Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-25

ish. The magnates certainly showed great
foresight in making this arrangement Tor
while the springs Of this section are al
ways late and disagreeable, this one has
been worse than usual. This will be an
e~Ventful year for the Western league. Re
CARELESS OF good ball or bad, this will be
the fact. for the circuit has been expanded
from six TO eight teams and this alone
is enough to make it eventful. Omaha
hopes to win the p%ennant. SO do seven
other clubs, and several others have
chances as well as hopes. II Omaha wins
1t will be by defeating other strong looking
and determined teams. Sioux City. Den
yer and Lincoln all look very strong and
Des Moines and Pueblo have been worked
over with a view to increasing strength.
what the two newcomers, Topeka and
wichits, will offer is purely problematlcal
Omaha, II hopes pan out, will be nearly
as strong as II was last year, when IL
was strong enough to win the p%ennant
and then throw It away. with Kane on
first, Graham second, Pendry third and
King in center field, Cadman TO as
sist in catching and Lower. Rice and
Johns on the pitching staff. the Rourke's
certainly look formidable. but 1t will be
time to make predictions after all the
teams have been In action a little while.
Until then, here's hoping.
Jeffries says only his duty to the Ameri-
can people impels him TO return to the
prize ring. But for that he would not
Wrest from Mister Johnson the proud title
of worlds champion %pugilist. II have all
the money / want or need" he says. So
tits not money. tits honor, the honor of
keeping faith with and redeeming the
hopes and aspirations of the American peo-
pie. Stop, men. and ~conjure the thought
OF the American nation without a white
champion! Depressing, distressing, dis
tracing in It's contemplation! The Ameri-
can nation, proud monarch of land and
sea in every realm of human endeavor-
without a worlds champion prizefighter OF
native color! No. II cannot, II must not be-
Nothing but the consummate patriotism of
a Jeffries could save a nation in such a
crisis, but alas, this nation has it's Jeff
rieses, just as II has had its Washingtons,
Its Lincolns. its Grants. its Roosevelts. No
hour OF peril ever dawned upon this land
of the free and home of the brave that
the same Providence that created the land
and made the people free did not raise
up a hero big enough and brave enough TO
save the day. In this case there is no
question about the hero being big enough;
all cavil is on the other side. Even Mr..
Jeffries himself admits he's too big just
now. But then again, from behind the
fleeing cloud bursts the sun OF hope to
dispel the transitory gloom. But 1 would
not withdraw from my retirement did l
not know that l could defend my title sue
cessfully.'' All, t~here-there, gentlemen, is
the word you have waited for. Well, per-
haps, but in the meantime Mister Johnson
is totin' around only 30 pounds of weight,
as against General J~effrfes' $50. Also Gen
erai Jeffries has not been in a battle for
four years. But II Jeff says he can do It,
he probably IAN
Johnny Evers' return to the Cubs the
last OF April ought and doubtless will make
Il big difference in the work of the cham
pions. Evers Is not only a great base
mai and batter. but one of the heady
men OF base ball and his spirit counts for
much among the Cubs. Be It remembered
that it was Johnny Evers who caught Mr..
Merkle with the goods on him and saved
the third pennant for the Cubs last year.
Zimmerman is doing good work at sec
ond and batting, but no matter how we'll
Zimmerman might do. Evers is needed.
This fact is shown in the work OF Joe
Tinker at short. Tinker and Evers have
worked In such close harmony for these
years that one is lost without the other.
With Evers back at second Tinker Will
he his old self. No two field positions on
the diamond are as closely related to each
other as second and short. 1t Is essential
that a good combination be formed there.
rs showing the disastrous results of q lop-
sided combine look back at the time when
Harry Niles played second for the Browns.
The marvellous speed OF Wallace at short
was msrred in its value to the team 80
per cent because Niles was utterly un-
able TO work In the Wallace pace.
II seems there Is some confusion in the
Interpretation OF the new rule regarding
contract jumping. On the face OF IL the
rule provides that a deserter may not be
pardoned for five years, but 1t does not
mean that a player who simply refuses to
give his services to his team thereby comes
under the ban OF this law. Disqualified
ton lies I'm the desertion followed by play
ing with an outlaw organization. Under
this construction OF the law therefore,
Killing. Walsh and Spade have not dis
qualified themselves for these years, but
may re-enter base ball, just as HeidTick,
Abbetichio and Briggs have done. The rule
Is an embodiment Of the determined senti-
ment to uproot and disarm the outlaw. The
only way this can be done is simply to bar
from organized base ball every player who
goes with the outlaws.
Either jeff or his stage anager must be
credited with rare strategic acumen In ad-
vertising that Tonight at such-and-such
a theater Mr., Jeffries will make his final
announcement as 70 returning to the ring 4"
Il is reported hat thousands unable to get
In. waited on the outside. Sure.
Wonder what Boston thought when the
score OF that Detroit Cleveland game came
IN announcing thai cy Young had allowed
the smuggling Tigers three hits They had
been tearing other pitchers to pieces in
their wild rage, but Uncle Cy stopped them.
How the mighty have fallen' A year and
two years ago. you couldn't hear much
else but Jiggs Donahue. He isn't even in
the lineup today.
Cincinnati is making precisely the sort Of
start II did last year so that its big lead
thus far must not be taken too seriously