Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1887 — AMONG THE BALL TEAMS. [ARTICLE]

AMONG THE BALL TEAMS.

Mike Nelly’s Beturn to Chicago Signalized by Great Crowds and Great Enthusiasm Anson's Lads Sweeping Everything Before Them in the League Peuant Race. [CHICAGO CORRESPONDENCE.] If ever a season of base-ball promised great things before tbe penuant races ended, that of 1887 is as bright with promises of a great finish as any lover of the national game, be ho ever so enthusiastic, could wish for. The wholly unexpected and remarkable spurt made by the White Stockings toward the close of their last Eastern trip still continues, aud the pfospects for its eventually placing them at the head of the string, in the race for the flag, seem better with each day. Boston came Friday with the famous Mike Kelly at its head, and not before in the history of the game in this city has the arrival of a ball team created such great enthusiasm as that which marked the return of Chicago’s old favorite. KELLY’S RECEPTION. Kelly has hundreds, ves, thousands of admirers in Chicago, and upon the day of his arrival (Friday* these admirers spread themselves ont at the park—spread themBelves in flowers and spread themselves in yells. But before going to the park they performed the reception act at the Leland Hotel, where Kelly and his confreres are stopping. At 2p. m. the street opposite the north entrance to the Leland was jammed with people. Not less than 5,000 were in the crowd. In the middle there was a big brass baud playing “See the Conquering Hero” and other things of an adulatory character. In the hotel rotunda Kelly was holding a levee. A circle of people twenty deep craned their necks and jostled each other to see the hero, and those in his immediate vicinity shook hands with him until his patience gave out. The Imperial Quartet crowded in and surrounded him and saug at him, Alike meantime looking as if he wished they would go to Jericho and leave him alone. Then the White Stockings arrived, and a row of carriages and horses driven by coachmen in drab liveries drove up, and the White Stockings got into the three first carriages, and Anson and Kelly into the next, and the Bostons into the next three carriages; next followed a lot of lordly sporting reporters in other carriages. Then the band struck up "Biddy McGee,” and the procession started as grand as could be to parade the streets just like a circus, 5,000 people cheering the start and other thousands cheering all along the line. The procession went parkwards. OUB SECOND VICTORY. No one could have asked for a more rarely beautiful day than that which dawned on Saturday for our second game with the Bostons. Kelly was suffering greatly from an attack of “Charley Horse,” or contraction of the. muscles in his left leg, and young Madden, of the Bostons, had to do the running for him. Still, Mike played with much of his old-time vim, aud the game was a great one in every way. The crowd was nearly as large as that of the day before. Men and boys were packed in the side stands like figs, and the grand stand was so full that men sat in the aisles. There was a deep senji-circle of plug hats and bonnets in front of the grand stand in the space reserved on either side of the catcher’s path, while the outfield wus fringed with at least two thousand men. Baldwin pitched for Chicago, while Conway filled the box for Boston. The score was one of tbe most remarkable ever recorded at White Stocking Park, the clubs standing tied in the fourth inning and again in the eighth, and Chicago winning by a single run in the ninth. Following is the score by innings: Chicagos 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 I—B Bostons 1 0 0 1 3 0-0 1 I—7 CHICAGO’S IMPROVEMENT. A noticeable feature in the work of the White Stockings is the improvement in their batting, while their fielding is far more brilliant than it was a year ago. .Against such strong points as these opposing clubs will find it a difficult task to win games. VAN HALTEEN ARRIVES. George Van Haltren, the young California pitcher, about whom there has been more newspaper talk than any ball player of the present time, Mike Kelly alone ex-, cepted, arrived from Frisco Friday. He certainly looks like a ball player, and it is to be hoped will prove one. I had a brief chat with him in A. G. Spalding & Bros.’ Madison street store, the morning of his arrival when he said: “I pitched my first leagne game about fourteen months ago, retiring the opposing side with five hits. In one game I struck ont three men on nine pitched balls, and my greatest strike-out record was nineteen men. On another occasion 1 retired the Pioneers without a hit and strnck out seventeen men. At the end of that season I was fourth in batting, and was No. 1 in batting this season, with an average of .456. During this season I led in pitchers’ averages, and gave but four bases on balls in a total of nine games.” Van Haltren says that he would not feave gone to Pittsburgh or Detroit for any amount of money. HOW THEY STAND. In the League race the Delroits still hold the lead, with the Bostons second, closely pursued by New York third, and both so closely followed by the Chicagos that they are uncomfortable. The Pbiladelphias will do well to hold fifth place. Pittsburgh, Washington and Indianapolis bring up the rear. They are all out-classed and do not belong in the League. In the Association race the St. Louis team is firmly fixed in the lead, with the Baltimores second, closely followed by Cincinnati third, and Louisvilles and Athletics ne\t- The Brooklyns, Metropolitans, and Cleveland bring np the tail end of the list. The fight is a hot one between the Milwaukee and Oshkosh teams for the Northwestern League pennant. The Milwaukee team leads by a small majority, with tke Oshkosh team second; the Des Moines and St. Paul teams come next, and the La Crosse and Minneapolis teams follow, with the Dnlnth and Eau Claire teams last.

CON CREGAN.