Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1904-02-17
SPORTING NEWS. /!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

kee club Claims to have signed the com
ing champion base runner of the world,
says CIV Sanborn. The players name IS
Williams, and he has been tried by one
or two minor leagues. including the
| Three Eyes. He has not proved much
Of fielder or batter, but has led every
league he has played with in base steal
ing, although playing only part OF the
season. Joe signed him on the strength
Of Clarke Gridith's recommendation, the
strongest part Of which was Il story the
New York manager told about the play
er, whom Griffith heard of while out on
his Montana ranch last fall It seems
that Williams, despairing Of becoming a
ball player, hired out to a Montana
ranchman to tend sheep. On beng put
to work the first day he was given Il
pony and told to take a flock of sheep
out to a grazing patch and return with
them at 5:3C o'clock. Williams, how
ever, declined the use of the pony be-
cause he could not ride well enough, and
claimed he could run fast enough to
keep the sheep from straying, in spite Of
the OverSeers protests and warnings.
| When the rest Of the herds returned
that night Williams did not appear, AMI
il was lot until o'clock that he brought
his flock to headquarters. He was taken
to task at once by the overseer with !:
Il told you better than to try to round
IL
The big ones were easy" said Will
llams, land gave me no trouble, but
those - little runts kept me hustling
to keep them with the rest"
Knowing there were no lambs in the
flock the overseer was puzzled, and
asked: What are you talking about?
They are all the same SIZE
Not for a minute" retorted Williams,
there's a bunch of little ones, and
had to leave q lot more out in the brush
because | couldn't catch EN-"
The overseer decided to investigate,
and found that the ball player had round
ed up forty or fifty jack rabbits with his
flock
There seems little doubt now that the
Washington Baseball club of the Ameri-
can league will pass into the hands Of
new owners within the next few days
Attorney Wilton J. Lambert, together
with Ban Johnson in Chicago Saturday
concerning the offer made by John r.
Mclean and Congressman Wadsworth.
| Tom Lotus also took part in the discus
sion. 1t is thought that the deal will
go through.
! President Edward Holland of the
Three-I league has issued call for the
| spring meeting, to act upon a schedule
/ for the season of 1904. and for the trans
| action of routine business. The meet
ing will be held February % at Chicago.
! President Ebbets Of the Brooklyn
/ Baseball club. discussing the case of
! Ridgeway park before the national COM
mission said: 1T was the hardest dis
cussion | ever entered into. and so far
as Brooklyn's end is concerned | had TO
! conduct the battle single handed, but
received excellent support from Pulllam
and Hermann. The American league
people tried their customary bluff and
at one time Johnson, Farrell and their
associates could be heard in the corridors
of the hotel. The right of the national
commission to hear the Ridgewood case
was opposed by the American leaguers,
but Chairman Hermann ruled otherwise,
and the bluff failed to go through. The
| proposition to take the matter out OF
the hands of Hermann was an insult to
him, and it was conclusively proved he
has jurisdiction i'll the matter Ebbets
is confident of a favorable decision.
/
J The schedule committee of the Ameri-
can association has finished its work and
the schedule will be made public as soon
as the magnates ratify the report of the
committee at their next meeting. The
championship season will open April ~
with all of the western clubs playing IN
|
| lumbus. Minneapolis ut Indianapolis, st.
Paul at Toledo and Milwaukee at Louis
ellie. Minneapolis. st. Paul. Kansas City
and Milwaukee will play the different
eastern teams on the first trip and will
then have a long series with the eastern
teams in the west. Then will follow a
series in which the different western
teams play teams of their own section
and the same will be true of the east.
Pitcher Sudhoff has joined Pitcher
Powell in refusing to accept a cut in sal
airy and will not sign a contract with
the st. Louis Browns.
The Olympic Athletic club of Grand
Rapids, Mich. will hold boxing show
Thursday, February %, and the prin-
cipals in the main bout will be Paddy
Nee of Pittsburg and Johnny Whitaker
of Detroit.
Martin Candle, the Fall River light
weight, has received an offer from a San
Francisco club to meet Young Corbett
for twenty rounds the latter part of
| March.
Jack O'Keefe, the Chicago lightweight
has been matched to fight Jack Clifford
| in tWenty-round contest at Salt Lake
city on the 18th of March, The men will
weigh in at 1873 pounds and will battle
for a purse Of $1,000.
Johnny Kelly will have to go back to
the butcher trade. Johnny met Harry
Forbes at the Chicago Athletic assoc
citation Saturday night and was knocked
out in the third round. He did not
have a single chance of winning the one
sided battle. Forbes put him out with a
left swing to the jaw.
Tom Ryan of Oshkosh wired Eddie
Hanlon of San Francisco offering a $1,000
purse for match with Charlie Neary of
Milwaukee to be held off in Oshkosh.
Hanlon decided that he could not accept.
Regarding the protest of the prin-
cipals of Chicago high schools over the
admission to college athletic teams of
students deficient in school work, radical
action will be taken by the University
Of Michigan. One of the professors
said Michigan will go even further
than is expected and will bar anv fresh