The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-09-15

WALTER s. BEODlE OF THE BALTiMORES.
as rule n profitable period to any of
these clubs. Tho Western association for
the first time in two years has been com
PEELED to reduce its circuit from eight
cities to six before its pennant race is end
81 Had tho season ended Sept the
break would not have come In all the 9th
or minor organizations tho season will end
more promisingly probably. Toronto has
not favored it's club with the support which
its owners believe it deserved, and they
have therefore sent the team away to finish
the season on the grounds of the othor
clubs. Usually such move is poor policy
md is almost as bad in effect rs disband-
Inent.
But looking ut the whole minor league
Held, the September situation is wonder
full to contemplate. Never since baseball
was played were there SO many professional
clubs in tho field at this season of the year
aH there are now. 1t shows the healthy
state into which the national game has
settled after many years of fluctuations
and trials.
Some wonderful revers;lls of form have
been seen during tho past month among
the National league teams. The greatest
of all is that Of the pittsburgs. On the
10th of August Manager Macll's men held
The proud position OF second place in tho
l'SiiHiiit ItSt. VII tIlt fil III iNtIhtnlIrT
they had dropped into seventh place. or lad
passed into tho second division The team
Iolj home for their last eastern trip il
fnirly good condition They lost their
first game in Brooklyn, but won the see
Nnd day in New York Then came ten
successive defeats which l believe is the
National league record for the year
In this case it was not II series of ncc-
dents which pulled the team down, but
simply one OF those unnccountablo slum,,s
IN which every man on the nine seems TO
have lost his batting eye and his field skill
similar periods Of inability, though no.; of
so long stretch, were experienced nv tho
New Works, Brookiyns Cincinnatis. Phil
sdclphias and Bostons earlier in the season.
An eastern newspaper offered $50 prize
To tho first reader who should correctly
plncc the first six clubs of the National
league as they would be found on the
morning of Aug. 81. The contest opened
July ii and closed Aug. 10. or more
than 10000 gucsscs sent in one only was
correct, and it was blind luck which gave
thc winner the prize. When l state that
ON Aug. 10, when tho contest closed, tho
fittsburgs Were second and the Philadcl-
phias were eighth, and that 20 days later
when the clubs We're marshaled for the
prize, the PhillicS were third and the Pitts
winner III that contest was in blind luck.
AS the season Of 1885 closes tho many
weak points in the big professional teams
Become moro apparent. With the excep.
ton of the two clubs at the head of the
list not one Of tho II is satisfactory in its
makeup. The great Bostons, which were
looked upon last spring rs second to mono
IN their pcnhant prospects, are utterly
broken up and dcmoralizcd. Lately acoi
dents to players have had much to do with
sho teams Ill success, but those accidents
came after Internal discussions had first
put the club ont of the race. Something
very nearly approaching feud sprang uD
last spring and divided the players of tho
ninc pretty evenly. Nobody was able 10
wipe out that difference in the team. and
now accidents to three Of tho best playcr,
on the nine nave put tho club in u dcplor,-
ole condition for the closing of the season
The New York club has suffered :ror,
BACK OF discipline unusual accidents and
weakness OH the iniicld. The Giants have
been q monumental disappointment in
Gotham But in spite of blasted homes
thc enthusiasm Of metropolitan rootors
cannot be downcd. Thirty-ninc thousand
people were on tho Polo ground to SEQ tho
games on the four days from Aug. 81 to
Sept. 4, inclusive.
Labor day furnished ono moro proof of
tho ,nimpcachabc honesty and square
moss" of baseball On that day the New
Yorks and Clvvolands met for two games.