Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 May 1889 — THE NATIONAL GAME. [ARTICLE]

THE NATIONAL GAME.

GOSSIP ABOUT BASE-BALL CLUBS AND PLAYERS. j The Present Championship Season anti the Teams Which Are to Fight for the League Pennant of 1889—Effects of the Tour Around the World. [CHICAGO COKBEBPONDEXCE.] I Warm weather and sunny skies have reI turned to gladden the heart of the basej ball crank in every State in the Union, and summer has now come to stay, and with it the base-ball championship of 1839. The real fight between the big professional teams—the fight which shall determine the location of League and Association championship pmnants this fall, as well as that of innumerable minor oigauization flags—hegau during the hist days of April, and now the teams are just beginning to settle down to an earnest realization of the hard flgtit ahead of them. Of course some ot the teams which have forged ahead during the opening weefcs of the season may fall iown under the continued strain of a long campaign, and others, which have stumbled a bit at the start, may flud themselves playing steadier ball as the season progresses. | Ktlll the results of the past two weeks of play are fairly Indicative of the playing ; strength of the contesting teams, anil consequently of the character of contest which lovers of the game may expect to witness. In the League the prospects for a close and determined race were never better. The close of the third week In the race finds the teams most interestingly bunched. Boston und Philadelphia are tied for the iGad, with New York, Chicago, Cleveland, and Pittsburg following so closely in the order named that a game or two either way might easily reverse the positions of the entire list. And what ball the boys are playing! Few seasons among thoso past have witnessed or recorded a start in which the work has been of so uniformly a high character. Boston and New York have been playing ball with clinched teeth, in a desperate endeavor to hold first place, end New York succeeded in doing so up to the close of the third week in the raco, when Boston, with Clarkson and Bennett, in the points, beat the Giants and won the victory that sent them ahead of the Gothamites. In the meantime, however, Philadelphia had been getting in some tall work, and although Boston left New York behind it was compelled immediately to lock hornd with Barry Wright’s team for first place. And perhaps Philadelphia is not putting up a game! There is a team which is liable to pluy sad havoc with the calculations of some of the cracks this season, just as it did last season and season before. Bufflnton and Clements promise to prove as great a battery this year as Clarkson and Bennett or Keefe and Ewing, while the regular in and outfields are playing just the kind of ball to raise a grand stand off its feet with enthusiasm and excitement, and, what is more important, just the kind ol ball to win games. The tour around the world which Wood and Fogarty made with the Spalding party last winter seems to have made 50 per cent, better bull-players of them this year than they were last. During the season of 1888 they were hard to beat as outfielders, tout now George Wood is playing _ the infield as well as he ever played the out. and Fogarty’s work in center is unprecedentedly brilliant in character. Big Thompson, of last year’s Detroits, is playing his customary hard-hit-ting and reliable fielding game in the outfield, while Farrar at first and Mulvey at third are playing a game with twenty per cent, more snap ip it than it had last year. There has been some little trouble recently between Captain Irwin nnd Manager Harry Wright, with the result .that Irwin demanded his unconditional release, and has not played with the team durmg the past three or four games. This, however, will doubtless soon be abridged, and Irwin will play short for the Phillies this season as he has done for seasons past. Philadelphia is strong—much stronger this year than last, and should land very near the top of the list when the season closes, while it will be very sure to make every game it plays an interesting one for its opponents. New York should play no weaker game this year than it played last, but it will have stronger opponents to face. With Keefe and Welch and Crane as regular pitchers, Ewing as the back-stop,Conner, Kichardson. Whitney, and John Ward in the infield, and Slattery, Tiernan, Gore, and O’Rourke all playing the game of their lives in the out, New York should bo a considerable shade stronger than it was last year. If Boston’s talent gets down to the team work of which it is capable, however, New York will by no means have tilings its own way. The “Hub” undoubtedly has the weightiest aggregation of batting talent in the country. It has all of the flower of the old Detroit cannonaders, In addition to its i original battery strength of ’BB, and either aggregation was alone capable of doing ' good work with the stick. Unitted they should be able to make any pitcher nervous. | And Chicago! What about the team that has since the close of its last championship race encircled the globe in one of the most ! memorable trips in the history of celebrated tours, and which has brought almost as many championship pennants to the Lake City as the other teams combined have taken away from it? Some changes have been made in it since last October. Baldwin. Daly, Sullivan, and Pettit have been | let go, and no new talent other than that 1 engared last fall has been secured. President Spalding, however, is of the opinion that none will be wanted. The absence of Williamson, of course, is being felt, and no i matter who Anson may put in his place the ' team will not play its best ball until the great short stop recovers from the injuries he received at Paris and rejoins his fellow players. He is in New York still uuder medical treatment and Ryan is meantime playing short quite creditably. The changes in the pitching rules and Williamson’s absence worried the team not a little in the opening games of the season In the opening series at Indianapolis. Pittsburg and Cleveland, the boys lost a majority of the games they played, but upon reaching Chicago, for a series of four games with Pittsburg they braced up in a style that clearly showed what was in them, although they lost the first game of the four to “the Zulus,” winning the remaining three with a margin that pretty well established their superiority in team work, batting and fielding. Duffy. Ryan, and Van Haltren are the regular outfield, and will play there so soon as Williamson resumes work or some one can be temporarily secured to take his place. The team’s pitchers are young but are showing up remarkably, and promise to make records in the box this year that will advance their individual reputations and materially increase the chances ot the team in the pennant race. The fight is now fairly under way and promises to grow more interesting with each succeeding week of the season. CHICAGO TBAM NOTES. George Van Hultren has developed into a great outfielder nnd reliable batsman. Hugh Duffy is the funny man of the Chicago team this year. He is also a great little ball-player. Anson and his team are now playing ball on Eastern soil They will not play in Chij cago again until June 1.

More next week,

HARRY PALMER.