The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-09-28

at the head OF the visiting team. mo,
joe was Schmolz's reply. 1T is not luck,
That boy Is natural ball player, and
some day he'll be heard from In fast COM
pany."
Schmelz's Judgment was good. His pre-
diction was verified. Today that boy"
Is the most conspicuous character In base
ball In the Union His case furnishes ad-
ditional proof Of the correctness OF the the
ory that opportunity and the lack OF it
often bring out or keep down the natural
artists of the ball and bat
When the Louisville team In 1877 start
ed east on its final trip of that season, 1t
had / games to play and needed but ono
of the IL TO win the National league PEN
nant. 1t lost the III and thereby the cham
pionship. That slump" led TO the inves-
tigation which revealed the crooked play
ing of Devlin, Hail. Crane and Nichols
and resulted In their permanent outlawry
from professional baseball The Cincin-
natis this year went east with second place
almost certainty In their grasp and du-
plicated that Louisville losing record OF IL
straight defeats. Not since 1877 has any
dishonest playing been even suspected, but
had 1t not been for the Temple cup series a
very mischievous suspicion of those defeats
might have spread and taken root. But
nobody could advance q theory which
would explain why a team would willing
ly throw away position which was bound
20 net each player from $500 to $500 In two
weeks time.
AS bare fact several of the Cincinnati
players, considering their rights TO contest
In the Temple cup series sure, grew too
jubilant and flew from the strict lines Of
team discipline. Their folly produced just
enough weakness on the nine to cause the
loss Of few games, which developed a
scare among the players and In turn led to
panic which couldn't be checked till Te-
beau's Fighters" had passed them. When
the rally did come, 1t seemed to be too lata
Thus a bit of overconfidence may have
proved very costly luxury. 1t should be
added to the long line Of evidepce that
baseball Is one of the greatest uncertainties
of this world
Two Of the minor league championships
were decided on the last day Of the season
namely, those Of the New England and
Atlantic leagues. In the latter the result
was so close that there are double claims
and o contest. The Newarks and Hart
fords both claim the pennant and the
board Of directors will have 60 make an of
lClhl CunNhsb Ht NlOHihB Iut,Sits III bpO
Eastern and In the Western leagues, though
not so exciting, were enough so to arouse
a great deal of enthusiasm, and though
the Providence club in the east and the
Minneapolis club in the west led TO the
wire they had no canter through the
stretch, to use a race course expression.
That dressing room fight between Tebeau
and McAleer was probably grossly exagger-
rated, as Is customary. Even in winning
teams 1t is not always spirit of brotherly
love which carries the club TO victory. We
are told that the Chicagos won champion
ship one year when several Of the players
would not speak to Anson Their feeling
was entirely personal On the ball field
they recognized him as their leader, but
off the field he was as O stranger. In the
Cleveland case the spectacle Is presented
of the flstio encounter between Tebeau and
McAleer one day and of the two working
side by side next afternoon In n triumph
over the Chicago team. A queer study is
our national game. o. p. CAYLoR.