The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-08

M Sduit udS ptth upht o''Ns l with, Manager Molesworth of the Barons will begin putting the fin- ishng touches on his squad for the opening of the 1914 season on April IA. Exactly six days remain before the opening encounter with the Mo- bile Gulls, and during this time the chubby Baron chieftain will do yeo- mans work. The local squad has been somewhat impeded by rain, but during the past week the Barons have caught up with their work and are now in fairly good shape. With the exception of Mcdonald and Carroll, both Of whom have been out for only few days, all of the players have worked the spring soreness out and are eager for the opening gong. Mcdonald and Carroll have been har5 at work for only few days, andFthe agonies or spring training are still with them. A few more days of grinding, however, will make them fit and ready for Ahe starting of hostilities.
 
 Only 21 players remain on the Bar onial training squad, necessitating the release of one other player before the opening of the season. The player to go will be Pitcher Nolan, young mi-professional from New York. Nolan has shown up promisingly dur ing the spring. but he is yet too inex- perienced for fast company, but Moley intends to keep strings attached to him.
 Sloan and Edwards, the two young sters released Saturday to the Rich mond club in the Virginia league, are still in the city working out with the Barons, but in a few more days they 7 will depart for their new berths. Sloan was released outright, and it is very probable that he will never be seen in Baron uniform again. He failed to measure up to Southern league stand ards two years in succession, so Moley did not care to worry with him fur ther.
 Twenty men will be carried by the Baron leader until May l, after which he will cut down to 16. The men who will compose the local roster until the final execution day will be Dilger, Wallace and Tragesser catchers; Hardgrove, Gregory. Johnson, Robert son, Brown, Grimes, Harben and Fit ItTy, DllCnSTS, SoNlIlStolis 6iSa'f,
 lam, Mcdonald and Carr oil, infielders; Herndon, Magee, Knisely and McBride, outfielders. Both Herndon and Ffttery are receiving their second straight trials with the Barons and unless they deliver the goods this time Moley will likely reelase them outright.
 The Baron team came through the training season with colors flying and
 all s- hxy fo r
 stronger than that of last year. On both the offense and defense the 1914 Barons look stronger and every indi- cation is that Molesworth and his men
 will be in the thick of the fight this
 season from the very beginning. The infield, with Covington at first in place
 of old Bill McGilvray, is faster and more compact than tho inner works
 of 1s13. while the outfeld. with Magee
 filling the shoes of speedy Bob Mes
 senger, is harder hitting aggregation,
 besides being just as fast as the pre-
 vious one.
 Moleys finging staff also looks awful good this spring and with eight re- liable moundsmen to select from he will not be beset with the troubles that resulted last season from his pitching staff going to pieces. Hardgrove, oItSoiy anu I'll dpptdi to bo L'A- tainties while the other two places lie between Robertson, Grimes, John
 son, Harben and F'ittery.
 The Baron leader also will not have to worry over his backstopping de- partment as three exceptionally strong receivers are contesting for positions. any two of whom are fully able to take in the offerings of the local beavers.
 With two straight victories over the 1 Barons to their credit. the Cleveland American association players left last night at 12 o'clock for Nashville, where this afternoon they y-ill oppose Bill | Schwartz and his band of Vols at | Sulphur Dell.
 Red Bluhm, the Spider first base | man. who was recently released to the I Pelicans, but has remained with Jimmy l Sheckard during the past few days, | left early last night for his new berth in New Orleans.
 Work on, the outfield bleachers at | Redwood is being pushed with rapidity | and already nearly two sections of seats have been completed The bleach- CTS will extend from the left field foul | line around to the electric score board l in right field. It Is estimated that this l new section will seat 5000 fans Much enthusiasm is being displayed over
 the opening game by local civic organ ! izations and every effort is being made by them to have record crowd at | Redwood next Tuesday. The Rotary | club has taken block of 1000 tickets | and the Chamber of Commerce will ] also. take over a large number. Bir- mikgham is out to win the trophy and 1 also break the league record, and l everything will be done to bring this l about The league record is held by 1 Atlanta and was established last year | when ss36 fans paid to witness the | opening game.
 l Chattanooga won the attendance | trophy in 1911 when 1t was first of 1 fered by President kavanaugh with an attendance of 6724. while Birming- ham won 1t year later with 743o