Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1904-06-05
COTTON STATES LEAGUE.

COTTON STATES LEAGUE.
Tie Cotton State league aas Just
.tnizaaa lrsfitfa Hea!z Of The schedule
ii - games. ard the race foI the pen.
Haat has developed into ona Of tle
prelfies1 from tn fans standpoint 20
he seen in any Of the minor leagues Of
the=t nife;I Stat. II the present time
the race for first place Is between four
clubs Nc5s5ure5 Monroe Natchez a4d
Pine Bluff but the otner Two clubs
Baton Rouge ami Greenyille can not f2e
counted cut Of the running by any
means Tie eastern division has itlst
finished its first trip around the Wes-
tefH circuit and next week the western
clubs will invade eastern territory.
Tie Nicksbur2 club, under the manage
mont Of the veteran Billy Earle have
proved themselves the best in the lea
,gie thus far. and have a nice lead il
the race bnt the loss Of three OF four
games would send the Globe TrotersH
down the ladder at a swift pace.
The Monroe team, Which finished in
rhe last Dlaca at the end of the season
Of l>p. is a much stronger team this
season. and Wei uD with the leaders
Mnile the Natehez cl;tb did not do SO
well away from nome. ttey. like Pine
Bluff aggre2ation give good account
of themselves on their home grounds,
and stand Well up to the top. The loss
Of TWO out of three games to Nicksburg
kept the Pine Bluff team in fourth
place but as Natchez and Monroe both
lost TO Baton Rouge and Gre2nyille the
distance between fourth place and first
place is only few games away.
Probably the poorest showing that
has been made in tne league is that OF
lest seasons nennant winners. Baton
Rouge. Pender's bunch had been sadly
crippled by sickness, and this, more
than anything else, will account for
this clubs poor showing. With all the
players back in the game, Baton Rouge
Will not be long in pulling out Of last
place.
Greenville. too, has been showing
poorly but the reason for this is given
on account OF the disorganizaton in the
ranks of the players. The trouble with
Greenyille has been that there were
too many men on tne team who want
ed to be manager Rothermel has
made some changes in his Line I'D and
is now winning regularly.
At the beginning OF this season the
prediction was made through these
columns that the Cotton States league
this season would be three times as
fast as it was last season and this pre-
dcton has been verified The games
played anywhere in the circuit are a
credit to any league in the minor class.
There are more old players in the
teams this season than ever before and
they teach the youngsters how to play
ball When the season closes in Sep
ltulD6I HldIy Ol luo play els HOW w GdI-
ing uniforms of the teams in the Cot
ton States will go UP to bigger leagues.
Eddie Lauzon, the former Southern
Lacquer, is now hitting the ball regu-
larly for Pine Bluff and his trusty stick
has scored many runs for his team In
spite of his size, the Mobile boy runs
bases like a rabbit
Greenville has signed Lewis, who
covered third base for Baton Rouge
last season, and Johnnie Freeman, a
utility catcher.
According to advices from Monroe,
Manager Leidy has traded second base
man Fred Moore to Birmingham of
the Southern League. Moore was re-
/ Gently put on the bench for thirty days
| by the board of directors of the Monroe
association for an alleged throwing of
, a game to Baton Rouge
Al n@+