Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-09-04
CINCINNATI HAS CONE BASEBALL
CRAZY, BECAUSE, FOLKS, IT is
FIRST PENNANT IN FORTY YEARS
They'll Fight on a Dime il Any
one Now Says Reds Won't
Win the Big World Event.

Cincinnati is in the grip of a
veritabIe baseball dementia For
40 years. the Ohio city has wit
messed its representatives on the
diamond fall before the attack of
other teams, sometimes coming
close but always ending in the
mire
And now, thousands of its citi-
zens, who in years past gave only
passing interest to the support,
are overcome with baseball enthu-
siasm, and the spectacle of the
coming world series games prom
ises to provide the greatest out
burst for the national pastime that
the old continent has ever wit
messed
It is doubtful if old Cincy will
be able to grant sufficient breath
ing space to the thousands and
thousands of visitors who are Ger
tain TO squeeze their way through
the city's portals. Hotels are al
ready preparing for the rush to
their doors and every available
inch Of accommodation will be
ready for utilization. y
PARK Too Small.
The Reds park has a seating
capacity of something like q coo
The owners had about given up
hope of ever capturing a pennant
and find themselves now UMPIRE
pared to meet the situation. 1t is
practically certain that twice this
number and even more will battle
to get an inch to stand on inside
the grounds for each game. Yes,
the owners are wishing the old lot
could handle a throng Of 100000
An indication of how absolutely
dotty they have gone may be
learned by anyone caring to come
out openly within the Cincinnati
district and hazard a guess that
the Reds might not win the big
series. It's as bad as to call them
prO-Germans, for a fight is certain
to be precipitated
Sporting editors on Cincy papers
have overnight developed into his
tDrians. They have gone way back
sinto the dim and clOuded past to
HheaFth the exact year in which
the Reds won q pennant, and the
dusty records show it to be 1870. ,
Battle of Shine-BaIl.
ilC SCI It's DGLN ten tLlC lWO BIDS- !
pective winners of the gonfaIons
Will in all probability develop into (
the battle of the shine-baIl. Eddie !
Cicotte and Lefty Claude Williams |
are both addicted to this habit. /
and the authorities of the Ameri- /
can league have tried in vain to /!
force them to push it into the dis !
card Then. Hold Eller, Sox dis |
card. who picked up the principle |
of the shine from Cicotte. will toll /,
on the mound for his mates with !
the self-same delivery.
In 1917 when Clarence Rowland /
was leading the Sox tribe to a /
pennant and worlds championship. !
he acquired Eller through an OPP /
tional agreement, the purchase to !
be $4,000 Our own sister city to |
the east, Moline, was the one who /
was eagerly waiting for Hold to de-
liver and permit those $500 bones /
to roll into the home ex-Checquer.
But Clarence hung on to Eller only
until May / was just in the Offing,
the date on which the optional /
agreement was to have expired,
and considering that Hold needed |
more seasoning in the minors, the !
big pitcher was turned back to
Moline. This happened because
the Plows refused to lower the
price to 81 500.
And Mr. Hold Eller figured that
Moline was no longer a worthy
city in which to get seasoned, and
after beating around he hit upon
a fancied grievance and promptly
deserted to the bushes. 1t was
when he twirled an exhibition
game against Cincinnati that the
Red management licked its lips
and made haste to pull him in the
fold through the operation of the
draft.
ElEer is getting away with his
freak delivery in the National al
though the authorities have de-
clared against it. In the face Of
things. the country's baseball ex-
perts are gently reminding the Ma
tfonaI commission that the best
way out in the coming series is to
say everything goes.