The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-05-08
THE INITIAL WEEK.
How Wore TT Has Greet
ed the New League
Team.

Rochester plays at the oval again to-
day. Manager Leonard went to his
home in Lynn yesterday. Before he
eft. he had not decided which of the
pitchers will be used against Rochester
Today, but the chances are in favor Of
Dad Clark going to the tablet.
Capt. Bowman said yesterday he will
aot go into today's game. He is not
yet in condition for ball playing, and
Ices not desire to interfere with the
good work which Yeager is doing at
irst, until he is fit to play. Capt. Bow
nan had no practice of any sort until
ae came to Worcester and jumped into
The game right away. He stiffened
up so badly that he could hardly move,
and was taken from the game at his
own request until he can get in shape
to do himself justice.
The excellent work which Yeager is
doing at first, and the no less fast work
Of Bransfield behind the bat, has
caused the spectators at the games to
wonder if Bowman's replacement will
strengthen the team. He will certainly
have to swing the stick pretty cleverly
to compensate for the removal of either
Yeager or Bransfield. Manager Leon
ard has great confidence in Bowman,
and certainly should know more about
him than anybody else for he has seen
him play. Bowman has not made the
best possible impression in Worcester,
but that counts for nothing. He could
jump into popularity in a single game.
Manager Leonard has certainly shown
thus far that he knows a thing or two
about the game. He says when Bow
man gets into condition, he will demon
strate that no mistake was made in
securing him.
Worcester has now seen a week of
continuous ball playing in the Eastern
league. The games in the early part Of
the week were noted principally for
their loose work, but toward the close,
the teams played fast ball. Those Of
the spectators who recall the days OF
other teams, realize that the present
Worcester team is the fastest that has
ever struck the city. Nobody Of this
generation would begin to compare the
old National league teams OF Worces-
ter with the present aggregation. But
the Atlantic association teams of the
SOS were hot teams and recall to the
minds of enthusiasts fast games. There
is hardly any doubt however, that the
present Worcester team could defeat
the teams of that association.
Such a team as is now playing for
Worcester deserves to be kept here.
There is only one way to insure that
result, and that is by patronizing the
games. The crowds last week were not
large enough to keep the team alive
very long. OF course, the Saturday
crowd was a good one, but large
crowd one day in the week is not
enough, unless it is several times larger
than the one of Saturday. A paying
crowd every day is better than a small
crowd five days in the week and ire
mendous crowd on Saturday, as the
visiting team is entitled to a certain
percentage of the gate receipts when
the crowd is above 1000. The home team
does not get the entire benefit of the
large crowd, while it will get the bene-
fit of an every day crowd that is large
enough to pay expenses.
Manager Leonard figured out for The
Spy man, day or two ago, that a
crowd of 700 to every game will pay
expenses. In making this estimate, he
includes grandstand receipts, the whole
of which go to the home team. The
percentage of spectators occupying the
grandstand in Worcester is larger han
in almost any other cityin comparison to
the number of people at the game.
There will be five games this week,
a game each day until Saturday. Roeh-
ester plays today and tomorrow. Then
come the Torontos, which series winds
up Friday. Both teams make a flying
jump to Toronto to open the season in
that city Saturday.