The San Francisco call., 1898-02-26
PROSPECTUS OF
 EASTERN CYCLE RACING.

Those interested in cycle track racing here have been very much at sea during the past few months regarding the con ditions in the East, and whether the sport was as little cared for as 1t is on this coast at present. The reports we nave received have been indefinite ana IL is therefore with good deal or satlsIac- tion that 1 am able to present an extract from a letter from an old-time San Fran cisco racing man, wno has been III the South and visited the many Eastern ana foreign crackaiacks now in training at Bellaire, Fla.
 H. Austin Goddard of the Bay City Wheelmen has been down there, ana writes me from Detroit under date or February 20 the following Interesting epiStle:
 Have just returned after pretty close trip through the South, and the outlook for 1898 is a corker. l visited the craekaJacks at the tSellaire track and by present indications the lSsS season of racing will be fierce and the !SsS champlon made Of iron. kaser, the SWISS; is a whIrlwind, rides something nKe our .t DSp , Terrill and Lehr, the German Will De haru W to beat All the there are Ill condition 10 race at hours notice, but neither bdlu HUT Loughead has started training yet
 It seems to me however from talks with the men and others interested that mlddle-dlstahce racing will be more the thing this year than the oId-time sprint race and to that end men like Earl Riser Nat Butler, Tom Cooper, Fred Hoyt and others are training for that class or or T.. be used and will be controlled by the Natlohai Cycle Racing Association, who are going 10 have regularly paid riders Tor the "orh , aiit Tt is common talk that Bald has already signed, but will not ride middle-distance races.
 1 suppose you know that old Man Plckard has given up his position with Michael, who will be trained by McLeish this season. PICK ard Is doing we'll however, and may handle Tom Linton and Arthur Chase. These two latter men will give Jimmie all he can attend to when they get a well organized pacing team,
 .lx,,l rlac- q in the world is made by the clock-Work pre- cision with which Michaels pacemakers work. Some say the reason Michael talks about De coming a jockey is because he knows Linton ni and Chase can beat him when properly paced.
 The Michael-Chase race In New 1ork Chrlst- mas night won by superior pacemahlns, s, and Chase half the time had no pacemaklhs whatever owing to lack Of proper orgaill%a- tion. I think there must have been l"JJ III Madison Square Garden and as many more Who could not get in at all. My ticket cost me three plunks so you may well imagine there is money in middle distance racing.
 We have opened fine branch here and yours truly is the hand to guide the helIn' anu we are looking for a prosperous season, but to- cay We are having blizzard and the snow IS foot deep, so we yearn for the glorious climate" etc.
 I have not had a Call for two months and thought you had forgotten me, but when in tie Cleveland office learned that one Ed LoZler had confiscated them as they came ana reVelea in their contents, while l was left forlorn Please send me the Saturday Call regularly, as 1 want to keep up with the news Ut home: Kind regards to yourself and all the boys at the club
 Four games of the Cycle baseball League will be played tomorrow, two of them in this city at the. Velodrome grounds, commencing at F o'clock. The most interest attaches to the game be- tween the Olympic Cyclers and the Bay City Wheelmen at noon. The CyclerS lead in percentage in the tournament, while the Bay Cftys have got to wipe out their stunning defeat of last Sunday by the Olympic Wheelmen or be practically
 . for ha mt probable line up of this game will be as follows: