The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-19

lege men also may be counted legltimately in the vast number of baseball-mad enthu- siasts. And the college teams are par ticularly in the public eye at this time, for just prior to the opening of the profes- sional season they have been crossing bats with the major leaguers. giving their partizans an excellent line on their pos abilities for their championship contests, which come late in May and in June. Now is also a period of intersectional matches, for each year at this time the college teams avail themselves of the op- portunity afforded by the Easter vacation to journey to the South, playing the strongest college teams in the latter sec tion. And the Northerners have usually met defeat below the Mason and Dixon Line, perhaps because their arms and muscles have not lost their winter kinks, as have the Southern college players, and, perhaps, because the latter really have had the stronger teams. Who knows? Be that as it may, there are fewer of the big Northern college teams making this annual migration this year. Yale and Harvard both being among the absentees for some reason or other. They announced last year they would content themselves with staying in the North, and cut out the ime-honored Southern Eastern trips, and they have done so. Princeton and Pennsylvania have been meeting the Colonels and Majors and will play still other games with them later on. AL though too early to indulge in forecasts, it is certain that some good battles will be fought out this spring before the col lege championships have been awarded. While the professionals were warming up or thawing out in the South meeting Southern teams in their training camps, the college hines were getting into shape in the North, Yale and Princeton both opening their preliminary seasons rather early and meeting opponents the latter part of March.
 Wagner Leaving the Game.
 One of the regretable features of the early baseball season, the period which preceded the real opening last Tues day, was the announcement that good old Hans Wagner, the greatest shortstop of modern or any other times, will not be seen with the Pittsburg (National League) Club this season. Instead, this bulwark of strength, one of the best players and one of the best-usually the best-batsman in the league Is to teach the young men of the Carnegie Technical School, of Pittsburg, how to shoot curves over the plate and balls across the dia- mond or whip them in from the outfeld. He will be 'professor of baseball" illus trating his ideas on the blackboard in the classroom, and then take the pupils who are trying for the nine out on the school baseball field and show in more practi- cal manner how it should be done Ills loss to the Major League, in which he has so long been star, Is q very great one, for the success achieved at various times by Barney Dreyfuss proteges (and it must be remembered that the pennant has gone to Pittsburg several times) has largely been due to the all- around ability of that big shortstop who could usually be depended to drive in the needed run when 1t meant a game lost or won and who scooped up every ball that was driven in his direction, whether it belonged to the third baseman or the second baseman or not. Wagner has long been the terror of all pitchers, and he has received pass to first from them when they preferred to sidestep the pos sibility of a hit that might mean two or more bases and possibly a homer. An drew Carnegie's gain is surely profess sional baseball's loss.
 Putting n Premium on His Batting.
 One of the interesting things about the Just opened baseball season will be In sec