Evening star., 1914-12-16

! HuShey Jennings, Bill Donovan, Con
ME Mack and numerous others have
| been mentioned in connection with the
position. but the chances are that moth
| ing defiite Will be known until the new
owners have been in charge for a
| while.
! Financial conditions in the Federal
! League do not appear to be very flour
| ishing. In most of the cities the clubs
[ have asked the public to help increase
) the capital stock, though their books
I show heavy losses last season. Even
the Baltimore club, which was believed
to have had a splendid season. admits
having lost $4,000, yet is asking the
public to increase its holdings: Tho
/ ouiy club which seems to be well sup
! piled with funds is the Brooklyn club
! for it has not peddled any of It's stock
! Reports that. Fritz Maiscl is flirting
with the Federal League cannot be
based on facts, if Maisel is as bright q
| boy as lie Is said to he. The little
! tract with the New York club when
| he was purchased, and this runs
through the seasons of 1915 and 1916.
Furthermore, Maisel has no ten-da,
/ release clause in his contract, which
! also contains the new reserve clause
/ which, according to good authority, il
! valid There is, therefore, no chance
| for Maisel to jump.
/ While it is perhaps true that a pitch
/ crs value is best estimated on the per
| centage of earned runs scored agains,
, him. system which is now in vogue
| i'll the American League. there is. how
! ever. no reason why the number oi
b., entirely ignored i'll the records. Pub
! lie interest is in the matter OF con-
| t1icts that pitcher wins and loses
and while this may not be of interes,
hn hal tlt ltfio
. should be included in the official
, records.
Under the present system no mention
of the victories and defeats is made
| and yet this feature of q pitchers rec.
ord has always been of the creates
interest.
/; If these pitching records are of valu.
! in sizing up u twirler's ability, ther
there is II chance for Joe Engel tt
has outpitched Wyckon of the Athleti.
; les, who. in the opinion of some of the
best judges. is picked to be Mack.
leading pitcher next season Engel il
| thirty-five games had a lower percent
age of earned runs scored against him
than did Wyckoff in thirty-two games
| Engel may come through next season
1t has been the experience of Other
pitchers to show to disadvantage for Z
couple of seasons and then suddenl,
| display high grade form. Though En-.
gel is hardly of age. he will have the
distinction of being the oldest pitcher
Griffith has in point of service nex'
| season.
Strangely enough. most of the play.
ers who have jumped TO the Feds are
| of class which has but u year or sc
more to spend i'll base ball of a high
caliber. The latest to jump is Jimmy
Austin. Jimmy" Is a. peppery little
fellow and u fairly good player, though
weak with the stick. He has gone t.
the Pittsburgh Feds. having deserted
the st: Louis Browns because Hickey
refused to sign him to Il long-term con.
tract. Austin wanted to protect him.
self against the inevitable, and wher
the Browns refused to tie him up fol
more than year he decided to &c
where he could get the money for q
! couple of years at least.
The bars are up again. even though
no official statement to that effect was
handed down at the recent National