The Washington times., 1906-04-01
Major Leagues Stronger and Better Balanced Than
Ever Before and Quality of Playing Higher-Ab-
solute Honesty of Contests Causing the Sport
to Grow Rapidly in Favor Each Year.
By JOHN B. FOSTER.

If the economic conditions of the
country remain unchanged throughout
the coming summer, baseball, not only
as a professional pastime. but as a.
general field amusement-the nations
dearest cherished outdoor SPORTS as
sured of the most prosperous season in
its history. Widespread prosperity. a
disposition to combine some pleasure
with the exacting demands of bust
ness. and a universal fondness for a
pastime which combines an exciting
element of uncertainty with a rapid
succession of brilliant athletic feats
are a firmly established foundation for
this prediction.
The vicissitudes of professional
baseball have been many. There is a
certain amount of precarious risk in
endeavOring TO establish a sport pro-
fessionaly on a paying basis. There
have been times when the baseball
promoters have paid richly for their
temerity in placing their teams before
the public, and there have been other
years when some Of them have been
handsomely rewarded.
By far the largest sum has been lost
by the owners of minor league clubs
Although individually they may not
have sunk amounts of such magnitude
as some of the hackers of the clubs in
large and influential cities, their total
losses. compiled from State to State,
have been greater than the thousands
which have been invested by the Ma
tional and the American leagues. But,
thanks to their pertinacity and their
grit, the outlook is more favorable to
them this spring than IL ever has been
before. and it appears as If their path
would be freed in the future from some
Of the worst obstacles against which
they have had to contend, owing to the
fact that they are better organized and
more nationally governed at present
than they have ever been.
All things considered, the greatest
year that professional baseball ever
had was 1889. In making that asser-
tion all credit is given to the very
prosperous season of 1895; but base
ball was younger in 1889. the popula-
tion of the various cities was smaller.
and tn general baseball clientele more
widely scattered. In the face of such
facts baseball was such a pronounced
success that teams which had never
been out of the slough Of despond be-
fore were able to declare dividends.
and the popularity of the players was
such that their names were household
words from one ocean to the other.
Perhaps they are now. but more in the
abstract and less in the specific.
Given Good Start.
Internationally much of the reason for
the widespread interest in the game in
1883 was due. not only TO the magnificent
pennant race in the larger leagues. but
g Ns-fv.
which baseball received all the winter
previous by reason of the trip of two
American mines around the world. Play
ing in Australia on the desert sands of
Africa. in the ruins of Rome and on
the historic athletic fields of Great
Britain. the Americans showed to all
nations a great deal of our national
trait in athletic pastimes, and there was
not ball player at home. or a baseball
enthusiast. but followed the news of
that trip as If it were the daily recital
Of the journeying of a pilgrimage TO
Mecca
This year baseball begins with abso-
lutte peace between controlling bodies
which govern the sport. True. there may
be intense playing rivalry. but rivalry
on the field and quarrels on topics of
legislation are two quite different ques-
lions. There never has been a time since
1889 when two major leagues existed in
baseball in which there has been so little
friction prior to the start OF the playing
season.
Leagues Financially Sound.
So far as the financial situation is con-
cerned all leagues may be said to be
on sound footing OF course this would
naturally apply to the major leagues.
which are worth much of themselves be-
cause of the value attaching to their
franchises in centers OF tremendous
population. But it also applies to the
minor leagues. which have bettered their
condition as their cities grew in size,
and which. as rule. are handled now
by experienced baseball men who are
more able to obtain favorable results
than novices.
The playing results Of the season of
1905, which. next to 1889, was unquestion-
ably the most prosperous in the game.
upset quite enough Of the speculative
tendencies of the sport to attach greater
Importance to the season of 1906. There
had been a mildly indicated sentiment
throughout the country to attach to the
American League some superiority in
playing ability over it's old and for
midable rival the National League
Helped the Game.
Naturally this was disputed by the
National League, and the agitation of
the subject was extremely helpful to
baseball, in that 1t kept alive a healthy
interest in the game The test of the
year, which took place at the end of the
season in the series of games for the