The Washington herald., 1911-02-12
By WILLIAM PEET.

This IS the time Wnen all Ine SpOil
writers, some of the managers. and
thousands of baseball fans are picking
l91l pCnnant winners.
Here in Washington. the fans are say
ing little but doing a whole lot of hop
ing Manager McAleer absolutely refuses
TO make any kind of a prediction as TO
where the local team will finish al the
close Of next season. but Scout Mike
kahoe and Kid EIberfeld are not at all
backward in saying just what they think
Of the coming race.
Both Messrs. EIberfeId and Kahoe ex-
pect the Nationals to finish at the top
of the second division. as they cannot
see where St Louis. Chicago, and Cleve-
land can show anything better than last
year. and they figure that the Nationals
will pc strong enough to nose out these
three teams.
Mike kahOe also believes that the New
York Yankees will never finish where
they did last season. and he picks them
for tho tail-enders in the first division,
with the Athletics first. Detroit a runner
w, and Boston third.
A for the National League. Scout
kahoe believes the Chicago Cubs will
win again by just as big a margin as
they did last season. and predicts tina;
tho Athletics and Cubs will again fight
it out for the championship of the world
Jim DeIahanty. second baSeman of the
Detroit Tigers. who had his knee dislo-
Gated in a game with the Cleveland team
last season. declares that he has almost
fully recovered from the injury and that
he will start in to train at Hot Springs,
Ark. some time this month.
Incidentally. Jim rises to remark that
the newspapers have been spelling his
name wrong when they printed it Del
ohanty." He declares that the night way
to spell it is "Delahanty." Jim may be
right and again he may be wrong. The
first Of the DeIahanty family to become
famous in baseball was Ed, of the
Phillies. When Jim Randall went South
many years ago and signed Ed. to play
with the Phillies. the big slugger signel
his name 'Delahaunty." When the Phil
adelphia baseball reporters, Hez Miles,
Harry Diddlebock. Frank Hough, Frank
Anderson, and others heard the name
they declared that the syllable haunt"
sounded too ghostIy, so they decided to
edit the name and to write it "Delahan-
ty,' thus dropping the u.
In discussing ball players AMI their
characteristics, a weIl-knOwn writer
hands out the following tribute to the
honesty of the diamond athletes:
Put a ball player on his honor and
he will tell the truth a little bit more
often than the common citizen. This is
because the game is honest. and breeds
honesty in the men connected with it.
In the heat of battle an umpire some
times calls runner out and is promptly
informed that he is OF
But interview the accusing player
after the game AMI he will usually tell
you that he was out and that the umpire
was right. You can place dependence on
what a ball player tells you off the field
N matters like that. although they ex-
press opinions entirely different to win
a point during the game.
A batSman is called out on a third
strike that cuts the plate in two. He
fails to swing because he has been
crossed by the pitcher or has made up
his mind not to swing. He returns to the
bench and tells the manager that the
ball was outside, or inside. or low. or
high. But after three or four innings
when his wrath has cooled and his hl4lil-
iatiOn has died away. he will admit that
it was strike and will tell you the
umpire guessed correctly.
When ball player lies he does 1t
quickly and without thinking. Give him
time and he will tell the truth if he
knows you want it
Everett Brown, president of the ANA
tour Athletic Union. says Americans
would better keep their eyes on the
Swedish athletes in the next Olympic
games He thinks that some OF the ma
tive sons will carry away the prizes
when the competitions take place in
Stockholm.
Ernie HjerLberg has gone across the
water to coach the Swedish young men.
Maybe the Swedish gentry will solve
the mystery of that Slent - in Hjcrt-
berg.
That St. Louis job is a tough one and
no mistake. II was too much for a pair
Of Irishmen. but the Scot may get awav
with it. In order TO arouse a little en-
thusiasm of the Browns in our compos-
ing room We Will spring the following
lines, cuiled from the Sporting News:
Browns, who hac wi Wallace bIed
Browns. wham JeeInS an JOCK hac lod
Welcome to YOUR cellar bed
Or to TiCtoTec.
This is respectfully submitted to Rob
ert Bruce, d. McCaul Mitchell, James
Henderson. Jim Spence, and Robert Bal
main. They are the office censors of
everything Scotch. except that damaged
by water.