The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-10-13
THE NATIONAL LEAGUE.
Former Rulers Conclude a Year of
Storms and Battles.
MAY BE THE ORGANIZATIONS LAST
The chanoee Are Good for cousolida-
ton with the Vigorous Rival, Headed
by Ban johnson.


revolutionary. sensational and colossal Ia
its dolngs. II has seen od-establishc1 Gus
tom rent In twain and thrown away. 1t
has seen q Young league. which In hygone
years sat tlmidly at the feet OF It's uncle,
throw on the chains declare Itself an equal
and compete with the older organization
on the latter's grounds 1t has seen the
supremacy established In 1901 torn from It's
pedestal, and the free lance take mis- place
Ia baseball n successful robel against
the old order Of Affairs. II has been year
OF storms and battles. with each new day
bringing some new excitement and the
fans hail its close much rs a weary book
Keeper halls the vacation after a year
Of extra columns.
The National. oldest Of leagues, and sim
tho most powerful even though Its king
ship may be tottcring, winds up its ac.
| cotnts-perhaps forever. For the old Ma
| uohal, its ten.year agreement done, may
| never again FACE the world Us n compact
! organization. II may reOrganlzc upon new
| llres, II may amalgamate with the Young
enemy which has shaken its backbone so
tue old 'Nptonal League and American
Association OF Professional Ball Clubs" CO.
inented under the great agreement of 1884,
HARD YEAR FOR NATIONAL.
The years campaign was a hard one for
the National. Faced with strenuous com
petition in three of its best cities. the tight
would have been a hard one with no shift
OF players and no conflicting schedules As
It was, the old league was shorn OF many
or It's ablcst men, and, with weakened
teams and inferior quality Of goods. had to
60 against an enemy which fought 1t on
something like twenty days out Of the sew
ehty each team had at home Under the
circumstances, 1t was small wonder that the
league suffered v,s.,y th.,t 4 .
stood the fray SO we'll All of the eight
Nhtlpnal League teams finish the season
stlohg-at least to the outward yew-and
IeW complaints have been heurd from the
gritty owners. Nevertheless. II n certain
mat pence Is urgentX asked by the Ma
llOhnI, nor Is peace dlstlsteful to the Amer
ican. For the National had one advantage
higher prices. 1t had "A clientele alrus.
toned TO the JO-ccnt rate and its expenses
With many high -salarled med shifted to The
opposition, were lttr If any larger than
nose nose, OF me American. Moreover, the Ma
llohnl eight cities drew from n population,
urban alone, and saying nothing OF subur
pan. or not less than e,OO0,ClA, while the
AIlnnerlcan' 8 g.. eight towns totnled not over
9toWlVo. Thcse preponderating facts told
hgrqqYlly in the long run, and hence tie
WWIIInngness Of the American us well as the
o'det league Tor peace with honor.
PENNANT WON ON CLASS.
The pennant of the National league was
won on class, and class alone-was won by
J the team which kept Its 1900 membership
the nearest intact and suffered least from
the inroads OF the American The Pittsburg
nine was ceverly managed and backed by
! one Of the most dead game sports In the ma
tton-Barney Dreyfuss At the start It was
conceded winner by all critics and the only
wonder was the fact that the other clubs
kept the pirates within hail as long as they
ala. During the first half Of the season
I fIttsburg had to rely upon the great STAFF
4 or pitchers, MS Clarke, Beaumont ana
Bransheld, three supposed heavy hitters,
battcd lightly, ana Ely the shortstop, was
, hltlng not at all. In midseason Dreyfuss
made change. He sent Ely to the woods
1 called the heavy hitting Wagner in for
shortstop work, aud put Alfonso Davis In
, me held. Pitts6urg at once began to bat
p InrlouSy Clarke, Beaumont BransLelQ,
s Wagner Leach and Davis all massacred me
hall The fielding was superb, the pitching
, nNtchless. The cold figures show thar Plus
burg was hrst In batting, first in fielding
e ana first In pitching, With these physical
advantages what chance had any club TO
win against Dreyfuss meng II was like Il
| of buntums.
> The Philadelphia club was badly shin.
wrecked 10y the Americans raid, losing it's
best inhelder best butsman ana half It's
= ginger. The club had some pretty good
pitchers, and wrlggled along TN near the
Wd when 1t began to win game after
game passing its competitors and anchor.
ING In second position. on form, this Is
= puzzle The team was handicapped by
bcNtINl IN ana ouiuCldcrS who could not hit
little bit although two or three of these
We're disposed of during the year. 1t was
none too fast on the bases, and its stick
work had to be mostly done 10y Delchauty
y generalshlp of Hugh jennings gave the
10 4nakers shade in many games, and thus
Is they slpped TO second place when on form
"a and power they ought to have ended nth
!, brooklyn, champions for the tNo previous
= years, was up against It, losing two pitch
y ers, star Outhelder, aud n fine inteldci
Il ny the Americans grab. Hanlou did his
y pest TO nj the gaps, and failed Try as h,
% nRight' ne could not replace McGinnity
a nan, batting we'll fielding cievery and
T. showing some good pitching, but the handi
e 10 have beaten Philadelphia for second
]. nut me weakness Of Kennedy, for years
d hrHoklyns most reliable pitcher. and tho
rs failure of Dr. McJamcs to make good
IS stopped the proR~ess Of the retiring cham
plons. and third was their notch wher
n the strife was done
10 St Louis was hit dercely nv the AnprI
is can. McGraw, Robinson, Crrer Schrprk
a. WWnsGsJ, hsmphlll, Young keister and Don
n the kohisonS did Their best They Dor
II roWcd some broken-down old catchers
a scared up a couple OF experimental pitch
ie ers, and stole a second baseman iron
d ComlSkey. Then they set to VITA SucI
v Nlgor mat for months the Cardinals actual
y fought ,pitis6grg neck and sleek tn
"a VINO lead the league IN stick work ken
n me Team up, and H9rper's splendid pitch
,n AAAH hlN AAt rest. Al last inc lNNNtIuNl
IS came-~the club which had no inheld wortl
IS the name. no Catchers OF note. and onl
NJ Us outheld TO depend on Stunned heavily
II internal discussions came, and complete,
. the disaster. st. Louis ceased 10 he
y factor in the race and the other team
y breathed easier.
"a BOSTON WAS hit right In the neck by tn
!, American League, losing Its catchers tw
- hard-hltting outhelders, ana It's great thlr,
- hasemnn. NelCc, q fine manager thu
handicapped, was stlu further hamperet
% by the Dissatisfaction Of tho Boston own
10 ers, who fired him pt the close Of the sea
~ son, and sOucaled like stuck nlcs as ever,
~ dollar went away. They reduced thei
admission fee TO a quarter, Int Il didn'
work, and the people. tired OF patronzin
the Stinglcst owners I'm baseball, went an
other way. Boston, with a raft nf hall
III baked men, and absolutely nothing Il
m depend on hut four fine pitchers coul,
~ not bat, delded none too well and wa
- lucky "a wind M dfth, II the Boston
s. had not had their pitchers, they wouil
ut have NJ I'm the eighth hole aud Ii WON'T
ls have served their owners right
IN The ChlcagO team was sacked Worse thar
OF any other by the raid, Jim Hart, who mac
as already traded Camel, Garvln and Stran,
for Doyle, lost Callahan, Griffith Mertes
IS, Bradley and Mccarthy IN the sweep Doyi,
IN proved not only weak leader, hut was on
IN or the game most OF the time The pitcher