Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-01

Death and the certainty of taxes have al
ways been considered the sure things in
this world and to these two base ball
scribes have for years past been inclined to
add the uncertainty of the national game.
says Frank Hough in the Philadelphia In
quirer. In the entire field of athletic en-
deavor there is nothing so certain as the
uncertainty of base ball. The wise men
who have followed the game for years can
dope out to what they consider a nicely
the relative chances of the contenders. They
know the individual hitting ability of the
hundreds of players. and they know the
collective hitting strength of every club in
the different leagues. They have the ap-
proximate pitching effectiveness of the
pitchers at their fingers ends. and they
know exactly what to expect from the
fielders. But with all that. the dope sheets
will go awry. Clubs that should have been
among the first three. according to form.
are among the taiienders. and teams that
should have been trailing in the ruck ac-
cording to the statisticians are among the
leaders.
AS an example of this uncertainty, which,
after all. makes the national game what it
is. the race for the American League pen
nant this year, compared with that of last
season, VIII be interesting and instructive.
Up TO May l last season the Washington
club played ten games and had lost them
all. Thus far the Nationals have won seven
games and lost six. 1t was not until May
3 last year that the Nationals won their
first game, and it wasn't until June that
they won their seventh In the meanwhile
they had lost thirty-three. This improve
ment in form by the Nationals is graft
flying as it is surprising. for there Is. no way
b. which they could be figured out to win g.
majority of games from Boston and New
York, the clubs that finished one-two last
year even making allowance for the i'm
to ha okad for nv the
of players of known ability
Boston's Great Reversal.
But if the improvement in the form of the
Nationals is surprising, the 4ecline in the
playing of the champion Bostsns to date is
startling There is always god reason to
expect some improvement in 4 team that
has been a bad last, but it doubtful IL
ever a championship team has hown such
q reversal of form as have TIA Rostons
Last season at this time they wee leading
the procession, having won 10 and lost only
games This year they are at tie bottom
of the ladder. with only vicDries as
against 1G defeats to their credit While
the respective performances Of the Nation
ais and the champions have completely up
set the compilations OF the dope fends
they no more show a straight line on the
Nationals than they do on the Champions
In a sustained fight such as the American
League Is bound to have there is no more
reason for believing that the Washingtons
Will go along at .53S clip than there is for
thinking that the Bostons will be content
with .231 pace. Yet. say that some bold
prophet had declared on the morning of
April ii that on May the Nationals would
have been fifth, with percentage of .53s
and that the Bostons would have been alb
solutely last. with the meager winning per-
centage of only .231. would he not have been
considered a fit candidate for the foolish
house. or at least considered slightly off his
base?
This is the way the various clubs stood in
the race for the American League pennant
at this date last wear.