Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-04-24
Rainy Weather Plays Havoc With
American League in the East.
PARADES AND SPEECHES POSTPONED
Baltimore and PhfadeIphia's First
Game to Be Played Tomorrow.
S PORTS IN GENE RAL

| ball world, as the weather served IN today
| in the east, the American Leagues OPEN
| ing, is about par with what was given
| the National League last week on its first
| day. In the west the weather Is better be-
ing clear and warm in both Chicago and
| Detroit. Advices from Philadelphia and
Baltimore at noon were to the effect that
rain was falling hard, and that a post
ponement of the. opening ceremonies was
inevitable Short parades We're on the pro-
gram for the two eastern cities, and they
may be given tomorrow.
TOday's American League Schedule.
Washington at Philadelphia
Boston at Baltimore
Milwaukee at Chicago.
Cleveland at Detroit.
The debut of the American League in
the east will be watched with considerable
interest. as it will be run counter to two of
the National League clubs, and for this
reason it's friends have been hoping for a
good day for the start-off.
At this season Of the year 1t is almost too
early to "size'' up the different teams of
the American League, and an expression Of
opinion can be based only on past work and
reputation. They are made up Of so many
untried combinations that little idea of
their actual strength can be gained until it
is put to the test Each team of last years
circuit is MADE up OF the best of its PLAYERS,
strengthened by the addition of several OF
the National Leagues best men. The three
new teams in Boston, Baltimore and Phila-
delphia have been put together with a view
to making them capable of holding their
own. and each contains the element Of
steadiness that comes with experience, and
the dash and brilliancy which only young
blood can inspire.
The Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago
teams have been picked by majority of
writer's as the leaders in the race from
the start, and of this trio the Athletics
look the best Manager Mack has secured
a splendid infield in Carr, Lajoie Fultz
and Cross, while in the outtield, Hayden,
Geier and Ketchem look fairly strong The
pitching staff embraces Frazer, Piatt and
Bernhardt, and gets into the fairly strong
class. Next comes Chicago, principally on
account of it's pitching staff. Clarke Grif-
fifth and Jimmy Callahan are stars while
Patterson and Katoll have proved their
worth The in and outfelds are only fairly
strong, although Dummy Hoy was consid-
cred the star of the American League last
year. NJ
The Boston aggregation may make
good" and then again it may be a trailer
all season. The addition of Ted Lewis
should help out wonderfully and may
place the team in the 112-3 class. The
kellum. Freeman. Parent, Ferris and
Collins make up the iHffeld, and it looks
lopslded, while the eutfeld is not very
promising. =
Or
ton slated for 1-2-3 thonors in the cham
plonship race. McGraw has certainly Sc
cured star in McGinnity, and Howell is
a good side partner. but Nopps and Bres-
Keister and McGraw look fast for an in,
field, but the outfield is not overly strong
as the signing of Seymour yesterday would
lholcate. MctIraW cal, be depended upon
TO get all out of the pl,yers possible and
for this reason the Orioles will hear
watching at every point of the route.
Out in the western district are C,Ieva-
land, Detroit and Milwaukee, All three
OF these clubs have been tipped" off az
Dark horses and any one OF them NAV
shoot to the front and stay there With
Hawiey, GarVin, Bowling, Reidy, Sparks
ana Hust1ng to do the twirling, the Mil
Waukee aggregation, under the guidance of
hugh Duffy, has a strong look and may
| work havoc with the prophets predictions
WaldrOn, Duffy and Mailman in the ont
field get back into the fair" class. and
the lnf1eld possesses weak spots on ac
count of poor batters.
The Cleveland club has been hindered
like Washington, in spring practice. and
the men are only in fair condition This
team looks like a second division club but
may come to the front under McAleer's
guidance. The pitchers are good ones, but
the inffeld looks weak
The most promising dark horse is tho
Detro1t team. Jimmy Berrett has mate
rally strengthened the outfield and the
lnfeld looks good, as it remains the same
as last season. In the pitchers box the
wolverines are not over strong but en-
braces several good, steady twirlers, who
will win fair amount of games.
But, as pointed out in the first part of
this article, there is not a team in the
entire American League that does not pos
sess combinations which cause a great
deal Of guess work. The guesses may be
wrong, and therein lies the possibility Of
better work than anticipated For this
reason it is hard to pick a winner, and
the Washington fans" who have been
Keeping tab on players for several years
belleVe the Senators are as strong as any
of their rivals, and have just as good a
chance of winning the coveted pennant.