The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-08
GOOD BALL SEASON.
FOR SPORT IN MONT-
 GOMERY NEVER BRIGHTER.
All Legal Obstacles have been Over come and Manaeee OsDK1en WSttes
 He 10 StrenGthenfng the

come and M000Gee OpDK4en WHu1eD
 He is stxengthen1ng the
 Team.
 One week from today the annual meeting of the Southern Baseball League will be held in Memphis. This meeting, always pregnant with possi- bilities to the baseball lovers of the sDgth, is this yssr lfsnsat m,.n Some with more force possibly to Montgom- cry than to any other town in the. cir cult, for conditions here are radically different from those of last year.
 At the December meeting of the was included. in the circuit and the franchise was granted to w. H. Rag land. The bitter light between the organised Southern Association and the outlaw organization that Charlie Frank was fostering attracted much attention. By diplomacy and his strong personali- ty Judge aKvanaugh finally throttled
 During the teason of 1908 Lew Whistler was manager of the local team. and ball wa. played at Athletic Montgomery Traction Company. Sum day ball was played that season. and both financially and otherwise the sea- son proved a great success.
 Last season the. games were trans- IcKISQ ITO" AtulStIC SO bho grounds of the Montgomery Street Railway in Cloverdale. Lawsuits as thick as confetti during a street fair. made the path of the baseball people an extremely thorny and rocky one. Tn fact, during the first part of the season, the Chancery Court instead of on the green diamond. Then again there there could be no Sunday ball. The Alabama Legislature passed a rnanda- tory law. prohibitive and drastic. Every ball lover in Montgomery Is aware of manner in which 1t was run was dis tinct disappointment. Notwithstand- ing all these handicaps 1t was rewela- tion to see the way In which the game locally was supported. Naturally 2 lot they quietly and firmly dropped out of the numbers who were wont to i'll bleachers and grandstand every day. Loyalty a big percentage of baseball "cranks" stuck to the game to the end, and 1t simply goes to show what an unqualified success baseball would be in Montgomery with q good. fast team run on the high plane that 10 the only one that the people of Montgomery will stand for.
 season there was another shift on the baseball chess board of Montgomery. By one of those coincidences that form the basis of the freaks of fate the Montgomery Traction Company once more became the owners of Montsom. in the hands of Major E. E. Winters, general manager Of the Traction Com pany. The remaining few games of the 1904 season were re-transferred to Athletic Park and after an. absence of there saw something more than amateur ball.
 Now then it may readily be under stood why Montgomery has such an in- terest in the coming league meeting and hoping that no mistakes VII De made by the magnates in Memphis.
 For the first time since Montgomery has been a member of the Southern League under the Kavanuagh regime, the only successful one that baseball down in Dixie has ever known. there are no encumbrances on the local fran chfse. There are no lawsuits or stumbling blocks. There Is an abso- luteiy clear field right at the start. Only those interested In baseball ap- preciate the full import and beneficial effects embraced in the term "clear field" No more will the manager and other interested parties be kept guess ing as to what will happen next, but with confidence they will make their plans with the full knowledge that there will not be the slightest interter- ence with any detail.
 In speaking of the coming season Major Winters says that he realizes two very important facts. One is that to make baseball a success from the standpoint of the box omce the team has got to be fast enough to stack up with anything in the league. To do this a pretty good bunch of money has xor to be scattered about for players. and Major Winters says that OBrien will gather as fast a team as money can get
 The Pacific Coast has been invaded again for men to fill in the Montgom- cry team next season. and If as vaiua- ble a man as Charlie Schwartz Is located everybody should be satisfied. The two candidates from the coast are Ross and wheeler, both from the Paci- fic Coast National and both fast men Last season Ross was with Los Angeles and Wheeler was with San Franctsco, but neither of them had reserve clause tackled to his contract and there fore both are frse to come to Mont
 In 1908 both Ross and Wheeler were members of Manager Morleys Los Angeles team, the aggregation that won the pennant In that league. Ross age was as follows: 1ssi games play ed 75O times at bat: 102 runs; 219 hits; B6 stolen bases and batting average Of .292. In fielding he had 75 put outsi 24 nsStStS. 70 eTTOTS anu dn dNcEd8o VI o4q Wheeler's average was ,20l games played; 7s0 times at bat; 126 runs; 16s hits 35 stolen bases and batting average of .222. His fielding was, 322 put outs; 490 assists; 7S errors and an average Of 9l2.
 If Ross hits and fields for Montgom- cry during the season of 1905 in any thing like his form in 1903 Uncle Isaac Durrett will not be So sadly missed after all
 While wheeler will be signed as pitcher he is as fast an inhelder as there is in the business, and good mart of the time he will be used as utility man, probably being almost fixture on third base.
 bring several other good men to Mont gomery in March. He has written that he will hardly come down to the Memphis meeting next week. There is no reason why he should not begin l make some of the other teams in the | league dizzy.
 The prospects are exceedingly bright |