Norwich bulletin., 1919-05-06
EXPECT BASEBALL SEASON
 WILL BETTER PAST YEARS

With the blight of war lifted from the national sport it is the belief in all sections that the game will rebound to the heights of popuarity hich it IT, joyed previous to the devastating sweep of world wide hostilities.
 League officials and club owners, with this idea in mind, have devoted the past few months to preparing for a new pet.od in baseball and their hand iwork is evident sn many directions. Radical changes made in methods and system of conducting the big leagues at the annual meeting of the mag uates Individual clubowners have labored to improve the strength of their forces and through team man. appear as though both National and CTS in order to round out formidable combination
 How well they have builded only time can demoflstate bnt viewed from the standpoint of the present it would appear as houSh both he National and American circuits were stronger and better balanced than has been the case in recent seasons. Before the pen nant races are well under way it is eX- pected that the last of the diamond stars now serving with the forces either at home or abroad will have doffed the khaki for baseball flannel. Many will re-appear upon the field with a glamor heretofore lacking and the fans welcome will be backed by sentiment containing something more than the admiration due the player for his playing ability alone.
 Mingled with faces of returning vet erans who have won honors on the bat tlefields of Europe as well as on the diamond will be seen those of new comars bringing the speed. agility and zest of youth to the national game. From the training camps of the Southland come reports of the spark ling play of several recruits who prom ise to quickly esta blish themselves in the hearts of the fans as result of their unusual skill with bat and ball. It is this constantly changing pie ture of personnel, playing ability and combat. tempered with the sentiment and traditions of baseball, that has cs- tablished the sport so firmly through out the nation. Old stars may fade; youthful phenomenons leap to the ze- nth in their places; and club owners come and go with little apparent effect upon the popularity of the game. For many years baseball has held its own through prosperous and depressing seasons because it is baseball ard l ed the sport into an integral part of the nations life.
 Chicago leads in, the number of 1 championships won as the teams of 1 that city have accounted for eleven pennants Boston is second with nine and New York third with eight. Of l the thirty-seven pennants won by cities now represented in the lea que | Eastern clubs have captured twenty 1 two and Western teams fifteen.
 This year the clubs face a shorter season and a pennant race of 140 I games in place of the usual 154. When 1 the teams take the field on Wednesday with Chicago at St. Louis; Cleveland at Detroit; Philadelphia at Washing ton and Boston at New York on the
 American League circuit and Brook lyn at Boston; New York at Philadel- phia; Pittsburgh at Chicago and St
 Louis at Cincinnati in the National League. the 19119 season will be about
 a week later in starting than has | been the case i'll past years.
 What effect, if any, this will have upon the pennant races is uncertain at this time. Managers and magnates hope for settled weather and expect that if normal temperature conditions prevail the teams will be able to play fast ball from the sart. Close strug- gles with the lead shifting frequent ly should make the baseball season ot
 1919 onet of the brightest periods in the annals of the game. {
 the throwing out of runners had be come almost a prefunctJry element of play. By giving the runner a chan:e
 for a fair start we should have hiore base running and action which. I be- lieye wi,l have the approval of the l baseball public.
 internationa League Outlook
 1 {By President David L. E'ultzl
 The baseball season of 1919 should |. be the most successful that the Inter l national League has experienced since | the beginning of the Federal League