Los Angeles herald., 1905-05-09
WOULD BETTER CONDITION OF
AMATEUR BALL
LOCAL MANAGERS ANXIOUS
Game Demoralzed by Lack Of Govern
ing Body and Failure Of Teams to
Work ogether-Formatlon Of
League a Remedy

amateur DdSeDhll IL experiencing hl
the present time a severe setback. The
failure to organize q league that will
! protect the various semi-professional
teams from the domneering influence
of the smaller yet stronger teams of
the country is the cause ascrlbed for
this state of affairs. The teams all over
the county are clamoring for the or
ganization Of league that will at
least hold every team to any agreement
which 1t may make. Great trouble has
been encountered Of late by local teams
in keeping their men together and
otherwise protecting their own in
terests.
Numerous excuses have been offered
by the managers. They are claiming
that grounds suited to their purposes
cannot be secured. The Union Labor
Temple Baseball association has OBJ
tanned Fiesta park for a long time to
come and James Morley of the Los
Angeles club, for some reason that
cannot be explained by local amateur
team managers, will not rent the
Chutes park ground For this combi-
nation of misfortunes the managers
apparently have some reason to com
plain. But then there are other mag
mates who are complaining that there
is not a man in the whole baseball fra
ternity who will undertake the leader
ship of a league should 1t he organized
Although the clamor grows louder each
day, there has not been an offer made
by any local baseball man to supervise
the proposed association. AL de Prez
who left sometime ago to umpire in the
Western league, kept the amateur
league of last year in good shape, but
the problem Of obtaining a leader for
this season has met with little suo-
cess. There are numerous men well
versed in local baseball statistics who
are qualified to accept the leadership,
but they are yet to come forward and
offer their services to the seemingly
suffering local amateur teams.
SO far this season few games of in
terest have been played, either in this
city or out of it. The Hamburgers,
team which heretofore has maintained
the title of champions of Southern Cali
fornia, have not played a game of any
note. The Hoegees Flags have not
played a game this season, but their
manager promises a game at Anaheim
next Sunday. The Tufts-Lyons team
has been entirely In the dark since
the opening of the season, but the
games they have played thus far in
the season have been interesting. The
Owls have had a comparatively good
season and also the Boyle Heights
Stars. The All-Merchants have played
few games, but at the present time
they are unable to get games with out
side teams for the simple reason that
the outsiders will not guarantee the
expenses, a fact which could easily be
overcome by the organization of
county league which would hold all
amateur organizations to their con-
tracts. Local teams have been losing
propositions to their hackers on ac
count of the inability to organize a
league.
But there is first of all the necessity
of obtaining suitable grounds. Now
that the Seraphs are coming home,
Chutes park would not be available
anyway. Vacant lots are not suitable
places for fast, snappy young ball
players to demonstrate their prowess.
The Southern Pacific park at Santa
Monica would not be available, because
of it's distance from Los Angeles. Per-
haps this difficulty will soon be set
tied for it has been understood that
negotiations are under way for the
building of a baseball park near Los
Angeles. When that happy event oc-
ours, perhaps some old-time fans will
undertake the responsibility of super
vising the league.
Local managers have been in con-
stant consultation in an effort to rem
edy existing conditions and from all
appearances it looks as though
meeting for the purpose of organizing
the league will be called at an early
date. 1t is hoped for, at any rate.