The evening times., 1897-02-22

| League and American Association of Base
| ball Clubs viii begin on Thursday, Febru-
ary %, at noon, in the parlors of the
Hotel Rennert, in Raltimore IL is called
the Schedule Meeting" because that very
| important feature Of the baseball season
will come up then for adjustment.
OF course, other matters are considered
ut schedule meeting beside the dates on
which the twelve clubs shall meet each
| other in contest. The rules, at which a
committee annually tinkers, will come up
| for revision, and this year all indications
| point to happenings OF more interest than
either rules or schedule. That is, the re-
| newal OF the war between the Big Five
| aud the Little Seven
The Times has already told Of the lively
| Seances between the factions at the Chi
| cago meeting last fall; how they parted
at its close IN brOtherly love, apparently.
and how the last few weeks have been
spent in consultation, running hither and
thither, and an evident attempt on the
part of each manager to secure an ini-
pregnable position from League stand
point.
what the maGnates have done in their
hobnobbinE and secret conclayes is mat
ter OF mere conjecture. THIS week meet
ing will reveal the secret in part, il not
altogether. 1t is generally believed, how
ever, that the Big Five and the Little
Seven have axes to GRIND at Baltimore,
and will grind them even though the Ma
tiOnal League may suffer from want Of
harmony and experience the disastrous
results said 70 be the fate Of a house divil-
ed against itself.
In adopting a schedule each club wants
as little travelling TO do as possible, and
wants holiday dates with the best pay
ing organizations in the circuit While
the former may be complied with. the lat
ter request is impossibiity, and the
trouble will ferment and tester when it
is given out as to whom the holiday plums
will fail. Every magnate will want .he
best OF il and how can President Young
make such a deal? Uncle Nick is sure
To do the best he can for all concerned
an angel could do no more.
The single item Of railroad travel is d
big thing TO club hence the keen in
tercstoyerthe publicity Of President YOuug's
schedule, which is in the nature OF Pan
dora's box" When the schedule is given
out at Baltimore next Thursday, there will
be mingled qualification and Objection.
This and that magHate will have a glad
smile or a kick coming, "a the case may
be, but in the end Uncle Nick VIII fix
all that and send everybody home happy
1t IS way he has.
An IDEA may be gained Of the number
Of miles travelled and the expense TO the
clubs when it is noted that in 1885 the
twelve league teams journeyed a total dis
tance of II3, ,637 miles in covering the cir
cult Fourteen men were usually taken
along. and l IL cents per mile was the
rate paid The league, therefore, paid out
in ticket money. S23,S70 This does not
include sleeping, parlor and dining-car ex-
tras, not TO mention the first-class rate
in trips from New York To- Boston in the
palatial Sound steamers.
Last year the railroads raised the IL
cent rate per mile to cents. but Presi
dent Young greatly reduced the travel.
which acted as saving clause in the ex-
pense account It is next to impossible
to please all the magnates. and Uncle
Nick has given up trying, but he init
mates that the schedule for 1897 has very
few long jumps. and that holiday dates and
other schedule favors have been impartialIy |
distributed.
Anent the meeting at Baltimore, there |
are all sorts of stories floating around |
regarding the rules presented by Messrs- |
Hart Hanlon, and Reach. The changes are ]
Hart's, and Hanlon will try to defeat that /
relating to the practical abolition of coach |
ing. Those that will receive Hanlon's sup |
port are: Providing a So fine for any |
player discoloring a new ball; stricter at |
Infl- th frinn nd
keeping his foot on the slab, and several |
minor changes in wording.
Hanlon will strenuously oppose the new
reading of ection 1 of Rule 81, which re-
uuires players to be seated on the play
ers bench. While the dictiOn is little |
altered, the effect is radically different.
1t permits but one coacher when less
than three runners are on the bases. Hart
recommends the change because it has
been proved in the past, he intimateS,
that the presence of two coachers allows
a cross fire. of talk foreign to the game,
and frequently of a character objection
able to the spectators. Hanlon, to the
contrary, holds that coaching is the life
of the game and will fight any rule tend
ing to it's curtailment where carried on
in legitimate. though lively way Han
Ion is certainly correct in his idea as to
the matter, and will no doubt win against
Hart when the question comes up in the
meeting.
Tim Hurst has coaching suggestion
that Wagner and Brush are said to favor,
and it is said Won der Ahe and the Louis.
Vile magnates viii start crusade against /
the reserve rule.
Sunday playing is also big rock upon
which the meeting may split. The Cleve-
land Club declares Sunday ball is absO-
lutely necessary in its present financial
situation, while the magnates of the anti
Sunday pla ying East object toanotheTSun-
day town being added to the list.
Not only is the Cleveland Club in diff
ficulty, but the Brooklyn franchises own
ers are squabbling among themselves, air.
ing their inter nal grievances publicly
and threatening to throw the management
of the club upon the League.
The magnates who will attend the Bal
timOre meeting are President n. E.
Young of Washington, President c. W.
Wagner and Treasurer J. Earl Wagner Of
the Washington Club, President Hart of
Chicago, President Freedman of New
York, President Brush of Cincinnati
resident Won der Abe of st. Louis,
President Pulliam and Director Stuckey
of Louisville, President Robson of CIeve-
land, President Hanlon and Secretary
Won der Horst of Baltimore, President
Kerr Of Pittsburg, Magnates Abel and
Byrnes of Brooklyn, Magnates Reach and
Rodgers. of Philadelphia, and Magnates
Soden and Billings of Boston. There VIII
also the usual retinue of private sec