Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-04-08
BASE BALL NOTES.

President Young computes the cost of
travelling in the National League for
players alone at $32.SSo for the season.
The salaries average $15030 & club per sea
son. He says: Interest in base ball is
constantly increasing. | know that. be-
cause / receive more letters all the time
from people all over the country asking
questions about base bail matters. /
answer every letter that comes to me,
whoever writes. The school boy recaiVe5
Just as much consideration as the man
because | want the sChoClhoy to grow 40
with an interest in base ball.
Read these two extracts from the pen
Of Fred X. owen in Portland Sunday
paper and chuckle; president Wood
the Success he should have in disposing
Of season tickets in Portland. Consider
ing the very low price q which they We're
offered and the efforts Mr.. Woodbury. has
made to provide Portland with good base
BAH this summer this is extremely dis
Appointing. but am not sure that It is
surprising. Secretary Clarity
says that he had long letter Thursday
from Billy Long ard that he was meeting
with even better success in Augusta than
he anticipated. l confess that have
been a. little apprehcnsive about Augusta
for if anything is TO be done it must be
done right away and there has been very
little evidence Of anything but promis s.
If Mr.. Long takes hold OF the matter i'll
earnest i have no doubt that he viii sue
ceed ana this ! understand he has done.
Comical, isn't it?
No catcher ever was more ridiculous
ly doomed by any paper than was
Butler Of Augusta, by the Boston pa
peIs. There must have been some rea-
son for it beyond his playing, for he
was an Indifferent backstop, an or
binary hitter and not at all speedy on
the bases. He hit at .295 and had the
lowest average, bat one as a catcher.
He was a good man, but not great.
Perhaps, however, he may make sue
cess cf it. Who can say.-Lewiston
Journal.
The above is interesting chiefly for
the INSTRUMENTATION it conveys about
Catcher Butler. The Boston papers
were entirely correct in all they
said about this player. and We're
certainly in position to speak intelli-
gently of his merits for both Mr.. Muir
name and Mr.. Morse had had oppor-
tunities to see his work. Butler is a
natural batsman, a good backstop. q
very speedy base runner, and cracker
jack in throwing to bases. We remem-
Der game in this city with Lewiston
last summer in which Butler made
four successive outs on throws to bases.
AS the LewistonS came to the bench
Umpire Connelley remarked to the
writer: There isn't a better throwing
catcher than Butler in the country.
Not one of those plays was even close. y
! Base running was a lost art with the
Spindle City boys when this man was
behind the bat. Butler was easily the
| best catcher in the New England
League. In 1895 our printed record
shows that he batted for .339. Last
season his batting suffered from split
! hand which made it impossible for him
/ to grasp a bat, and necessitated play
ling him for some time, after consid-
| cradle lay off, in the outfield. The re-
suit was that when he recovered from
this injury his batting average had
! fallen to .224. IN spite of this heavy
handicap, however, he was able to
finish the season nearly up to the 300
mark In proportion to the number OF
games played last season, he stole more
bases than any other player in the
= New England League and everyone
knows the immense amount of territory
he covered back Of the home plate in
the capture Of foul flies. We believe
that Butler Will be g success in the Ma
tional League, and certainly. in view of
his splendid record in the New England
League, the past two seasons, it is d
little early in the year for people in this
section to begin knocking him.