Omaha daily bee., 1915-05-23
Judgments

there be some of the latter pres
ent-have introduced the game of
~ base ball to the Europeans on
the battlefields. and it will be
remarkable If the coming Of peace doesn't
find the game established on the CONT
nent. At any rate, games are being
played every day over there now, and
soldiers Of all the Allies are taking part
in them. Request has been made that
supplies be sent from this side, and con-
siderable donations of paraphernalia have
been made to the end that base ball is
coming into its own. 1t is no longer
sneered at by the English educated
rounders,' but is taken for what IT is,
a magnificent sport that has about as
much relation To FOUNDERS as 1t does to
cricket And, sad to relate, the staid
and dlgnified sport of cricket, to which
every English lad is born, just as he is
to other conditions of life under the king,
is being crowded out in some parts Of
the empire by the American sport and
even in dear old England may be found
well regulated base ball teams. When
the war comes to an end and people
get settled down to. reasonable sort
of life again, the title of world cham
pion" may come to take on meaning
that will be a little broader than merely
the possession of supremacy between the
two major leagues of o. b. B.
Cutting down expenses is still the or
der of the day with the big team own
ers. who are trying to get their budgets
on hard time basis and as a result We
hear very little of the big salary checks
or the fabulous prices offered for play
ers. Players have come to feel some
thing of the effects of the situation TOO
and are trying much harder to deliver
the goods than they have for seVeral
seasons, with less of an eye to pay Gay
To be sure, the salary check Is sun a
mighty big event in a ball player )
routine of existence, but he Is coming
10 understand that these do not gro"
ON trees. and that to keep them coming
right along, he has to put forth soIho
effort bevond merely reaching out LOT
,her, This is reflected in the quality Oh
nlav that Is being offered the public anu
les ~ deliberate loafing Is charged
aeains, the players now than has peeh
the case for several years.
ono of the mysteries of the present
season locally is the failure OF AFt'e
,rhor,oson 10 straighten 'em out IKE me-
bas heen doing for the last four OF iiFo
saasons Tommy has always been a
,,erv consistent 300 hitter, and 10 see
his name down with .1S7 after It LOT
batting average doesn't look right 10 'ne
average Omaha fan. Can 1t be that ne 10
sl,nn,ng? II may be at matter OF lnlor-
nation 10 some Omaha folks 'h"'
Tommy" was carefully looked over
couple of years ago for place on 'he
Roston Braves, and that he came up "
all specifications. except on thro"lns
this factor was finally held against NM
and ne didn't get the center ne'uins 'o'
now held by Sherwood Masee'
M. hnncb of nuts from Kansas
has been running Wild through the
Western league teams just like 1t no
through omaha last season, ana the
season before that. and so on back u
the time when Topeka first came into
the league. 1t used to seem that the only
purpose Cor a team being maintained
al Topella was TO keep Omaha from WIN
ming the pennant If the hoodoo can d.
laid this season. II will be mighty sooO
lob for Marty krug
Bonnie Kauffs case, not at all savoy
In any of its aspects mas puN {" camp
on deals between managers and players
Looking to the violation OF contracts
While u,e action OF the national commis
sion lacked much in the essentials o
spontaneity. being more OF an assumed
than an inherent virtue, 1t was apparent!
not without effect. and PLAYERS viii tin'
IL more TO their own interests 70 play pal
hereafter for the team that employs
them.
something more than mere smuggling j
needed to win ball games as witness IN
TACT that Brooklyn has four 400 hitter
Al the head of the Federal league isl
and vet stands sixth in the race.
Well 1t looks as If skipper Bill woul'
have TO Join with Jawn Gonding and
lot Of others fellows who couldn't sta
young forever.
.- Leieune IS showing us IL wasn't mis-
take last season. II he didn't hold on a
Pittsburgh.