Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-05-26
VIRGINIA LEAGUERS
Old Dominion Dumping Ground
for Southern League.
ENOUGH FOR TWO TEAMS
Magnstes Had Hoped to Recruit
Players for the Major
Leagues.

LYNCHBCRG. Va. May 25.-It looks
az though the Virginia League il fast be-
coming q dumping ground for the South
ern League rather than a recruiting feld
for the majors and faster minors for
there are more ex-Southern League play-
ers playing on the eight teams In Virginia
this year than has usually been the case
with all OF the teams from all other
leagues There are enough former South
ern players here now to man two tasns
for . match game. with Q man or two %
spare. and almost every day sees Q play
er not quite fast enough for the South
ern or slowed up q bit too much to keap
up with the pace there who is reporting
to some team in the Old Dominion
In addition 10 Manager Stocksdale OF
Lvnchburg. Lou Castro Of Portsmouth.
Steve Griffin OF Richmond and ua,us
Busch Of Petersburg. the following play
ers have at one time or another ban
assets OF the teams now composing The
Southern: Sexton OF Lynchburg Morris
ssy OF Newport News. Becker. Brftton,
watson. Douglas, Rs~elle. MAyber and
Garv1n OF Portsmouth. Gordon OF Dam
Vile. Munaney OF Norfolk and Newton.
L-afnet, Green and Burleson OF Roanoke
John O'Brien. the Baltimore plav~r.
who came out this spring under q Lynch
burg contract. to be released after q trial
to Be- resigned and then to be released
QSouth Atlantic) team. and IL would not be
at all surprising to see OBrien make II
with Macon, II he has a catcher who can
get out OF the youngster what he has in
NM here . Brien was a lucky pitcher,
and II his luck continues until he can get
q line on what's expected OF a HEAVIER he
ought to go easily with Macon.
Joe Holland. the Roanoke left fielder.
has been receiving congratulations over
1ise circuit recently on account OF the sue
cessful manner In which he coached the
base ball squad this spring of the New
berry College, which captured the coli
legtate championship of South Carolina
Holland has been out of the game recent
iy on account of sprained ankle and MS
stick work has been sorely missed by tn.
Roanoke team during his enforced idle
ness.
Just why the recent game being played
in Suffolk between Danville and NorfolN
should be in any way connected with any
financial trouble of the Danville team can
not be understood. The game was trans
ferred from Norfolk under an agreement
| made at the time the schedule was adopt
ed on account of the State II. Z. \. con-
ventton there al that time and because
| OF desire to make some concessions to
the fans of Suffolk, who had hoped 10 Sc
cure franchise In the league as a result
| or the row in the circuit during the win
ter 1t is probably true that Danville has
been hurt by the weather more than any
other team. but that does not mean that
| the men In the smallest city on the cir
cult have the slightest idea of permitting
salaries to become overdue. Indeed. they
VIII do no such thing, and when DAN
Vile Quits IL she quits, it's a good bet
that IL will not be during a champion
ship race
| Steve Griffin, who MANAGED Danville
in 1910 when the Red Sox made the
league record OF thirteen straight games
started out to eclipse his Danvtlle per-
m mr. yrff fha t1kxx
the best he could do was to annex seven
| Ia q row before Roanoke put an end to
the squirt with two out OF three In the
| series.
Newton. erstwhile Southern Ieazuer.
who got a great start with the stick
with Roanoke, is falling an easy prey TO
the pitchers now, for his hitting has
dropped to about the 200 mark
The presence of Roth. from the Cen
trail League, and Winges. from the Cot
ton States. has materially strengthened
the Lynchburg pitching STAFF.
| A report is going the rounds of the
| Ing with the Washington outlaw VS. is
| none other than Richards the infeIder
| last season with Norfolk after he jumped
from the Newport News team of the
Tidewater outlaws
Pitcher Harry Griffin has arrived IL
Danvilie' and If he shows the form he
| little strength TO the Red Sox.
| Stanley Bigbie the old New England
Pacific coast player is putting up
| great game for Norfolk at the initial
sack. Bigbie is hitting a trife above 3op.
and his work has sent Manager Shafrcr
who usually plays first, to the garden.
Brown, a left-hander from the Ohio
State League. is pitching good ball for
the Newport News team.
Fourteen games have been postponed
by rain during the first month of the
season. These, with four tie games
mean a good many double headers later
in the season.
Harry Mace has come back to his first
love. for he has been signed as an umpirc
by President Boatwright and he will do
il he will put little life into his work
When Ty Cobb whipped that spectator
in Gotham last week he brought to tho
attention of base ball powers a condition
that should be given more attention in
the future than IL has had in the past
IL this is not true in the majors or other
minor circuits. ii is certainly true or
the Virginia League. II the reader does
not think this is true. let him try a berth
with the tail-ender in the Virginia
League. or get with a team when IL
strikes bad spell and loses more than a
majority of its games. Ii Is a condition
tndI can De IN 1SynCnDurg, Tor the
Shoernakers have been contendlng for Gel
lar and near-cellar honors for some four
or five years. This spring il looked like
history was going to repeat itself and
the fans went after the management and
some of the players. Several times when
the team went bad some of the sayings
hurled at the players We're a disgrace Ir-
responsible and half-drunken fans have
been permitted to ventilate their spleen
upon the players until the men were
ready to quit. yet nothing has been done
severely criticised by the local newspa-
pers
The umpires, too, even when they are
doing good work, come in for this sort OF
abuse, and they take ii. 1t is true such
tactics do not reflect the sentiment OF
the best people of the city, and IL has
generally been INDUCED in by a coterie OF
fans who could be counted on the fingers
of ones hands.
The Cobb incident recalls the fact that
Al Orth, when managing the Lynchburg
team in the summer of 1909, was being
listed to a turn by a young man who
was not himself at the time. Orth stood
the abuse for half a game or more, and
then he quietly went to the grandstand
and elected the offender. getting more
applause from the spectators for his act
than he could possibly have done with q
brilliant play on the ball field.
Ball players are men, even If they ara
a wheel in the base ball machinery, and