Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-07-09
SPORTING GOSSIP OF WEEK
Western League Prospects Brighter Than
Ever Just at Present
CLOUDS IN SKY HAVE ALL DISAPPEARED
Colorado Springs and Sc. Joe Well
Assured of support and other
Teams Making n Fierce
Fight for the Flag.


the Western league have rolled away and
the business end of the leagues affairs
appears to be in better condition than at
any time in It's history. st. Joseph and
Colorado Springs have both been strength
ened by the securing of support among
the citizens, so that the existence of those
clubs as members Of the circuit Is not
now dependent on one man. They have
been made local institutions, and as such
will be given the support necessary to
maintain them in creditable condition At
Colorado Springs crowd Of 1000 was reg
istered at one game since the teams return
the biggest known there for more than
two seasons. The team has been increased
in playing strength as well, and Is sure
to be more of a factor in the race. st
Joseph has also been strengthened and
will present more formidable front for
the future. This team has not made the
showing in the race that was expected by
it's supporters but its days Of disorganiza-
ton seem 10 have passed and II will be a
much harder team to beat than it has
hitherto.
Herein lies the promise for the future.
II the race for the flag In the Western
does not get warmer from now on, It Will
be contrary to ell dope. Des Moines,
tors in the struggle, and St. Joseph and
Colorado Springs are becoming great prob
abilities, not perhaps for the pennant, for
they are hopelessy handicapped, but they
will take many a game from the leaders,
and will thus serve to even up. Just at
present Denver appears to have the bet
ter of the situation and on form should
land the flag Des Moines is playing en-
tirely out of her class; that is to say, is
going faster than It's apparent strength
warrants, just as Sioux City did for time,
and 1t would surprise no one to see the
Underwriters take a turn in. the other
direction very shortly. The Sioux are now
playing ball about like the dope sheet indi-
Gates. and that is hardly good enough to
defeat Denver. Omaha has not yet got
her stride. The Champions have been
away Off at the bat all season, and for
this reason have not made a showing such
as was to be expected of them, but the
return of Thomas to the team and the
improvement shown by some Of the others
warrants the expectation that better bat
ting record will follow. II this be so,
then Omaha is to be reckoned with until
the last game is played next September.
Just now Omaha's pitchers are doing the
best of any in the league; not that they
are winning more games than any Of the
others, but that they are preventing Omaha
from losing more games. The batting of
the Champions has been so weak that
with ordinary pitching the team would be
down in the neighborhood OF last place. in
stead OF making a bid for third.
with all the teams In good condition
Western league patrons are certain of
seeing high class ball from now on. Games
like those at Omaha during the last week
are not beaten any place. Some of the most
remarkable fielding marked each of the
games, showing that all the players are
up to key all the time Carter's work in
rightfield has been a most notable feature.
He is covering all the ground there is TO
be covered, and the only way fly can go
safe out there is to hit the fence, and then
it is only good for one, for Bobby lines II
back to the diamond on double quick. He
has scored a lot OF grandstand catches re-
Gently and done It in such an easy way
that It is stating the fact too mildly to
say he never played ball better than he is
right now. Both Welch and Thiel have
been covering an immense amount OF ter
ritory, so that the outheld has been we'll
cared for. schipke's infeld work has surely
won him home in Omaha, for his equal
as a tnlrd DaSenlan never wore an Omaha
uniform Since he recovered from his In
jured wrist he has made very few mis-
plays and many of his stops and piclSups
are marvellous, while his throwing is a
wonder at all times Doan has renewed
his youth in the field and doesn't think any
thing OF going across second for a grounder
and getting his nah at first. Martin has
been doing such fine work all summer al
second that what would be considered phe-
nomenal work in another man is accepted
as a matter of course with him. He is a
fiery tempered chap, though, and now and
then boils over. like he did on Thursday
when he made the blunder that allowed
Sioux City to score, He was simply blind
with rage for a moment a bad decision OF
Umpire Mace causing the trouble. When
Thomas gets to work at first again, the
Omaha team will have little something on
all the rest in the matter Of fielding
-
Sioux City has corSing good inheld
with one really high class man in II. Shee-
han is a splendid third baseman, and New.
ton is fairly good at short, his chief weak
ness being disinclination to meet a slow
lift ball. He handles the hard hit balls
much better than the easy ones Weed
does nicely at second, but shares with
Newton I'm the matter OF slow ones. Starna.
gle is a reformed catcher at first, just as
Thomas IS, but is playing a very good
game there, handling lot OF bad throw
ing aa though he liked u ~ he had s,Vch