Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1914-08-16
Judgments



operating expenses for 1857 And how
best can that be done than by looping off
a number of gents who now cucumber
their honorable payroIls7 II the club that
Is carrying surplus OF men can save
money any quicker than by letting 80 of
lot of these mon. we wot not how. Los
ing money Is bad for any enterprise. or
dinarily, and yet with major league base
ball II might have its advantages ulti-
mately. II might, for one thing. have a
tendency to break UP the pernicious prac-
tice OF monopolizing players This is a
vicious practice from every angle 1t is
unjust both to young players and minor
leagues, whereas the fallacious argument
is used that 1t Is advantageous to both.
We haven't the space nor desire to go
into the various reasons here, but anyone
who thinks under the skin Of things can
figure out at least three or four excellent
reasons for himself Meanwhile, going
back to the possibility of an unloading
of the SURPRISES, it ought to be easy for
some of the fast minors next year to do a
lot of fruitful recruiting. In other words,
it is our notion that there may be more
rather good ball players looking for some
thing to 90 next spring or the coming
winter than for some years past. OF
course, the Federals will want their pick.
Still that leaves the condition unchanged.
Anent our recent observations as TO the
importance of control among young
pitchers, we regret not to have made an
exact count of the number of balls
pitched last Tuesday by Mr.. Crabbe and
Mr.. White, the respective opponents in
the box for Omaha and Sioux City. With
out having made such a count, we are
willing to stake our all as a prophet and
philosopher now on the statement that
Mr.. Crabbe hurled at the least calcula-
ton three times as many balls as did Mr..
White. Inning after inning we noted that
Mr.. Crabbe would open with wide one,
while Mr.. White would start proceedings
by cutting the pan in two. In one inning
Mr.. White delivered Just nine balls In
Omahas half Of the same inning Mr..
Crabbe pitched Just twenty-eight Mr.
. Crabbe, In fact, seemed careful in almost
every inning and with nearly every bat
ter, to insert himself in a precarious hole
before beginning to pitch, giving the bat
ter all the better of the duel. It is a mys-
terry to us that young men of such wild
propensities do not go out in the morn
ing, say, and put themselves to the task
II they can't do 1t any other way, of
getting control. This has been done by
throwing at a bullseye. It is a most dis
gushing thing to see a pitcher stand there
working a bluff Splitter" delaying the
game and getting about one ball in four
over the plate.
Bad businessl Omaha has up to this
writing lost sixteen of its last twenty
seven games played. It has lost five of
the last nine games played at home It
was mercilessly nogged, kicked and
cutfed, Inundated and slowed away by
Sioux City on the home grounds Every
body knows the chief REASONING pitching.
This has been the chief reason for
Omaha's standing for several seasons.
The loss of Joe Ward-the real joe
hurts badly. Joe was a high-priced man,
like Krug, and worth the money. He hit
in the pinches as we'll or better than any
other member of the team and would
have covered second for US In great
shape as he is now doing for Elmira,
where he is hitting above 800. The gap
at short is also wide and serious. Other
wise things would do. Schliebner is ad-
mittedly far and away above anything in
the league at first Thomas at third
though slumping at the bat; Krug,
Thomson and Congalton are doing their
usual good work. But not pitcher has
control or much of anything else. The
only man who stopped the Sioux was
Sanders, the semi-pro. All the others
were, as Jim Kane says, pure duck
soup" About all we can do is to hope
for the day when Omaha will be re-
stored to its former and rightful place Oh
the base ball map, when good playing
meant big crowds. It pays.
schliebner is the scream Of this league
His work at first is consistently sensa-
tional and at the bat great. His exhibit
ton in Thursdays game against Sioux
City was simply wonderful. He took
every chance, yet had hardly more than
one decent throw made to him during the
day. Most of the throws-all OF Grand
Island Ward s-were difficult to handle.
some seemingly impossible, yet Schliebner
got every one. stretching this way and
that, spearing them in the air and SCOOP
ing them out Of the dust. It really
seemed as If Ward might be trying to
see If he could throw one that Sehliebner
could not get.
The foot ball season Is upon us. How
do we know? Because has not the big
and does not the Cornhusker management
in today's paper tell Of all it's players
being in the best OF condition from a
summer spent in the harvest fields. Base
ball is more than two-thirds gone and
then the gridiron hero will hold the lime
light. Players will soon be reporting at
all the big training camps of the big east
ern colleges and then must the hair again
be permitted to grow long.
Sioux City looks like the money 10 US.
Barring accidents, the Indians ought 10
beat Denver out this time. Josh Clarke s
pitchers showed their quality in this last
Omaha series. Not until the fourth game
was one removed because Of heavy hit
ting. Kline lost his goat in that game.
He lacked control the very thing the
others had most of and seemed too easy
10 hit at the bad time.
Iy Cobb signs for three years He
ought TO sign for as many as the Detroit
ownership wants him, for It certainly has
been good TO him. The contract does moi
include the ten-daV CLAUSE h,,t mo -.