The times., 1900-03-18

Plans for Baseball SeRson-CRrroil
Institute Drops Bnsketball-Busi-
ness Men BOwIers-N. &. Games.
For several years the hard working vet
Grams. the scratch men. who have earned
their title and position among amateur
athletes. have raised their voices against
the continuance of the absurd and decided
" unfair handicap rule They want it
abolished at once. Its unfsirncss is being
demonstrated right along, and vet the leg
islative body, the A. A. L., and as allied
associations. makes no move TO abolish
the rule nor even TO modify its hardships-
After witnessing last Saturday nights
indoor games at Baltimore. the writer is
more than ever Of the opinion that some-
thing should be done to do away with
the absurdity and relieve the scratch men
Of the certainty Of failure which in nearly
every instance stsres them in the face
every time they toe the mark, and wor-
ries them in track events almCsl as much
as the work Of the incompetent starter.
The hardship Of a handicap Is often in
creased by the utter incompetcncy and
ignorance Of The handicaper. and the
track and field scratch man more often
than otherwise has his pains as the only
reward for his trouble in trying 20 catch
the limit man.
In the recent games spoken of The
scratch Y N. c. A. entrants from this city
and those from other cities were simply
smothered by the handicaps and penalties.
Think OF giving eighty yards start in the
SS0-ysrd event, eight feet in putting the
shot, three feet in the pole vault and SO
on through the list. And the same thing
occurs in nearly every handicap meet.
To win any OF these events the scratch
man would have to be a worlds record
holder and even then he would have little
or no show.
Limited Handicap~.
II there must be handicaps let them be
limited and make that limit reasonable and
fair. The nearer the contestants are
punched at the start. the more interested
will be the spectators and after all the
latter are to be considered above all othe.s-
for without them the holding Of games
would be impossible and the furthering Of
the interest in sports, the main object,
would be frustrated.
II will be asked what will become Of the
novices ard the men who do not do good
enough work-have not become proficient
enough to start at scratch If handicaps are
done away with entirely?
To this may be replied something like
this: Have an event in each line for no
vices; have others for the medium OF lit
lie better performers. for instance iu the
l0O-yard event put all from 10 5-5 sec
onds and slower in one class and all the
sprinters below this time star; together ana
in subsequent meets move mp the winning
novicss TO the medium class and the win
ners in the latter class TO the fast or
scratch squad This may be done through
all the track events as well with the per-
formers in field athletics. such as jumping,
Yaultng. and weight events.
The suggestion Of forming classes seems
practical and / believe IL can be carried
out The organization which viii De the
pioneer in this direction viii be blessed by
those interested in good sport ana viii no
doubt have many followers.
Y. VI. {. \. Athletes.
Notwithstanding the fact that they were
Handicapped in many ways the Y. n. c. a.
athletes returned from the Baltimore Ath-
letic Club indoor meet with four first and
four second prizes out Of dozen events.
Not SO bad for Mr.. HoltCn's charges. ehf
With unbanlIed corners OF a sixteen Jap
running track no fast time was made. The
relay team consisting OF Neigs keyser-
McElfresh and Speare acquitted itself n
its usual good shape and stIN remains
unbeaten il is the fastest team that ever
represented the local Y ~ c. A. Il has
beaten Baltimore picked and Y VI. C. a.
teams four times and ifs members are now
preparing for the race with picked team
representing the local National Guard
which il viii meet next month.
The wrestlers representing the Assool5-
ton al the last Baltimore meet came away
winners in two out Of three events. Paul
Won Boeckmaun easily landed the heavy
weight. and Huseman took his number,
the lightweight. winning both bouts on
points.
Karnes is one OF the best all-round men
of the Association and be will materially
strengthen the track and field team He
won the standing broad jump in the nrst
trial. covering ten feet two and one-haf
inches and then ran 90 catch his train,
which he barely made. The next day ne
was informed OF his winning.
Mather and Green hade fair 10 make a
good showing il not q winning. but
the handicaps Of three feet 10 the pole
vault were too much and they dropped
out: ditto with Royce Hough in me
siXteen-pound shot. In this ha put
the sphere 80 feet 3 inches, and then be
stopped. realizing that be had no chance
10 win. as he Was Deualized four feet. and
the limit OF handicap against him was
eight feet Al the Georgetown meet 80
feet inches won Ford and McElfre5h
are very promising runners.
lie Mat is doing good work al running
high jump. He took second prize al the
Baltimore meet. ana viii get FIRST prize
Il protest made by officials is decided
avafucf EfEhafh IN
The Association Indoor Baseball League
has closed its season. the Whites. under
Captain Speare winning The champion
shin. Much Of the success Of the team
was due 20 the clever pitching OF Cap
tain Speare His team included Shepard.
Shaw. Hufty Maize, Lipp Ford Brown,
and Meigs The team won hNe straight
games and did not lose one.
The outlook FOR the outdoor baseball
season is very bright II is hoped 10 get
together a good strong team, and this VIII
be done mainly through the competitive
system. An Association League ot SIX
teams will play q series OF games, and
from among he leading players in each
position the big team viii be- chosen Frac-
tice will begin al the grounds when the
weather permits. The first game sched-
uled is with Gsllaudet next Wednesday
The basketball team made a good show
ing aeainst the Easterus last "Wednesday,
an improvement in its work being notice
able. and the hcwlers made it lively
enough for the Golden Eagles by winning
two games
Carroll institute Athletes.
The classes OF the Carroll institute gym
naslum are larger than ever before. aut
The class Of work is of a higher order
q rra-r.e