The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-05-09
OPENING OF THE SEASON.
Two Thousand Persons Saw a Great
Game of Ball and Incidentally Saw
Scranton DC fcatcd bv Springfield.

Two thousand spectators cheered and
yelled and perspired and did other
things that cranks are wont to do to
make the home club win. 1t was no
use. Springfield took the biscuit in
pitchers melee In which Scranton's
Little Jack" Horner wasn't quite as
good as little Springfield colt named
Easton. The score was to l. but the
game was anybody's up to the last inn
ing, when McDermott's men missed the
chance to get some hits together.
Scranton lost, but from an artistic
base ball standpoint. the game was
beaut. one of the real, genuine kinds of
heauts which keeps the bleachers in
perpetual danger of heart disease. Ii
was just the kind of a game for the
opening of the Eastern league season,
with but one drawback. The one dis
appointment was that the other fellows
won. but they had to draw all the cards
they needed and play close, conserva-
tive game to do the trick. And then,
Umpire Kelly. He was in the game,
too: that is, he was supposed to be in
the game, but no one will stake their
life on such a fact until Kel chalks up
bit on balls and strikes. Scranton
didn't get the worst of it, but Mr. Kelly
will run less chance of spelling future
matinees II he will sharpen his eagle
eye a bit.
SWEETENED DEFEAT.
Everything conspired to sweeten the
bitterness of defeat. The weather was
ideal. the crowd was large, the patrons
We're accommodated as never before In
Scranton, and the grounds looked like
the grounds you read about and not like
cow pasture, as in the days of yore-
the good old days when everybody
planked down the admission price and
then hustled to get what very little
there was of the best of everything
surely all these things made Il homOeo-
palhic pill out of an alopathic defeat.
What will interest the lady cranks-
all the gentler sex there were ladies'
Is the fact that Manager Burns, the
Beau Brummell manager Of the Eastern
league, married mascot in Springfield
the other day, and the two are making
a honeymoon trip out of this jaunt with
the club. Mrs. Burns is mascot of
the rare kind, as she didn't go to see
the game, but her husbands club won
just the same.
When play was called at $50 O'Clock
the crowd practically filled the two sets
OF bleachers, occupied most of the seat
ing space in the enlarged grandstand
and overfowed itself along the infield
FENCES. The gathering was much bet
ter In tone than in the days of old. but
the old standby cranks We're there just
the same. And so was Jack" Neat,
He doesn't get free pass to the games
nowadays and that's why he rooted
for Springfield. Anyhow, the new
bigness of the property and its clean
Illness and the perfect arrangements
and comfort put everybody in a good
natured and enthusiastic humor.
Before the game was half finished it
was apparent that the 1896 Scranton
club Is better than any that has rep
resented this city in former years.
The two weak spots on the team We're
recognized but were considered in a
charitable light because the collective
work was SO good and because the
final result was plainly due to circum-
stances fortunate to the visitors rather
than inferior work by Scranton. This
ts true because Hutchinsons error
which permitted Springfield to score the
winning run in the fourth was offset by
like offence by Lynch which gave the
Coal Barons their only tally.
HEARTY IN ITS SUPPORT.
That the crowd was hearty in it's sup
port for the Scranton players and in
full accord with the effort of the new
owners to give the city real live base
ball was shown by the applause which
greeted each Scranton player when he