Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-21
INTERSTATE TEAM
QU|TSDEPARTMENTAl
Strong Club From Municipal
Building to Take Its
Place.

The interstate commerce commission
base ball team, which made such strong
bid for the pennant in the Departmental
League last year, Will not put a team in
the field the coming season. This state
ment was given out officially by the sec
rotary of the league today upon the re-
ceipt by him of the following letter from
William H. Connolly, chief clerk of the
commission:
MIR. John III. Anderson secretary. Depart
mental Base Ball League, Washington,
d. c.
Dear Sir: Your notice to the board OF
directors of the Departmental Base Ball
League, dated January 10, 1909, has been
called to my attention.
This is to advise you that the interstate
commerce commission will not be repre-
scented by a base ball team in the De-
partmental Base Ball League the coming
summer. / wish the league every sue
cess. and trust that it will have several
good teams in the field which will serve
up the real article. 1 hope to have the
pleasure of seeing many warm contests.
Mr.. Connolly when seen today by rep
resentative Of The Star stated that 1T
would be impossible for the commission
to put a team on the field which could
hope to compete with the other teams in
the league, in view of the fact that sew
eral of his best players has left the serv-
ice. and for that reason he decided to
withdraw.
The Departmental League is a great
institution said Mr.. Connolly, land 1
hope the coming season will be the most
successful since it's Inauguration. 1t af-
fords healthful amusement for thousands
of government employees, as well as others
not connected with the government serv-
ice, and | think it should be heartily sup
ported by the various departments. OF
our last years team, DOugherty, Hampton.
Hayden, Handiboe, Keane and Quantrell
have left the service, and in view of the
fact that we have such small field to
draw from, the commission being a COM
paratively small branch of the govern
ment. it will be impossible for US to de-
velop enough raw material to creditably
fill the places of the men mentioned, and
put up the same article of ball as the other
teams in the league
The Interstate Commerce team made a
gallant run for the bunting last year and
were only nosed out by the Treasury after
a grueling finish. Great things were eX-
pected of them this year and the followers
of the Departmental League will regret
to learn of their withdrawal.
Merritt o. Chance. president of the
league. when seen this morning regarding
the withdrawal of the Interstate Com
merce Commission said:
Il regret exceedingly that the Interstate
Commerce Commission has withdrawn
from the league. They had very fast
team last year, in my opinion, one of the
fastest in the District, and always drew
large crowd whenever scheduled to play.
Their withdrawal however, will not in
any way affect the league, several
teams have made application for member
ship. The Municipal Building Club is
very anxious to get a franchise in our
league, and / believe the board of direc-
tors at their next meeting will take fav-
orable action on the application of the
Commissioners and grant them the fran
chise surrendered by the Interstate Com
merce Commission"