Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 137, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 June 1914 — WILL BASEBALL DIAMOND STARS REPEAT? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WILL BASEBALL DIAMOND STARS REPEAT?

Can last year’s diamond luminaries repeat, or will a new constellation' hold the public eye during this season’s pennant race? This is the burning question of the hour. Judging from the early season

performances, moßt of the old guard will be right on the job when the. safe lick means the game or the bases are loaded and the count is three and two. The list changes just a little every year. Some veteran who has been the

idol of fans falls by the wayside and one of the great army of debutants steps into the vacant niche. Among last year’s number, however, there is none who is in danger of being displaced. Cobb, the kingpin of them all, is tearing around the paths at the same blinding pace, but his batting is not up to standard yet. Matty will have tittle difficulty in making the sluggers swing at his slow one and expects to stand them all on their heads in the next world’s series. Plank, the wonderful portsider of Connie Mack’s White Elephants, was the pitching sensation of last year’s world’B series and bids fair to. repeat this year. Plank has been in the ghme longer than any other southpaw, and will probably be the first of the 1913 list to leave the big show. As for Honus Wagner, he is just a little slower, maybe, on hard-hit ground balls, but the eagle eye and the big mitts are still at the old stand, and it will take a sulphuric smash to penetrate the Pirates’ short field while he is playing his position. If Tris Speaker’s record-breaking salary doesn’t go to his head he should shine as brightly as ever in the Red Sox roster, both at bat and in the field. Joe Jackson, the Big Dipper of the Cleveland Naps, has youth in his favor coupled with a desire to beat Ty Cobb. There is little doubt of his staying among the leaders. Walter Johnson still burns them across the dish with the same old snap and zing. Then, too, there are Eddie Collins apd Frank Baker of the Athletics; Milan and Joe Boehling of the Senators, Reb Russell of the White Sox, Archer of the Cubs, Demaree of the Giants, Daubert of Brooklyn, Evers and Maranville of Boston, and all the other sparkles in the big league diamond. \

Eddie Plank, Veteran Pitcher of Athletics

Christy Mathewson of Giants.