The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-03-03
NOT OUT OF WOODS YET
WESTERN LEAGUE MAGNATE5
STILL HAVE SEVERAL PROB
LENS TO SOLVE
DENVER ISSUES LOUD Def
Champions Cause of Colorado
Springs and Insists That 1t
Be Given PuebIo's
Franchise.

Baseball enthusiasts who have figured
1t out that all differences in the western
league have been harmoniouslv settled
may yet be obliged to revise their conclu
slonS AT the eastern end of the cir
cut everything is serene, but there's the
hVelest kind Of a muss at the west
ern terminus and hot scrap is fmmi.
nent when the magnates meet in st
Faul-lf they ever do.
The trouble seems to have had its origin
III the abandonment of Pueblo and the
transference of it's franchise to Sioux
City. Hulen is 'hollering'' his head off
about how he has been film fammed and
ne is aided and abetted by the fans OF
colorado Springs, who thought they had
a clnch on the team that made the
Smelter City its home last season The
residents of the Springs assert that
they have fulfilled all the terms that
Hickey demanded as condition of plac-
ing the Pueblo franchise with them and
they insist that the president of the
Western will have to show them before
they allow him to abrogate his implied
contract. Hulen wants to go to the
Springs and is charging bad faith, and to
complicate matters still further Denver
has mounted it's high horse and pro-
claimed it's determination to withdraw
from the league unless either Pueblo or
cult. Whether this last demonstration
is a bluff or not is predetermined at pres
ent
The failure of the projected American
association to mater.alize may help III
solving the problem that lies before the
Western ma gnates, and it is just posi-
BILE that Denver will be taken at Its
word if it gets too fiossy. There is lit
tie doubt that Indianapolis and Louisville
would like to get into the Western, now
that the American hiss died a-bOrnin
and it is quite within the realm of the
possibilities that the franchises of both
Pueblo and Denver will be transferred
to the Southern towns. To man up
a tree, it would look as though the Noun
tain City had chosen a particularly I'M
suspicious time to register a kick in
support of it's sister towns. AS matter
of fact, It can be stated now that the
course suggested above is the one that
will be adopted. At present 1t looks as
though the cities composing the Western
this season will be st. Paul, Minneapolis,
Des Moines. st. Joseph, Kansas City,
Omaha, Indianapolis and Louisville.
Sioux City will probably be cut out along
with Pueblo and Denver.
April l. or as soon thereafter as the
weather will permit, Perry Werden will
conduct his husky aggregation OF tosserS
and sWatterS out to the Lexington PARK
diamond and begin putting them through
their PAGES. The big captain has inquired
ii out that the team will be likely to do
better work if their preliminary practice
is done on the home grounds, and In TINS
he has shown his usual good Judgment.
Heretofore it has been customary for
the managers to take their men to Hot
Springs or some other Southern point,
but the practice has not brought results
commensurate with the trouble and eX-
rense it involved The preliminary
work will no doubt be closely watched
by the local fans, and it will be posslpie
for Manager Lennon to get line on ms
nlavers at close range. The first game
will probably be played about May l.
There has been a disposition on the
mart of some of the local sporting writers
to criticise the makeup OF the team III
advance and prophecy that 1t Will De d
loser all around. Just why they nave
seen fit to do this is not apparent, ana,
at any rate, it's mighty ungraclous
thing to get out hammers and begin
knocking before the personnel OF the
team is made known. Even the Verles1
tvro at baseball knows that Weroen Is
the king bee of first basemen, ana the
man who thinks that "Old Bill wilson
is a haS-De6n DSQ1nO IiS UoI, ~ 4OA~O
likely to wake UP some fine morning ana
find himself mistaken Under the new
rules the catcher will be compelled to
stand within ten feet of the home plate,
and it's safe bet that when Old VIII
lie'' gets into the game the balls tnat
elude his capacious mitt will be few ana
far between. His standing among west
crn league catchers last year was h1th'
and for more than half that time he
Lit rio I1f hoY nd co
that every move was an agony or tor
ture He is a strong and heady player,
and the G O b does not believe at pres
ent that Manager Lennon made any mis-
take in signing him. Better sheathe
YOUR hammers, gentlemen, until the
game is called and then see.
The Kansas City Star has the following
to say of Jimmy Ryan, who will wear
ST. Paul uniform this season:
The announcement that Jimmy Ryan
had decided to cast his future lSt with
the Western league as part owner, mdiI-
ager and captain of the ST. Paul CLUB,
brought feeling of regret to nlnety-nlne
out of every hundred fans in Chicago
However many of them may have agl-
tated their little hammers When IN d
close game Ryan failed to make three
Dagger every time he came to bat In
pinch, every last one of them had TO
admit between whites that he has been
most reliable player on the chicago team
He is the veteran of the team, and is one
of the few players to quit the NATIONAL
league before being asked to. He VIII
never lose the splendid judgment Whlch
he exhibits in playing for and going after
fly balls, and he is still able to bound the
ball into the catcherS hands in time 10
kill many too ambitious base runner at
the place And he is still as reliable a
batter as there was on last seasons
Ryan has played nearly every position
on the diamond He has pitched with
success has played the infield in emer-
gencies and has regularly filled every
position in the outfield being at one time
The only man who could be depended on
in the sun field. The quiet feud which
has existed between Ryan and Donahue
and their respective adherentS made 1t
impossible to determine what ability he
had for directing a team, even after
Lotus defed the rebels who kept Ryan
out of the captaincy of the club under
Tom Burns But his ability as a player
and his reputation will command for him
the respect of the young players over
whom he will be in the minor league.
and will enable him to teach them some
of the things he knows about baseball.
1t is a coincidence that nearly all the
players on the Omaha team this season
are from small towns, says the Omaha
News. Manager Rourkes friends, who
know the reason, say that Bill has Syn
ed a team of Villagers" The explana-
ton of the circumstance is Rourke's