The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-04-14
''PIay BaII'' Heard by Fans Throughout
 Where the

 day on the ball lots of the National and American Leagues.
 Providing tight skies prevail every where, eight umpi1es will each toss out a new white ball. eight umpires will each in his finest voice cry play ball. and in eight cities the sporting writers will chronicle that ttthe game was mon.'' At least these quotations have done service from time inn memorial and there is no reason why they should be discarded at this late date.
 This is the day when all the teams are equal and that marks the initial puncture or the initial impetus to the hopes of several million fans
 In the National League, P1ttsburg will be the attraction at St. Louis, Chicago at Cincinnati, New York at Boston and Brooklyn at Philadelphia, while in the American, Cleveland will start the ball rolling,'' another quot a.tion whose age commands respect in Detroit, St. Louis in Chicago, Boston in New York and Philadelphia in, Washing gton.
 What will the end be? Call around in October and the answer will prob ably be ready.
 Never at the opening of season has it seemed more hazardous to ven ture an opinion on the outcome than this is due to the fact that the return of Catcher Johnny Kling has made the three-time pennant winning Cubs again intact and the doubt, more or less general except in Pittsburg, to whether the Pirates can again main tain the steady gait they set last year. a gait that landed them unexpectedly in first place.
 In the American League the rapid development last year of Philadelphia and Boston and the hard tussel that DetroR had to repeat for the second time her pennant performance, makes the picking of a championship team this year the nnereSt guess work.
 About the only thing that does seem assured is that the first division teams in each league will not differ ma terially from those of last year Pitts burg, Chicago, New York and Cincin- nati again look to be certainities in the National for the upper tier, while in the American, Detroit, Philadelphia and Boston appear reasonably safe, with either New York or Cleveland having good chance to wrest from Chicago her berth in the upper div ision.
 As stand-patters the pennant possi- bilities in both of the big 1eagueS have Joe Cannon beaten to a pulp In the National. practically no changes appear in the line ups of the leading teams, while Detroit, Philadelphia and Boston in the American haven't found enough new blood worth mentioning. New York, Chicago and Cleveland, however, have seWed several new patches to their old garments and are hopeful that they will stick.
 With practically no changes in the personnel of the leading teams, the question simply resolves itself down players will improve over their 1909 form. Cincinnati's chances are much brighter than some critics are willing to admit due to this very fact. Last year the Reds broke a lot of new men into the game and they demonstrated that they were of National League call iber. That they should play a strong CT game this year is admitted by baseball students.
 RIttsburg can hardly expect to do any better than she did last year and will depend largely on the improvement or failure of improvement shown by the ether clubs: Chicago has 4 team that the team is due for a slowing doNn, even if Johnny Kling, who us- ed tp be called the brains of the Chi schnlte showed last year that they af least are getting no better and it would not be surprising if the veter- a8 aoa. t~'riefs came "n''eo 'n's sea
 New York pins her hopes for a bet ter position than last year to an ex- pected improvement in the work of Pitchers Marquard and Ames, the promising work of Drucke and K1awit- fer, two new pitchers, and the bolster ing of the outfe1d by the substitution of Revore for Mccormick In the in field Merkle, the man who once upon
 
 first base in place of the veteran Tenz ney and the foxy play and gingery methods of ancient Fred may be miss ed to such an extent that he will soon cease to warm the bench.
 Not many persons are picking De- troit to win 8 fourth straight pen nant in the American. Had either Boston Or Phi1a delpl1ia played early in tlle season the way they did at the finish, the pennant would never have gone to Tigertown and it is req sonable to suppose that these teams will strike winning stride Carly in the season this year and not permit the Jennings crew to obtain such a com manding lead.
 fife Boston American League team this year, however, is without the services of her biggest asset of a year ago, Manager Fred Lake who this year has been transferred 70 the hap less Boston stDoves.'' Lake giv- en credit last year for much of the Bed Sox success and it isn't on rec ord that Patsy Donovan. his successor