Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-06
FOURTH PENNANT
IS PLAYERS CRY
ANGELS ARE BOUND TO WIN
LEAGUE BANNER AGAIN
DILLON HAS GREAT AGGREoA-
TloN OF STARS
Champions Are Playing Most Consist
ent Game of Any Team in Coast
anization-Shrewd Leader
Develops Team Play
BY A. E. DuNNING

BY A. e. DUNNING
Champions of 1909 Nothing less than
this title pegged to their uniforms will
satisfy the players who carry the name
OF the Angels around with them. and
play the national game like fiends I'm
der a leader who is acknowledged the
peer of them, the Los Angeles coast
league aggregation has swung into the
half in the race for the pennant con-
tention, and the second month of the
season finds them in second place,
fighting a desperate and spectacular
battle for the highest honors of base
ball of the organized class on the sunny
western slope Captain Frank Dillon
has whipped a collection of good play
ers into a grand nine-man machine.
The team was good when the lads
gathered for their first day of practice
Under Captain Dillon it has attained a
degree of excellence that has given 1t
the distinction of being the most con-
sistent aggregation of the six clubs
fighting for the title.
Best Team Ever
Never in the history of the city of
the Angels has better team carried
its hopes and its aspirations and It's
beatific name in the van of the coast
ers. In fact, there are not a few fans
who acclaim the present Angel band as
the best ball playing unity which ever
represented the southern metropolis
Every year there is the cry of the best
ever" but Cap Dillon himself, accord
ing to those closest to the gray-haired
veteran, has privately remarked his
belief that the team he is guiding this
r1sia off the ma I'm When the
fans of past days consider the veterans
whose names are now matters OF al
most ancient history and more recently
scan the lists of the championship ag-
gregations of the last three seasons, IN
Guiding on the pay rolls of the Angel
City baseball association Homer Cra-
Vath, Ted Easterly, Dolly Gray, Rebel
Oakes, Big Bill Burns and others. 1t is
saying more than a mouthful to credit
the banner bearers of 1908 with first
honors.
But on the roster of the Angels this
season are men who would make their
mark in any of the major teams, and
the fact that offers have been made at
fancy prices for half a dozen of the
Angels, including Hosp, Koestner, Bert
Delmas, Haley and Beall, speaks Tor
itself.
Keen Inside Ball
Never have the Angels had such
gathering of persistent hitters and dar-
ing base runners. Never have the Ser
aphs displayed such keen understand
ing of inside baseball. There have been
misplays, to be sure, for what team Is
perfect? There have been few rip
pies on the smooth surface of affairs,
such as yesterdays off-day playing
hut as A whole the team plays in ma
chine-like obedience to its veteran lead
er. displaying withal a large amount oil
individuality.
Henry Berry. president of the Angel
CITY Baseball association. enjoys the
confidence of every man of them, due
to his fairness in his dealings with the
players and his sense of justice, as well
as his good nature. To each man Is
accorded his due, and as a result Berry
is the most popular official in the league
today. Ask the Angels who they want
for league president next year, and
their answer will not be hard to con-
lecture. Ask, also. a few of the play
ers on other teams, and their reply
may be astonishing To Berry and to
Dillon all praise is due.
But a team cannot be a success pure
" on the ability of its leaders. For
Individual stars. the Angels lack not.
Not a position displays positive weak
ness. The outfield is the surest and
fastest the Angels have ever had. The
infield is snappy and plays good inside
ball. The pitching staff is the best on
the league, and the catchers, though
not up to the twirling standard, are
molding well into the general team
work.
Gilt-Edge Players
1t is not the purpose here to take
apart the various sections of the ma
chine organized by Frank Dillon for
purposes of analysis. That will be
done in these columns later in the sea-
son. But in order that the fans may
fully realize what a capable leader can
do with a team whose members are all
real gilt-edge bail players ready to use
their heads and hands and feet at the
behest of their field captain, review
of the series up to date is timely. AS
TO their hearts, those who are person.
ally acquainted with the players on the
Los Angeles team can testify that a
cleaner, more whole-sOuled, gentleman
ly lot of players never was gotten to-
gether in professional baseball. As an
instance of this is cited the fact that
not a man on Berry's payroll INDUCES
in liquor, a common curse of good
players the country over.
In the first series, that unfortunate
meeting with Portland, the ruffles of
which still are felt on the otherwise
smooth surface of league waters, Los
Angeles came out on top, getting four
of seven games. The second series of
the season, with Vernon, ended So in
games score for the Angels Dillon's
men also took the majority of the
games in the third series, that with
San Francisco. which ended 43. Their
next series, that with Portland, was
the only one which the banner bearers
have lost to date. The games score
was "a. When the Vernonites hooked
up with the Angels IN the succeeding
series Hen Berrys hirelings came off
in the league, taking four games out
of seven. Sacramento lost their first
series to Los Angeles, which followed
the Vernon play, by a score in games
of 4-3. At Sacramento the following
week the Angels took four out of six
games played, and at Portland the
week after they almost swept the Sc
ries. the score going 81. Los Angeles
ran away from Oakland by a games
score of 5-1 in the series of last week,
and so far this series San Francisco
is In the lead, the games standing 80,
with a double-header to play today.