business depression, showed how
the interest in the game was growing. II
is not rash prediction to say that the in.
coming season Of 1904 will be as prosperous
and notable as was that of 1899, when the
sport reached its high tide of popularity.
The attendance upon the schedule-meet
ing of the National league in New York on
Feb. 26 and q was most significant. News
papers from Boston, Washington, Louis
vile, Chicago and other cities sent staff re
porters to the meeting, though nearly all
had resident correspondents on hand.
At this meeting several changes were
made In the playing rules which will inter
est every baseball player or reader in the
Union, because the National league play
ing rules are the standard Of play In every
section Of the land. The bunt hit was pc
nalized. Hereafter whenever a batsmen at
tempts to bunt the ball and 1t rolls foul
he will be charged with a strike. The OBJ
ject of the penalty strikes Ia two direc
tions. 1t handicaps few skilled men who
misused the play to fou! off every fairly
pitched ball until they got their base on
balls. Latham, Hamilton and Duffy were
three of these blunt killers" 1t will also
discourage those batsmen who wasted much
time last year and exhausted the patience
of spectators by trying to bunt when they
couldn't.
Then the trap ball was killed by new
rule, which declares that the batsman shall
be out on a fly ball to the infeld if an in
fielder can reach the fly in time, whether he
catches it or not. This new rule was aimed
particularly at McPhee of the Cincinnatis
and Fred Pfeffer of the Louisvilles, who, tc
use the language of the boys on the sun seats
"had de play down fine as silk and made
suckers outen de guys on de bases. SeeSn
When an infield fly went to either of those
two players, men on bases were 'twixt his
satanic majesty and the fathomless ocean.
II they stood still, the fly would be dropped,
and they would be forced; If they ran, the
found it necessary to legislate against those
two great players.
Another new rule provides that when a
batsman is hit by ball at which he strikes
he shall not get base, as heretofore, but il
will be called strike. Those were the
three important changes made in the rules
The League magnates did most popular
thing when they created the Office of CHIEF
OF the umpires and appointed Harry Wright
to I'LL 1t. In thus honoring the veteran man
aRer baseball was also honored For y
consecutive years Mr.. Wright has been &C
lively associated with professional ball He
played his first game with the kuicker
bockers OF New York in 1856. He was cap
tain OF the famous Cincinnati Red Stock.
ings OF 1S69-70 Then he went to Boston and
managed their champion team for nearly
half score of years. From Boston he went
to Providence for n couple of seasons and
there took hold of and built up the Phla
delphia team. In his long career in base
ball he has never done dishonorable act
and Is universally beloved by the public and
the players. His new duties will be tG
watch the work of the umpires and see that
no incompetent man remains on the staff
The biggest deal" of the season was the
purchase of the release-of Farrell and Mea
XIII Dy lne new 4 OrkS from the w NaShlnq
tons. The price was s. 500 cash and two
good players ITO boot"-namely, Catcher
MoMahon and Pitcher Petty. The addition
of these two men and Van Haltern 60 the
New York team, IL is generally believed,
makes 'the Giants" formidable bidder
for pennant honors in 1894.
Pitcher Pete McNabb, who recently shot
q young woman in Pittsburg and then
blew out his own brains, was considered q
half way crank when he pitched for the
Baltimores last year i believe he is the
first baseball player of any prominence 70
commit suicide As a rule, your baseball
player thinks too much of his brains to
blow them out, so long as there are such
things ia the land as baseball contracts,
managers and vacancies. McNabb made
his fame in California in 1892 and was
signed by the Baltimores at Van Halterns
suggestion.
Times cannot be as hard In the west as
the newspapers report. A contract was
mailed to Pitcher Amos Rusie at Indianep-
oils month ago guaranteeing 20 him s. 900
for six months hard labor on the ballfield
In New York. He was seen to take the CON
tract out Of the postofiice. He can read. lie
can also sign his name without biting ofI
his tongue. And yet that contract, unlike
the cat, hasn't come back Mr. Rusie is rot
pinched by the business depression.
n II CAyTnu