The hatchet. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1883-19??, 1900-05-27
LEAGUE BASEBALL NEWS.
Notes and Gossip of the Ma
tiOnal Game.
AN INCENTIVE TO WORK
The Prophet Has Already Begun to
Pick Pennant Winners-5uok Ew-
lno's Effect on the New York Nine
Notes of the Diamond.

Notes OF the DldUlOlu'
There is more incentive for good
work among League baseball players
this season than ever before Failure
does not mean transfer from one
National League club to another, but
relocation to the minor league ranks
at greatly reduced salary. Many OF
those who are turned down this year
realize too late that dissipation ana IN
difference are responsible for their
Reports from all the
grounds are TO the effect that there
are no laggards this year. The player
who goes out of the National League
with reputation for dissipation VIII
find II hard work TO break back again
Something more than skill will be re-
uuircd i'm National League player
from this time on. Condition viii count
ms much as class, and the star who I'M
pairs his usefulness to his club by eN-
cesses of any kind will be passed by
for the more reliable if less brilliant
player Under the new order of affairs
the moral plane Of the profession will
be higher, and with it will come an
Improvement in the standard Of play
ign. The tough element will be assin'
Hated or eliminated, and all the great
est cNcmplars of the national game
will belong to the better type Of man
hood
This is the season the year when
baseball prophets are telling the PEG
pie how the championship race looks.
one wise enthusiast seems to think
that Cincinnati. Chicago and New
York are out Of the running. He says
"The reduction or condensation Of
the circuit from twelve to eight clubs
doubtless means increased playing or
artistic strength, as the essence of tai
cnt. 50 to say has been gathered from
the legion of major league players
with the hope of increasing the com.
parative worth of the teams-that is
as they stand, with one team matched
against the other. The eight clubs,
taken as body, and viewed on paper,
look, all in all, to be the best matched
octet that ever represented the major
body. OF course, Cincinnati, Chicago
and New York seem weak as water in
comparing their team and individual
strength with the other five. Cincin-
natl and Chicago take the arena this
season with two new managers Al
len. of Cincinnati being Il former
major league player and minor league
manager, while LOTUS Of Chicago,
was formerly the manager of the old
Cleveland American Association Club,
so it can hardly be said that he is
making his debut in fast company.
Both were signally triumphant i'm the
management Of minor league material,
though whether the theories they
bring from the provinces will bear sue
ccssful fruit is a question this season
will solve"
Critics are beginning to have some
respect for the team that Buck Ewing
has i'm New York this year. Says Jake
Morse. the well-known Boston writers:
"New York will be a dangerous fac
tor this year. Buck Ewing will easily
have a better club there than he ever
had i'm Cincinnati. Look at the value
of the players given him outright: Gin
cinnau bought Al. Setback last season
for $1,000 from Washington. He did
not make the biggest success of the
world in Cincinnati but it is claimed
this was due TO troubles other than
inability to fill the bill. Ewing must
think well of Selbach, as he has him
on his list for this year. Hickman is
a player worth $1,000 at least, if put
up for sale Frisbee cost $1,000 for
the Boston club to get. If Catcher
BoWcrman was worth a penny on the
baseball market he was worth $1,000.
For Mercer Washington once wanted
as high as $4,000. While he could not
fetch that price today, he is a very
valuable player and if put on tile
block would fetch a large sum. 1t
would not be stretching matters to
say that the New York club has been
given players worth at least $4,000.
OF course, this is done simply to make
the New York club strong to prevent
it from being the weakling and tall
endcr Of the clubs, and consequently
no drawing card. With such an eX-
pericnced commander the club ought
TO draw well. and will undoubtedly
win half of the games"
An exchange attributes the following
to Hughey Jennings, the scrappy first
baseman of the Brooklyns:
During the past two winters | have
lived I'm different atmosphere. The
influences and environments of col
legiatc circles have inspired me with
a desire TO reach a higher plane pro-
fcssionally Billy GoeckeIs declara-
ton that he wished TO lose his identity
as a ban player and that he had
reached the parting of the ways par
ticularly impressed me, for l realize
that sooner or later | must adopt the
same course. ! have improved the
hiatus Of winter for several years by
applying myself TO the fundamental
principles of law, while | have also
taken peep into the mysteries Of
other professions, and the college at.
mospherc has been particularly pleas
ing ! realize that turn to journalism
| is something Of great value for the
man who aspircs 10 a professional life,
| and this avenue is not open to many
] wanna man | gitull aynunfup tho IN.