The Washington herald., 1907-07-05

The intercollegiate baseball season was
brought TO q close Saturday with the
deciding game OF the Harvard-Yale SERIES
and In the matter Of victories Brown
University seems entitled TO the cham
pionship laurels.
Brown is entitled 10 the honors, not
solely because II went through the. season
without a defeat, but because the others
did not approach the class Of champions.
OF the other possible eligibles, Princeton
falls below, playing fairly well half the
season, ana good ball the other half
Excepting Heyniger's pitching there was
nothing sparkling about Princeton's play
at any stage. Among the teams which
defeated the Tigers were Georgetown.
Wesleyan, Fordham, Mercersburg Acad-
emy. Virginia. and Lafayette. Cornell
played poorly during April, and before its
first game with Yale It had been beaten
five times by college mines. a champion
team should not have lost the games the
Ithacans did and should not have had
such close calls. All the other colleges
played such irregular ball that they can
not be considered in the front rank
Eliminating Princeton and Cornell. we
have Brown. The Providence University,
with its easy schedule, did a wonderful
stroke of business, shutting out eight
teams. Wesleyan. Massachusetts Gag
giles" Maine, Lafayette. Vermont. Har-
ward. Pennsylvania, and Alabama. Five
victories were 1-tO-0 affairs. The biggest
feats were the defeating Of Harvard and
Yale on successive days, a stunt that
brought Brown into prominence. Brown
had a corklng team. and It is unfortu-
nate that It did not have a better chance
10 show its ability.
Had Good Material.
The majority Of i,s opponents were not
strong teams. and had Harvard and Yale
not been played, the programme would
have looked fit for a third-rate team. But
Brown had the players and could have
made things interesting for any Of the
mines. Two crack pitchers. Tiff and
Nourse, the latter Of whom did not have
enough opportunity 10 show himself, eight
veterans, and one Of the best college
coaches In the business were the teams
assets. Games with Harvard and Penn
sylyania were wiped of the slate by rain
and the series with Dartmouth was
stopped because Of a rUmpus over an
umpire In fact the baseball public would
have been better satisfied II Princeton,
Cornell, and Brown had met each other.
While Brown is the champion Of the
year, this does not mean that It could
trim any team in the East. II Is gener-
ally accepted among close followers OF
college ball that Princeton. with Heyniger
in the box, could defeat any Of the teams.
OF course, Cornell. with DeshOn in the
box, is mighty strong. Brown with Tiff
in the points, also appears a hard team to
beat
The weather delayed the development Of
the teams considerably the past spring
and if the temperature had been higher
better baseball would have been played by
the majority of the mines. College play
CTS must necessarily get into working or
der quickly, and If rain and cool breezes
compel them 10 take indoor practice,
which is only a consolation, so much
valuable time is lost which cannot be
made up. The league clubs reach their
best in the most summery season, while
the colleges must be at their best by the
middle Of May. anyway, or they will not
cut much Of a figure. If the standard OF
college ball this season was below that Of
last year-and there is every reason to be-
lieve 1t was-the weather is responsible
Some Of the mines took Southern trips IN
the early baseball days and did we'll
against the teams Of the South, though.
Of course, the main idea was TO get prac-
tice. But the return North found weather
conditions not much better than they had
been before the trips.