Waterbury Democrat., 1902-12-10
BASE BALL NENS.
American League Will Surely
 Invade New York.

Grounds Secured and Plans Drawn fol \ Seats-List of the Players Who WI
 Compose the Team-National League
 Magnates Are Still in Session il
 New York-Trouble Ahead for Some
 body.
 New York, Dec 10.-Posftiye an nouncement was made last night that the American league will have rep resentative baseball club ln fhls clly next season. At the Criterion hotel' Broadway and Forty-frst street, B. B. Johnson, president of the American league, J F. Kilfoyle and c. W. som CTS of the Cleveland club, who have been working on the New York end or the big deal for the past six months, made this announcement last night. They refused to make public the ex- act location of the grounds for busi- ness reasons, but said they would do so in less than two weeks. President Johnson, in outlining the deal, said:
 "The task has been a most difficult one from the start, but we have work ed at it patiently and are now pract1- cally ready to break round. We have just signed lease for, long term of years. The piece of property selected is 51O feet long by 460 feet wide and is on Manhattan Island, even more conveniently located than the Polo grounds It is not Manhattan field, neither is it South field at Columbia university, but when it is fixed up it will be the finest ball park in the coun- try. We are in the hands of our at torneys and they have advised us to keep the location of the grounds se- cret for two weeks yet, as there are several little details yet to be settled. But you can say that we have all the money we need. plenty of political backing of the right sort and have in
 ctf ioe,al capitalisrts The officers of the new club will be local men of business standing and popularity so that the venture will be entirely New York in character.
 "The architects plans for the stands and blIildings have been drawn and accepted There will be seating ca pacity for nearly 15,000 spectators, with standing room for as many more. There will be a grand stand built of steel to seat 6,0O0 people or more with the corresponding bleachers. which will probably be covered. No ex- pense wila be spared to make the mark complete in every respect The loca- ton could not be better adapted to baseball purposes. It will be conven- tent to surface and elevated roads and to the rapid transit tunnel, and can be reached from the heart of the city much more quickly than the National league grounds up in Harlem.
 ' team will also be the best that money can procure. We have signed all of our men. The catchers are Jack O'Connor, formerly of the Pittsburgs, and Bevile, who made a splendid rec ord last season with the Kansas City American association team. The pitching staff is formidable. The star is Chesbro of the Pittsburgs, who led the National league twirlers this year Clark Griffith of the Chicago Americans is also on the list and will manage the New York Americans next season. Then there is Tannehill of the Pittsburgs, one of the best left handlers in the profession; Harry How ell of the Baltimores. Doc Newton of the BrOoklyns, Adkins, formerly with Boston and Milwaukee of the Ameri can league: Wolff of Kansas City and Owen of Omaha-quite a hot bunch of box men.
 The infield will be made up of John Ganzel, first base; Jimmy Williams. formerly of Pittsburg and Baltimore. second base; Tommy Leach of Pitts burg, third base; Herman Long. the great Boston player, short stop. who is one of the best drawing cards in the land. Tn the outfieId we have Willie Keeler of the Brooklyns, Dave Fultz. who played such fine ball for the champion Philadelphia Athletics last season, and Lefty Davis of Pittsburg. l signed Keeler to a contract myself six weeks ago. and while I do not cara to say how much the contract called for, l am willing to state that Keeler is more than satisfied Leach signed contract some time ago. but since then 1 hear that he has decided to re- main with Dreyfuss. That will he settled in time. however
 New York baseball cranks know that the American league has made good all of it's promises and obIiga- Elons, not only to the players, but also the public. We have been an advo- cate of clean ball from the start and we wish to have it understood now on the eve of our entry into the Greater City that rowdyism will not be toIer- ated at our games in any form. The American league believes that there should be peace in the baseball world and we have always been ready to confer with the National league on this matter.-but the older organization has never failed to turn us down. We have asked no favors of anybody and have paid our bills without help. We stand firm on the proposition that two major leagues can live successfully and are far better for baseball than a twelve club monopoly.
 With no conflicting games there is enough patronage for two clubs in one city, but of course the club that plays the best ball gets the crowds. The American league has succeeded in all the cities where it has competed with the National league and it will succeed in New York beyond a doubt.
 We have not yet decided whether we will enter Pittsburg or not. w. W. Kerr. P L. Auten and a syndicate in that city want a franchise in the American 1paV11o and if xvo rsor1 or