Imperial Valley press., 1914-01-09
Baseball is the
National Game?
BY Hal Sheridan.

seven Gays nave HoW Poooco w
since l resolved a. resolute;
And forty demons pressing nigh
seek now to poison and pol
lutte
The thoughts now harbored in my
mind,
Of aught but goodness of the kind
That starts white wings to upward
shoot,
Since | resolved a resolute.
Oh demon, prod not, urge me not
back to my ways of i'll repute,
By all the powers of Zeus and men
l call upon you now to scoot;
For seven days I've stood the gaff,
/ seldom smile, and never laugh.
But what, say I, does laughter boot
Since / resolved resolute.
New York, Jan. 9.-Having swelled
I'D so often and allowed as how base
ball is the Great American Game,
it might be expected that something
would come along and gently ease
over the intimation that a few other
nationalities in this broad universe
are picking up batting, pitching and
base running. Down Jersey way
they have team made up entirely
of Cubans, and, whether you believe
it or not, it is on the records that
the Long Branch team of the New
Jersey-New York league won the
pennant. The Long Branch aggre-
cation happens to be an all-Cuban
cast, so there you be.
We are all more or less acquaint-
ed with one Senior Marsans, outfield-
er for the Cincinnati Reds, who is
one of the leading opponents OF the
game as it is did in Cuba-and Gin
cinnati. Long Branch, however, is
an incubator for Cuban baseball
players for this country. Four men,
bers of this team were sold to Bos-
ton last fall. Next year there will
be a new crop for the major league
SCOUTS to look over. Manez, pitch
er, who will perform during the next
heated period, is said to ring-ding-
er. The Long Branch management
has already been offered $4,000 for
him, but the offer was refused. Aft
err dangling before the eyes Of the
Majors for a few months next year
more money will probably be of
fered.
Dick Henriquez, captain and man.
ager of the Long Branch team, goes
to Cuba every winter now. He looks
'em over on the island while Long
Branch is closed up and the summer
resorters are hugging radiators.
Then he hobs up in the spring with
a new bunch of Seniors who wallop
the pill all over the lot Next year
Henriquez expects to arrange a Sc
ries of preseason games with sew
eral of the major league teams. His
Cubans will report from the island
ready for business, as they will have
done their "spring training" around
Havana. Fifteen new players are to
be brought up from Cuba next spring,
which augurs much business of look
ing things over by big league scouts.
One thing about these Cuban play
ers that is not found in the average
American of the league teams is
ability and willingness to play sew
eral different positions. During the
last season ten men, including pitch
ers and catchers on the Long Branch
team, played every game of the 10
in the league schedule. They shifted
around and played different positions.
When pitcher wasn't working in
the box he would take a place in the
outfeld. Long Branch won the pen
nant by a margin of % games.
This Long Branch team probably
has the distinction Of playing ball
before more money than any other
team in the country, considering the
size of the crowds its draws. One
day last summer fortunes estimated
at $9OO,O00,000 were represented IN
the boxes. Long Branch, being a
summer resort, draws much money.
The Guggenheims, lGreenhuts, Bra
dys and many other moneyed folk are
included among the fans who root
for the Cubans. Senator Smith, the
Fleishmanns and a score ofs others
may also be found pulling for the
Long Branch bunch. Whether they
try to pronounce the names of all OF
the players is not on record.
Umpire Bill Rigler made con-
fession recently. He told how he
happened to become an umpire. Rig