Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-08-07
PRAISES IOWA LEAGUE.
"Fans" Do Not Realize What Good
Thino They Have.


A writer of sports in the Register and
Leader OF Des Moines, has strong
words of praise for the Iowa State
League. He says the fans" of the
circuit do not realize what good
thing they have. Following are MS
comments on the league:
ut is evident that the fans OF the
Iowa league, or at least the fans IN
some of the circuit, do not fully realize
what a good thing they have. There
is no circuit in the country OF the class
of the Iowa league that is giving the
fans as good quality of base ball as
this same Hawkeye circuit; the teams
are we'll matched; the admission fee is
small; there are eight teams in COM
pact circuit. Yet in some OF the towns
in that circuit the fans are giving the
teams the most miserable support
cat least three times this summer
has the league tottered, but the prompt
actions Of the leagues chief executive
Mr.. Peckham, of Marshalltown, and
good holiday crowds have prevented
disaster. But the best Of presidents
and two or three big holiday crowds
cannot keep any base ball organization
going unless the fans take the interest
they should and turn out regularly to
the games. If they didn't want base ball
ii would be different, but they do want
it. However, it looks very much as If
they wanted some one else to support
the league so that they. or at least
many of them in some of the towns,
could attend the games once in while,
whenever the spirit moved them. This
will not keep the league going. and I'M
less the fans take a brace" Burling-
tons plan of forming new circuit
should be carried out and save base
ball for those towns that really APP
preciate it.
ut can be safely said that there is
not league In the country the class or
the Iowa league that is putting up as
good quality Of ball and the scores in
the Iowa state show the games to be
much closer and harder fought than in
the Three-I, or even the Western, for,
until the last week, the Des Moines
Champions have had everything their
own way in the class A organization.
"The great trouble in the little
league, is that all the fans grow dis
satisfied unless their team is setting
the pace. Many of them are not con-
tent to see their team in the first sec
ton, or even fighting for the lead, as
Fort Dodge has been doing during the
greater part of the season. Now the
Burlington fans, the patrons of the
team against which the hands of all
the other cities have been turned. have
given the remainder Of the league a
good example of what the fans should
do for a team Last summer when the
Burlington team was trailing hopeless
ly i'm the rear and playing, it may be
said, the most miserable base ball, the
fans continued to turn out and that
city more than any other pulled the
league thru the season. This year Ned
Egan. has a corking good team at the
Orchard City The awful fear that per-
haps Mike Kelley really owned the
Burlington team caused trouble for
while until the fans learned that it
makes little difference who owns the
team SO long as it is playing good ball,
or else they became convinced that the
association magnate was not the real
hacker. Now the attendance at Bur-
lington is again keeping the league up,
or at least doing more in that direc-
ton than any other town in the circuit.
1T is up to the other towns to take a
brace and save the best little league in
the country"