Evening star., 1907-07-22
BASE BALL, RACING
AND OTHER SPORTS

along instead of driven will fill the bill at
every point But there is no desire to
criticise CantillOn in changing about his
men All We want is winner here. and
the fans" won't utter complaint about
whom he lets go or retains.
Catcher Clifr Blanenship had his broken
finger under an x-ray yesterday and 1t was
discovered that the bones were not reset
correctly. the broken parts being seen plain
ly separated. The physician then gave
Blank" some chloroform and tried for sew
eral minutes to rebreak the finger. but with
no resultS He did succeed. however. in tear
Ing loose the ligaments. which re-
leased the finger from its growing stiffness.
and this morning 1t was IN much batter
shape. Blankenship was instructed to keep
rubbing and moving the finger with the
prospects that it may strengthen up and be
of some use IN the future. Had the
finger been properly set at the time of the
accident 1t would have been thoroughly
healed and strong long ago and Cliff do
ing duty behind the bat. which aptly Illus
trates the luck lnat follows Washington
player.
A Texas paper is responsible for the state
ment that resident there will shortly pat
ent a pneumatic base with q whistle attach
ment. which will prevent any room for a
base runner cutting the bag. When the base
runners foot strikes the base the pneu-
matte whistle will announce hsS arrival. IL
is also proposed by the same inventor to
patent n similar device In the way of a
pneumatic whistle TO be placed In the play
ers uniform SO that when he is tagged the
whistle will sound. The latter device Is not
new at all; most players emit howl now
when they are tagged and declared out. If
the umpire calls the runner safe, then 1t is
the basemans turn to yell. What Is needed
Is an invention that will prevent the base
runner from making noise when tagged
and muzzle for the players when the UNI
pire gets In wrong
The eastern and western teams of the
two major leagues will again move around
this week. After tomorrow the scene OF
combat In the National League Will shift
to the western diamonds and the western
teams of the American League will come
east During the past few weeks, when
the conditions were the reverse. there
were three surprises. two In the American
and one In the National. The latter was
the great showing made by Brooklyn which
b"oke even with Chicago and Pittsburg
and beat St Louis and Cincinnati to
standstiil In the American. the losses Of
the Cleveland club at home and the VIC
tories of the Athletics in the west caused
excitement. In addition, the Chicago Amer
leans were not quite formidable as former
ly on their own grounds. AS a rule the
White Sox are better at home than on the
road, and their recent defeats have caused
some doubt as to their ability to again win
the pennant and thus defend their title of
worlds champions next fall.
Lajoie's injury was a sad blow to Cleve-
land. and If Flick leaves the team the
Maps will be still further handicapped The
slump taken by Cleveland since Lajoie was
hurt again brings up the old prophecy that
Larry will never play on a team which
captures a major league pennant. Rec
ognized as the greatest all-around player Of
his time If not in the history of base ball
Laioie has yet to feel the thrill which goes
with championship. 1t was back in 1896
that he was sold to the Phillies and If the
championship lightning doesn't strike his
way pretty soon the prophecy made long
ago will certainly come true.
Although the present season is now only
little more than One-half over, three vet
have departed minor leagueward They
are Lave Cross. who has been doing bril-
nant work for New Orleans since being let
go by Washington; Jake Beckley who has
and Tommy Corcoran who has been re-
leased by the New York Nationals Years
ago. in the days of the twelve-club league
Lave Cross remarked that there were only
each season. If all Of those who develop
as stars could hang on as long as this trio
there would be little chance for others to
break In. The youngsters. however. are
croWdins the veterans more each season
The advent of the American League caused
a boom In the player industry and moro
young men are yearly developing into
stars This season has been a great one
FOR the youngsters. and the chances are
that before the end Of the present season
more veterans will be crowded into the
minor league ranks. We can see some of
them going now.
Roger Bresnahan. who has recovered from
the injury he received when he was hit in
the head by ball pitched by Andy Coax
ley at Cincinnati several weeks ago, has
given the fans something new to talk about
When the season began Bresnahan went
behind the bat wearing long shin guards
similar to those worn by wicket keeper
in game OF cricket. Thus far only one
major league catcher has followed Bresna-
hams lead In this respect. This IS Bower
man of the New York Giants Their scheme
ostensibly Is to prevent being struck on the
shins by foul balls but really the main
reason is to block off runners at the home
plate. the shin guards rendering the catcher
much less liable to injury and making
opposing runners more timid about sliding
to the plate. One way in which the shin
guards handicap catcher Is when he is
trying to field a ball hit In front of the
plate or to catch foul fly. Bresnahan has
been rendered cautious by the blow on his
head. and when he reappeared In a game
at New York last week he donned head
player when he went to bat. This wear
ing of armor is quite new to the national
game, and II other players take up the
scheme 1t will be necessary to adopt the
scheme advocated for year or more Of
numbering each player when he appears on
the field.