The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-22
BY BILLY MAC.

Wisconsin-the Happy Hooligan of
the Western football world-drew its
regular share at Chicago yesterday aft
ernoon and large punches of gloom
push down on the Madison camp.
With a tie game with Northw Western,
it is hard for the Badger following
to tell of things that are to be done
to the Minnesota team Thursday next,
but it is not all over. and the time
for the rejoicing in these parts has
not yet arrived.
Minnesota will beat Wisconsin Thurs
day afternoon without doubt, but the
fact that the Badgers played another
hard luck game and allowed the Purple
to tie with them is more like bad news
than good news. Minnesota has but
one thing to fear, and that one thing is
overconfidence, and with the continued
poor showing of Wisconsin it is hard to
prevent the Gopher players entertain
ing the belief that Thursdays battle
will be a snap.
We believe that despite the fact that
Wisconsin always makes her fight OF
the year against Minnesota and the fact
that all through the season the Badgers
have been unfortunate in their defeats,
Minnesota will come up near to the 40
mark in piling up the score against the
Badgers.
OYerconfidence is to be feared, but
this season Minnesota not only has
champion team, but it has team OF
modest men who do not believe that
the battle is over until the final whts-
tie sounds. This, coupled with the
fact that the Minnesota men cannot
help but feel that Wisconsin has sided
with Michigan against them in the I'M
pleasant little discussion that has been
going on since the Michigan game at
Northrop field, will make the GopherS
| work to wipe out things.
Here's hoping that they rub it in!
During the past week the papers of
the Twin Cities and the Milwaukee pa
pers as we'll have been filed with the
stories of the plot of the Michigan
football men to throw Minnesota out
into the cold. cold world, where she
could play games with nothing better
than high schools and fourth rate col
leges. Wisconsin was asked to join In
the plan; then Chicago was to be forced
in and the rest would be easy.
1t is hardly probable that anything
will come out of this little scheme Of
the Michigan men, and the only thing
that compels regret is the fact that
Wisconsin stood ready to lend herself
to dirty piece Of business OF this sort
Wisconsin and Michigan have jolly
good right to question Minnesota's
standing in the football world, even on
| the point Of dirty playing. Men who
| have watched the Wisconsin, Minnesota
games of the past know whether or not
Wisconsin ever furnished suits and
sweaters with the priced "W" to plain
| ordinary educated roughs and prize
| fighters-but what's the use?
Both Michigan and Wisconsin could
work laundry overtime in stirring
| washing powder into dirty linen, and 1t
! might be even limited that the two
could overlook the laundry piles of the
| past seasons and still provide plenty
| Of work.
This time it's a case of the pot and
| the kettle attempting to spread the
black around onto the other utensils.
Though the ball parks look cold,
| lonesome and dismal, the baseball mag
mates of the league that Mr.. Hickey
once guided are not idle.
Since the season ran through to its
chilly end many things have happened
in the American association world and
| there is a promise that even more his
| tory is to be made before the players
report .in-i the pink condition
| ready-to- play the game Of their life"
next spring.
The season will open with the old
| sage, "Bill'' Watkins, at the head of the
Minneapolis team, and in this little an
nouncemdht is food for thought. The
| fact that Watkins has secured the Min
| neapolis team and the additional fact
/ that Strobel may be induced to let go
of the Toledo team before spring, all
sounds simple enough, but is it?
! One thing that the American base
| ball public hates more than any other
one thing is syndicate baseball,
! and though there is little ground for
| suspicion at this time, the opinion is
steadily growing that a syndicate is
planning and working to secure con-
| troll of the American association.
| In 1902 the baseball fans stood for
many peculiar things, for at that time
| the American association was fighting
! it's death struggle" with the Western
| league, but last season many other pc
culiar things were worked in, and since
| the season closed still other peculiar
| things are being told Of In carefully
worded announcements.
| There may be nothing in the suspi-
! cion that three or four men, perhaps
| but three, are planning to secure con-
| troll of the association but the fans can
| take the hint and then see if they can
note anything of a suspicious nature in
| the future announcements of the
| ''sales" and transfers Of players from
| one club of the association to another.
! In forgetting the cold and taking up
| the discussion of baseball there is still
another point that might be carefully
considered.
Next to the dislike of the syndicate
game, the fanatics turn on the farm"
system. The new national agreement,
/ in way, provides against work of this
/ nature, but the fanatics, when they
watch the drafting and releasing, can
not help believe that it Is all to end with
each town of our little league being but
| a developing institution for some par
| ticular town in the big leagues.
Instances that compel this belief
have already been noted. The New Or
leans club planned to save it's star men
by turning them over to Brooklyn, and
not going out of our home, the Louis
Vile Cincinnati deal has q peculiar
look. 1t may have been all proper and
| above board, but the fact that Tebeati
| turned practically his entire team over
| to Cincinnati, and then when the
chance to take the players was gone,
Cincinnati turned what 1t did not want
back to Louisville, starts one thinking.
The baseball men may say that the
other big league clubs had ten-day
| opportunity to snap up these returned