Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-21

lively estimated at 5000. ~. Louis
won. 4 to L. The two teams split gat"
receipts and the visitors carried away
SECS of Washington money. PreSiden;
Won der Aha of the st. Louis team
was iubilant and no left assuring the
Washington fans that he would leav"
no stone unturned to get them big
league berth for the next year. either
in his own association or with the M
tionals. After such q turnout. and AZ
80 cents "A head. he considered that II
was foolish to cling to the old delu
sion that Washington was 23-cenf
town. The National Capitai fanS
looked forward juhilantly TO the dc
yelopmcnts Of the coming Winter.
The sports writer's, grown accuSu"fhe"
to expending their eloqucnce on r"SAt-
tos were at n loss To understand the
phenomenon they had witnessed q
t'apital Park. such Il crowd, said
one of them. "has rot been witnoss' q
at n bqll game in Washington sine"
the old White lot encounters. Inc
fans thronged onto the field ana II
was necessary 10 make n ground rule
restricting to two bases any hit which
fell in the crowd.
Nicholas Young, president OF the
National League. was not so enthuSl-
sstic as Won der Ahe about admitting
a
was n Washington man. he had poor
opinion of the National Capital as
base ball town. 1T was" he still In
sisted. "a 25-cent place" Once Wash
ington was in the league. Young be-
lieved ii would find the 5O-cent price
impossible to collect and soon would 10
petitiOninC for special favor. VIZ,
cutting the price in half and giving
visiting teams a fixed guarantee IN
stead If half the receipts. There al
ready was one 25-Cent town in the
league. he said. and there was n"
room for another Philadelphia. The
American Association would have
been glad to welcome Washington. but
it had too many Eastern teams al
ready. 1t had been organized prima-
rilv to provide a home for the Western
professional mines.
Young, however. changed his mind
sometime during the Winter. In the
Spring Of 1886 the Nationals appear
as one of the National League teams.
The league had undergone consider
able revision and now consisted of Bos-
ton, Chicago. Detroit. Kansas city,
New York. Washington. Philadelphia
and st. Louis. The American Assoc
citation had been reduced to the Phila-
delphia Athletics. the New York Met
ropolitans, Baltimore. Brooklyn. Gin
cinnati, Louisville Pittsburgh and 81.
Louis. League base ball sill was in
a state of fiux. Cities continually
were finding it impossible to support
their teams and were dropping out
of one league or the other, making
way for new teams.
The Nationals that year consisted of
Hines. second base: Houck. shortstOp;
Carroll, left field: Knowles. third base;
Crane, right field: Oldfeld. catcher;
Baker. first base: Gilligan. center field,
and Madigan pitcher. This lineup
differed considerably from the Eastern
League aggregation of the year be-
fore, and evidently did not have the
same stamina. There was an enthusi-
astic pennant race that year, with
Chicago and Detroit fighting all the
way. But the Mats stayed in the cell
lar from April to October. They fin
ished the season with % victories
against 81 defeats. Chicago, which
won the championship. had 81 vic
tories against 81 defeats.
THE next year was little better,
but still disappointing to Wash
inSton fans. Players salaries and
other expenses in 1887 made up
total investment of $40. 900. Wash
ington base ball was beginning to get
into the big-money class. Detroit was
battling Chicago and Boston for first
place, and the outcome hinged on a
very narrow margin. Washington
started we'll and by the end of July
presumably was firmly intrenched in
sixth place. with little hope of advance
ing any farther. The team came home
in August and started to slump. BY
the end of the month they had lost
sixth place. with little hope of advanc.
IDENTIFY only, the limited time left to
play kept them from falling into the
cellar again. They ended the sea-
son in seventh place. having won As
games and lost IS. Detroit, the victor
in the race, had won 70 and lost As.
The team this year consisted of Car.
roll right field Hines, first base: Whit
ney. shortstop: O'Brien. second base;
Shock, left field; Donnelly, third base;
Dealey, catcher: Farrell. center field;
Shaw, Whitney and O'Day. pitchers.
The players lost popularity rapidly
when the slump on the home grounds
got under way. The facetiOus reporter
suggested that lanterns be attached -
the balls so that the batterS could see
them. For the first time. this year
the name Senate began to be at
tached to the Washington team. At
ltIludflCe WIS SllIl anu II IOOhtu oiS
though league base hall once again
had proved a failure in Washington.
BY this time. however. the active
management of the teams affairs was
in the hands Of Michael Scanlon, who
may be considered the foster father
OF base ball in Washington. He had
been connected intimately with both
the amateur and the professional
teams of the past. and served for the
love of the game rather than for any
financial reward. 1t was to Mr.. Scan
Ions careful nursing that the con-
tinua ton of Washington in the Ma
tional League largely was due. With
the team evidently going to pieces.
w. l.. Dennis. an actor. was appointed
manager. Dennis had been president
of the Washington Amateur Base Ball
Association. which had broken up
that Summer, and he had developed
considerable executive ability as
sports manager.
The league heads We're worried Mt
this time over the prevalence of base
ball gambling and demanded that the
practice of installing private wires be-
tween the park and downtown pool
rooms stop. Men who otherwise would
go to the park and pay TO see the
games. they claimed. now contented
themselves with loafing around the
poolrooms. getting bulletins of the
progress of the play and betting. This
not only was causing a considerable
loss OF revenue. but was putting base
ball itself in bad repute with the bet
ter class of citizens. The league was
anxious to attract women TO the
games. With such large investments
as that of $4,000 for a season. it was
necessary to nurse every possible
source of revenue in order to keep the
hackers Interested.
That year for the third time IN
succession st. Louis won the cham
piOnship of the American Association.
At the end of the season the Mound
Cit1y tcaD, opJ tho