Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-06-06
les INTEREST IN GAME GROWING
GOSSIP OF THE PLAYERS

The Senator'S pitching staff, up to date
appears to be all right. King went through
his second game Thursday, and demon
strated that he Is back in his old-time
form, the eleven hits indicating nothing
more than that the Louisvilles would have
got about seven hits had the fielding be-
hind the pitcher been as clean as in the
Cleveland series MERGERS Waterloo from
Cincinnati has drifted out Of sight, and
Richard" is himself again. The one bright
| spot in MERGERS makeup Is his willingness
which lifts him head and shoulders above
| every other man in the same line in the
| league. When pitcher begins to get good
| he Immediately recognizes his worth. and
| proceeds to reduce his value by pitching as
small a number of games as possible; but
with Mercer it's case Of I'm at your ser
| vice at any time" Capt. Joyce fully I'M
derstands this, and Mercer will never be
spoilt by too much work. German Is ali
other good man as regards Willingness ana
ability, and can be depended upon to go In
at any time and to win majority or MS
games 1t is not every club that comes
along that will do as well against him as
| the Clevelands. Al. Maui is one of the best
| fellows in the business, and can be de-
| pended upon to do good work at all times.
but needs urging to go into the box. II AL
| had the same spirit that abounds in Mer-
| Ger. there is no telling where the Senators
would finish at the end of the season. but
| his local admirers and patrons of the game
! will have to be satisfied to witness his
| ability in infrequent chunks. Should the
local pitching staff take their regular turns
| in the box, Mercer. Maui, King and Ger
| man, the visiting teams would be on the
! guess continually, and even the good work
| the Senators are now doing would probably
| be eclipsed
Another bouquet should be thrown Mr.
| Wagner on account of his idea of making
every day. when the Senators are at home,
ladies day" There may be shrewder
magnates in the league, but they have yet
| to materiaize around Washington The
scene last Tuesday at National Park was
worthy of a great painter. The big grand
| stand held fully 5000 ladies. and it is
safe bet to make that fully 800 gentlemen
were present who would not have been
| there but for the additional attraction.
| Fully 10000 ladies' tickets have been is
| sued, and the talk they have occasioned is
better advertisement than a page in a
daily paper. AS soon as one ladies day
has gone by the fair sex begin the gossip
about the next; this talk warns the latent
base ball enthusiast, and besides going to
the one game, very likely it restores him
to the ranks of rooters. and the local man
agement Is the gamer. How many cases
like this have occurred this summer is be-
yond calculation. No particular section of
! the city is affected by this fair sex interest
in the game. Over on Capitol Hill, the far
thest point from the grounds, they have
the craze as bad as in the localities close to
National Park. Try and borrow one of
these tickets? person would imagine
they were printed sheets Of pure gold
and studded with diamonds. One lady was
overheard remarking TO a friend at the
park last Tuesday that she had to call on
eight different lady friends before she
found one who was not going to the game
and she had to almost chloroform the
aTc LODI fnfO ct,AN ~ y@l-1
! What makes the outlook better for Mr.
Wagner is that the craze has only COM
menced among the ladies. and is bound to
assume gigantic proportions before the sea-
son is over. Wagner, Brush and Byrne are
all advocates of ladies days" and for
shrewdness this trio stands alone in the
National League
The second weeks experience of the
western clubs in the east has demonstrated
more emphatically than ever that there
are but two clubs from the land of the set
ting sun worthy to uphold the reputation
Of that section in the base ball world. 1t
was thought at one time that Pittsburg
was entitled to f1rst-class consideration,
but as headleSS players and CUTTERS
they belong in a class by themselves.
Cleveland and Cincinnati alone are doging
good work. and, as predicted by The Star
last Saturday, the latter club Is creating a
sensation along the eastern circuit by their
splendid playing under adverse circum-
stances. The Cleveland club can always be
depended upon to do good work away from
home, as it's members are naturally pug
nacious, and so long as the grounds are
fairly good. 1t matters not where they are
located. To take the Clevelands out of the
western end of the league. as intimated by
sensational dispatch from Cleveland dur
ing the week, would be foohardy as that
section is already too weak to be attractive
to the eastern base ball audience.
] he other western clubs are lamentably
weak. Chicago should do better now that
the hole at second base has been stopped
up by the signing Of Pfeffer, but the pitch
ing department is too weak for the club to
get in the first division. Won der Abe of
the St. Louis club is to be pited. Breiten-
stein makes a great kick for the limit,
$1,000. secures 1t. and besides Is given a
boz US of $500 before joining the club. Then
the little German with a big name goes
into the box and is knocked out as regu-
lerly as young blood from a minor
league. Won der Abe has kept away from
the club, as his enemies insisted he should
do, and 1t Is not doing whit better. Brel-
tenstein was thought to be strong, and his
strength was expected to help out the club,
but If he turns out a counterfeit the club
has no bunch over the Lousvlles, as the
latter has corps Of pitchers that will i'm
prove.
The sensation of the week, from an east
ern standpoint, was the playing Of the New
Yorks. Here was spot that 1t was thought
the western clubs would brace up on, but
up to date there is nothing too hard for
the Giants to throw down. OF course. they
ers have been doing we'll, and the team
bats as it did two years ago. when 1t
gained its great reputation 1t Is to be
hoped the good work will continue against
stronger pitchers and teams, SO that the
slump. that Is bound to come when the
eastern teams get whack at them, will
not be great enough to affect the attend
ance. The three games played by the
Washington and Cleveland clubs demon
strated conclusively that the Senators are
! not In the Giant class. and that there are
two clubs ahead of the local boys that are
bound to take their dust before the season
closes.
The howl going up all over the country
against President Young's staff Of umpires
should be frowned down by the press, in
stead Of encouraged. The chief objections
are registered against the staff on their de-
cisions on balls and strikes. Hardly one
patron out of ten Is aware of the fact that
balls pitched now SO bewidering that
the best Of batters are fooled, owing to the
change Of pace adopted by the best pitch