The times., 1898-08-31
Standing of the Clubs.

Well. the Senators and the Colonels
have crossed bats for the last time this
season. and no more will Clarke's Cupids
have the pleasure of walloping Wagner 5
Wabblers. And for this We should be
thankful The Pirates, the Trailers ana
the Colonels have now taken their last
whack at the Senators, and only eight
clubs remain TO assist in kicking the
washington Baseball Club down the to-
boggan. The only consolation left Is
that no matter how hard these eight
clubs push and shove, the Senators can
not fall further down than one place.
And il is TO be sincerely hoped that we
viii win enough games to keep out OF the
hated tail end hole. The trouble with The
club may be summed UP in few words:
With several exceptions, il is case OF
headIess ball players, minus a manager.
There you have it in a nutshell
Ball players are often heard TO say: II
would not play ball for this or that man;
would go out of the business first" But
as vet this dire threat has never been put
into execution. Any ball player harbor-
been selected by a club owner TO manage
a team ought to get out of the game,
and if he does not do so voluntarily then
he should be promptly fired out. A ball
player is paid to play ball, and is, as a
general rule, given large salary for his
services II is none of his business what
man is selected to control the team. His
duty is to play according TO The man
ayers instructions, and at all times to
do his level best. The manager is re-
sponsible for the work and showing of
the club and if he has a stubborn or re-
calcitrant player on his team it is his
duty to resort to all the discipline pro-
Yided by the rules, from firing To black
listing, TO bring such a fellow TO terms
and compel him to do his fun duty to-
wards his employer. There is abundance
Of evidence 10 show that ball players
have thrown down" their club because
they disliked the manager.
One or two star players on team Of
mediocre players is an element of weak
ness rather than of strength. For in
stance, if bad support is given a star
player he loses interest in the game and
plays only for an individual record. The
poorer players, because of their lack of
skin, fail 10 give the stars the support
necessary to complete desirable play,
consequently errors occur and q general
Generalization of the team follows. a
team, to be successful, should not be top
heavy, but evenly balanced in playing
strength. Team work is always the feat
ure Of a winning club. In union there
is strength" applies to baseball as well
as to other organizations. For example,
when the Baltimore club was playing
such brilliant ball it was noticeable fact
in the report OF the games that but few
men were left on bases. When a man got
on a base every effort was made to ad-
vance him and get the run home. Per
sonal ambition seemed TO be disregarded
A club that puts up that sort of a game
Of ball is bound TO win. There is more
glory attaching TO BAH player connected
with a winning club, whose batting aver
age may not be over $50 than there
would be to one connected with a tail
end club. although he might have bat
ting average ofs-350. A big batting aver
age doesn't amount to anything unles
the batting has contributed to the win
ming of games. In addition to this. DARN:
base running is a brilliant feature of tn
game, and is always pleasing and enter
tanning TO the fans. If successful il mean
runs, if not il still shows that the I'm
points of the game have not been neg
lected.