East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1911-04-12


New York, April 12.-Six months
Of undluted JOY for the baseball fan,
in other words the 1911 baseball sea-
son, opened today in both of the big
leagues
Today begins what bids fair to be
the most propitious year the national
game has ever known. Baseball has
grown So tremendously big and is
now conducted on such a comprehen-
siye and blisinesslike basis that it is
pretty safe to predict that every sea-
son will be a little better on the whole
than the preceding year. knowledge
of this fact prompts President Lynch
of the National and President john
son Of the American to predict that
1911 VIII set a new record in attend
ance.
-ScN York a Iravorite.
\ symposium of views of thirty
well known sporting editors in big
league towns found "a pinning their
faith to New York and only three in
Chicago. OF the three who picked
Chicago. two were Chicago scribes.
Three also touted Pittsburg for the
flag. In the American league 90 of
these writers selected the Philadel-
phia Athletics to repeat, while one
lone dopester looked to Detroit for
the winner.
1t is easy enough to see why the
Athletics should be such a unanimous
choice, for the team showed last sea-
son that it is still coming, but it is
difficult to see why the Cubs should
run such a bad second to New York.
1t is probably because the Giants
made such strong finish and the
/ Cubs went down to such inglorious
defeat before the Athletics in the
worlds title games.
The failure of the Cubs to repeat
however, may be predicted as only
one basis-a fall-down on the on the
part of several of the old stars. The
Chicago team that takes the field to-
day is practically the same team that
won four of the last National league
flags. Manager Chances combina-
ton has proved unbeatable in the
national league so that the only way
it is likely to lose this year will be
for the hither alright machine to
"blow" or for other teams to exhibit
unexpected strength. =.
Those who are pessimistic regard
| ing Chicago, put the proposition this
way: There is more likelihood of
Chances veteran team becoming
! creaky than that the Giants, the Pi-
! rates or the Cincinnati Reds will not
| strike swift and deadly gait and
maintain it to the end
Practically the same situation OBJ
| tains in the amp of the Cubs. Man
ager Chance has added Pitchers
| Toney and Griffen and Outfielders
| Doyle and Shean, but they will prob
ably be for emergencies and fail of
regular berths Toney looks to be the
real goods and Chance is certain he
has uncovered another wonder like
king" Cole. If Toney and Griffen
make good, the oft-repeated cry that
Chances pitching staff was cracking
may be found unfounded. One thing
in the Cubs favor is the improved
form this year of Big Red Reulbach,
who was out of the game the first
half of last year from an attack OF
diphtheria. Reulbach is now hurting
in his oldtime form and Chance says
he expects to use him in at least fifty
games, counting the pieces, this yea-
Mathewson Good AS Ever.
The Giants are still another team
that takes the field just as they left
it last year, with the bare possibility
that Becker may find a place in the
outfeld at the last moment, in place
of Snodgrass, The Giants got mis-
cradle start last year, to which fact
Manager McGraw attributes the loss
of the pennant. This year he counts
on a better beginning and has forti
(Coptinued on page eighty