Omaha daily bee., 1899-03-12
SOME CHAT WITH THE FANS
Talk About Base Ball Matters Pro-
urinary to the Season that
VIII soon Open.

Next Tuesday is the day upon which the
assets of the st. Louis club are to be
hawked from the auction block and much
in both the National and Western League
depends upon the identity of the successful
bidder. If the winner proves to be any,
body in any way distasteful to the nabobs
OF the major organization the map of tue
league is likely to be somewhat changed.
st. Louis is bound to be cut out and there
is a question whether the result will be a
ten-club league or whether some other CITY
may replace st. Louis, possibly Detroit or
Milwaukee. The chances are, however, that
the game of bluff will not be brought to
such a showdown. According to all re-
ports, Tom LOTUS is the most prominent Of
the prospective bidders against the Robisons
and a tale is waited westward that LOTUS
has been bought off. That is, If he seems
TO be the only one in the field against the
eX-CleVeland magnates he will lie down be-
lore them and as a reward will be given
the Forest City franchise and whatever
players are left over after the big league
magnateS select the pick Of the Spiders and
the Browns
As soon as this sale is brought to pass
the big league managers will hold their
meeting to decide what they will do. The
Western league is also holding off and will
not hold its usual spring session until the
latter part of this month. The western
magnates are hoping against hope that they
will be able to gather Cleveland within the
circle. 1t has been definitely settled, how
ever, that the Western league season will
open a couple of weeks later than last year.
The first game will be played but a very
few days before May J..
That the opening of the season is but
a month off is indicated by the actions Of
the big league players. All the teams are
preparing to their month of
spring practice and in another week or go
the Geographic columns OF the newspapers
viii commence to chronicle the scores Of
the exhibition games.
"Old Reliable jim Mcclure, the back
bone of the Senator's, is likely to go the
way OF Setback and is almost certain to be
wearing some other rigging than that which
decorates the shapes of the Washington
players. Two offers have been made for
the hard hitting baCkstop, one of 800
by Pittsburg and the other OF S., 900 and
several players by Cincinnati. The offer
from PoTkopolis will probably be accepted.
1t is not stated who the Cincinnatians in
the deal are, but the critics figure that
those to be sent to the capital city are
Vaughn and some of tine farm hands who
are now carrying the indianapolis banner.
If this transaction is there
is no doubt that Brush Is thinking of count
ing in the championship race next season.
Last year the weak batting of the Reds
had more to do with their backward gait
than anything else, and with two such stick
ers as Setback and Mcclure the Reds will
be hugely strengthened.
Thomas Toad Ramsey, who is reputed to
have been the best southpaw that ever
tossed the horsehide from the slab, is ia
be given one more time on earth by In
dianapolis during the coming season, There
was a time back in the early SOS when
Ramsey was able to Svengali pretty nearly
every batsman that stepped before him.
The famous st, Louis Browns famed eight
cen times before him on one memorable
occasion, and on another he sent the Gin
cinnati Reds out on strikes for three sue
cessiye innings. But the high balls he
could put over and around the plate were
nothing to those he could toss under his
belt and in his endeavor to fulfill a con-
tract to drink all the whisky manufactured
he acquired a glass arm, This, together
with the fact that the slab was moved five
feet back on him, killed his wing and he
retired to a farm, so it is said. Manager
Allen of the Hoosiers takes a chance that
there are some kinks left in his wing yet
and will try him on the rubber once more.
Perry Werden, the veteran first baseman,
whose career stretched back almost to the
early years OF the century, when Frank
Bandle and Russ McKelyy used to frisl
about the emerald diamond. will be back In
the ranks again next season, donned in