Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-08

tudt the Will IcpiaC6 Arson On Iu0
Chicago club. and present indications are
that the grand old man" has commenced
to weaken and plainly sees his own finish.
The time that Uncle Arson should have
service was presented to him last summer
on the completion Of his twenty-flrst year
in base ball The presentation was no
doubt put forward for that purpose, but
Uncle" refused to see the handwriting on
the wall and has now given his enemies a
chance to do the firing" act. Burns has
had experience as a manager in the big
league. being at the helm of the Pittsburg
club several years back; but the base ball
world was not set afire with his brilliancy
at that time. If he can get more out Of the
Colts than Capt Arson has done in the
last two seasons Burns can be set down as
succeeding, as there has already developed
a clique in the club, the members of which
are plugging for Jimmy Ryan to take
Anson's place
the resolution to retire players from the
game for a year more for using out
rageous language on the ball field, Presl-
dent Brush, the father Of the bill, is still
hard at work pushing his resolution to a
position from which it cannot be dislodged
at the next meeting of the league in st.
Louis. Mr.. Brush recently sent a long
letter to the different magnates and UNI
pires courteously asking them to cite In
stances where players have stepped over
the bounds of propriety and details of
their saying. Ed. Andrews. the old Phila-
delphia player and at present owner OF
orange groves in Florida, is the latest au-
thOrity to come forward in support of Mr..
BrusR's resolution. Ed. says the resolu-
ton cannot help but better the game in
every way, and if any one is driven from
the ranks of ball players through its &C
ton, they will be of class that can be
easily spared from the national pastime.
Mr.. Brush has time after time explained
that his resolution was not passed for the
purpose of stopping kicking on the bail
field, the double umpire system will at
tend to that, but to prevent players using
a sort of ultra profanity that places the
real article in the category of respectable
language. If Mr.. Brush's letter gets into
the hands of Ed. Sheridan, the umpire on
the Pacific coast, the chances are that his
reply will be one of the most interesting
of the many that will come to the Cincin-
natl president. 1t was Mr.. Sheridan that
grabbed "Mugsy' McGraw by the collar
once upon time, and threatened to put
him out of the business for life for direct
ing his dirty flow Of language toward him,
and when. he told President Young of the
remarks made the latter said In effect
that 1t would have been good thing Tor
the game had he carried his threat into
execution. Umpire Mcdonald is another
arbitrator whose reply will prove interest
ing Lynch will probably have little to say
and likewise Hurst, the formers expert
ence in this line being limited, while the lat
ter will probably treat his experience In
the manner OIL b jest. luOSe OPPoSSo ~
Mr.. Brush's resolution cannot fully un-
derstand the aim sought after by TINS
piece of legislation or they would go mana
in hand with the Cincinnati magnate's
praiseworthy endeavors. Base ball players
as a class are becoming more and more
respectable every year, and just such rule
as Mr.. Brush's resolution will lend add1-
tional dignity to the calling.
1t is interesting to note In what proper
ton among the fielding positions the hard
hitters of the league are distributed. OF
the 2O3 players whose batting average Is
recorded, SO have record OF more than
300. These go are distributed as follows:
Four pitchers, II catchers, 10 first base
men, second basemen, shortstops,
third basemen, II left fielders, center
fielders and right felders. The first
baseman show UP better than the other
iEfielders in this department. especially the
shortstops, of whom there are only TOUR
who batted better than 300 last season.
The proportion of hard hitting catcnerS is
large The three outfield positions produce
twenty-seven 300 or better httters and the
four infield positions a like number The
increase in hard hitting is noted each year.
and many attribute this advance to the
solving of the pitching distance problem,
but the chances are that If the bunt hit
is done away with instead of 60 players
batting over 800 the number next year
will be about %.
Notes.
The Cincinnati scribes are still harping
themselves over the securing of two jew
els. All the local fans ask is that Gin
cinnati will pitch Hawley against the
Washington Blues at every opportunity
next season. They never could do thing
to Emerson
The adoption of blue instead of black
for next seasons uniforms for the Wash
/, gton club is good move. Besides max
ing prettier uniform. the color will re-
call the old Athletics Of Philadelphia. es-
pecially the year they won the champion
ship
Harry O'Hagan, the Washington boy
drafted by the Pittsburg club for. next
season, has sent his signed contract to
Manager Watkins and will be ready to
report in the smoky city at the first roll
call in March. With Donovan, Mccarthy
and OHagan in the outfield the Pittsburg
management has no apologies to make.
Earl Wagner stll has his eye on his
pitching corps. They may be all aces, and.
again, they may prove deuces. Still Biz
Hill. Dad Clarke. Jack Taylor and Cy Sey-
mour are among the possibilities. Tucker
and Amole for Seymour isn't such a bad
trade.
The base ball feeling in Washington can
be pretty well sized up from the fact that
a number Of railway postal clerks with
headquarters in this city, have formed
themselves into a club and have written to
Mr.. Wagner asking for terms for pri-
vate box fer next season. No matter what
the weather may be, base ball Is the chief
topic of conversation at all places where
''fcns" congregate.
With the advent of Jack Doyle and Reitz
in Washington and the transfer of De
Montreville and McJames to Baltimore, look
out for a revival of the Mnneapolis-St.
Paul rivalry between Oriole-town and the
capital The fans that will storm National
Park in Washington and Union Park in
the Hanlon end of Baltimore next season
will include the partisans from both cities,
dashed UP to a fever key by the old inter-
city rivalry that existed In the days when
the Senators were aces in the base ball
deck and the Orioles mere stack of jokers.
-Pittsburg News.
fine players as 1t is at present. A few years
ago outfielders like WEIGH Johnston and
Fogarty were considered wonders. They
were wonders, to be sure but were con-
sidered all the more so in their day, be-
cause there were so few like them. Today
there are a dozen, this list will show:
Keller, Donovan, Delehanty. Elmer Smith,
Duffy. Griffin. Kelly, Hamilton, Lange, Nc.
Aleer. Burkett. Brodie. Hoy. Stahl, Van
Haltren, Cooley and Stencil. All of these
men may not cover the ground or be as
good judges Of fly balls as the two men,
toned, but nearly all Of them are fully as
valuable. 1t takes fast man to hold his
own in the outfield nowadays.-New York
Press.
We can forgive the fact that Setback was
overlooked in this bunch when the best man