The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-08-01
ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION.
WILL GLORIOUsLY COMMENCE IT'S
CAKEER THIS WEEK

Brag Team VIII He It's
First Opponent-Likeiy to he a Case
Of when Greek Meets Greek-Home
Team Has Signed Five Players and
VIII Present Truly a Formidable
Front
This week the Wilmington Athletic
Association will take life in the world
of sports, inaugurating in this city an
era Of s~portiveness that promises to
be possessed of fervor galore and Of a
most pronounced enthusiastic nature.
As, at this season of the year base ball
is the reigning sport, to this great ma
tional scientific and exciting game the
association will turn its attention and
put forth a powerful team to battle on
behalf of Wilmington for the champion
ship of the Old North State. 1t will be
a team in every way worthy OF possess
ing with becoming grace the state
championship, as it will be composed of
expert college players, but should they
be conquered instead of ~conQuering,
they will have the satisfaction, the ON
ISOLATION, the pride Of knowing that they
fought nobly and we'll.
The team will make its debut Thurs
day afternoon, when the inauguration
of the series Of three games with Tar
boro will take place, and it's is predict
ed that from the start they are to blaze
their way to the championship goal. In
Tarboro will be found what up to the
noca~ hoo -~nxya- M ipxy;noih1o g.
to other teams, whose scalps now tangle
at the belts of the dauntless Tarboro-
ties, but it is hoped hat in Whining
ton a snag will be found sufficiently
strong to swerve them from the path of
destruction and bring them to the sad
but true state of realization that they
are not the ony sparkle of the Tar
Heel' diamond, nor the brightest. How
ever, our fondest hopes may be blast
ed, and we acknowledge it is a case
Of war to the knife. and should our
banner be trailed in the dust we will
bow gracefully to the victors, though
with heavy hearts, for after all, u
motto is May the best team whip"
though we are anxious, more than an
iOus for our team to he the best and
likewise whip. Tarboro's team is a strong
one, composed of college boys of popu-
larity as we'll as base bal science, and
in their three games in this city with
our team the far will have one of the
few opportunities of a lifetime of see
ing great exhibitions of the unrivaled
American sport. This series of three
games will be played con%secutively,
commencing, as we have stated, Thurs
day afternoon.
The association team will be a mighty
one and ot tQVprV most will he found
a good and true man. OF course, il
requires nine men on each side to play
a game Of ball, and eac of the eigh-
teen is very essential, but the players
who generally come in for the most
comment, be it favorable or adverse,
are the twirlers, the horse hide push
ers, the deliverers of zig-zag spheres,
or in thoroughly understandable YER
nacular pitchers. In this particular
Wilmington will have a Quartette of
"de finest dat is'-Sanders, Brunson,
Dupree and Sweeney. The last named
is strictly home talent and is now
twirling great ball; Dupree is a new
acquisition and who the past season
gained a big reputation in the role of
pitcher with the college of Wooford,
S. c.; Brunson we know to be first class
and ever faithful in his work., and ca
pable of hustling puzzling balls over
h pan; n Sanders, who is the latest
player signed, is of the Charleston
team, and is enjoying a reign of fame
won by brilliant achievements in the
box, dating back only to last week.
Thursday the Charleston team and the
Anderson team fought to a hard finish,
resulting in a conquest of the latter
by a score of l to 0. Sanders pitched
for the victOrs and off him only three
hits We're made. Altogether there were
e1ght hits made n Sanders obtained
three of this number ou of four times
at the bat. His splendid work was
highly praised by The Charleston News
and Courier, and The Augusta Chron-
icle says h a the Sea Gulls" (by
which sobriquet the Charlestonians are
known, but why we are not cognizant
of, as they appear never to take water.
but they are thigh f1iers) think
that Sanders is the only Jtwirler of the
horse hide On the diamond"
BRING, an ex-NatiOnal league player.
has been obtained to play short stop.
and he is the first to arrive on the
scene: He reached the city yesterday
morning from Raleigh, and played at
short in yesterdays game, making a
splendid showing, in spite OF the fact
that he was unaccustomed to our dia-
mond, with no knowledge whatever of
the players methods and had travelled
all night in order to reach Whining
ton. He made two difficult stops, and
= Az SIOuuu lIdu Oily man we
nave seen of1ciate at the very import
ant position of hort stop.
Jack johnson is to be the teams Sec
ond baseman, and a better one cannot
be found. He is a strong hitter, and
won unlimited praise as Trinity Col
lege's crack second baseman the past
season.
Fertile Johnson and Bob Gwaltney are
two more of the teams players, and
bot are known to be fine" and both
played on the Wilmington team in '97.
These two and Jack johnson will ar
rive tomorrow on Tuesday.
It is also very probable tina LeGrand.
who so artistically figured al second
bag for Maxton yesterday afternoon
and who secured a two-bagger, will be
signed to play with the team. He is a
good 'un, and the past season was phy-
steal instructor at Bingham's school.
There are several other players TO be
signed and they will be obtained by to-
morrow.
Home players who the association
have and who viii greatly help out the
team to victory are Alston, the Uni
versity's second baseman last year
Morton. Zellers, Schultz, Jones (E.D'
Jones (B.). Orrell, Genaust, Foster and