The Topeka state journal. [volume], July 04, 1904, Last Edition, Image 8

About The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980

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a.
The Evil.- of Double Hedery
BASEBALL
i
I 11
Foul Strike and Other Topics
Ml
rAJOR league baseball author
ities have been making
strong efforts to do away
with the pernicious double
header- The playing of two games of
ball for one admission is a practice
that dictators in minor leagues have
frequently abused, and it is to the
credit of the larger organizations that
they show a desire to reduce these cut
rate contests to a minimum.
President Barney Dreyfuss of the
Pittsburg Nationals recently took un
usual means to avoid the playing of a
double header in St. Louis. He char
tered a special train at a cost of $1,000
and arranged with a railroad to make
a special schedule between Pittsburg
and St. Louis in order that his team
could reach the latter city to play a
postponed game on an off day instead
of two the next day.
Double Header Cheapens Baseball.
The double header cheapens baseball
considerably. If two games were fre
quently played for one admission many
followers of baseball would not pat
ronise it except on such days when
they could get a cut rate.
The suggestion has been made from
time to time that whenever the neces
sity for two games in one day arises
one of them should be played in the
morning and one in the afternoon.
Managers have proved loath to adopt
thi3 scheme, because the total receipts
of both games seldom amount to half
the amount taken in at a double header.
Then, again, some of the critics sug
gested that postponed games be played
after the close of the championship
season, which proposition also failed to
gain favor.
The Present Method.
Probably the best plan, after all, is
to continue along the lines followed at
present to play off delayed games at
the first convenient moment after the
first series of games has been played.
Major league teams do not, as a rule,
play double headers with any club dur
ing the first series of games.
In one of the baseball associations a
prominent club opened the season with
a double header. Here was a case in
which the game was deliberately
cheapened in order to draw a large
crowd. The manager of the team in
question should have received a se
vere rebuke. Perhaps before the cam
The International
THE WORLD
Dick Sheldc n Kie!y,
THE American college world is
greatly interested in the com
ing international athletic con
tests to be held in London.
As has been the custom in years past,
Yale and Harvard men are to compete
against the stars of Oxford and Cam
bridge, the two leading universities of
Great Britain.
V'- ..1 i V
JOHN HINES, WELL KNOWN WEIGHT THROWER.
HInes is a member of the Star A. C. of Greater New York. He is the junior
metropolitan champion weight thrower and will compete at St. Louis in the
voild s fair games.
paign closes the club will be offering
red and green trading stamps to every
ticket purchaser, with the privilege of
a free admission on the presentation of
six of the coupons.
The Foul Strike Rule.
The foul strike rule has come in for
a vast amount of scoring this season,
as was the case a year ago. The chief
complaint is that it decreases the num
ber of base hits, thus robbing contests
of many interesting features. Certain
ly the fewer the men that reach first
base the smaller the number of oppor
tunities for exciting situations. The
one feature of the game that appeals
to scores of "fans" is good batting.
Handicap batsmen, and the game loses
interest. ,
Moreover, the pitchers of today are
more effective than ever. Twirling sci
ence has made great advances, and the
' 1 1,1 1 "' ""7
ill ' ' . ; IHI : u y;V.
WEST, A SPEEDY YOUNG WESTERN CANDIDATE FOR THE
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TROTTING STAKE AT DETROIT.
The Chamber of Commerce stake is to be competed for at the first meeting
of the grand circuit, which opens July 25 at Detroit.
Games, July 20
sf ATHLETICS
the Irish Champion
The Yale-Harvard stars have been
preparing for the meet for several
weeks. The date set for the athletic
carnival, July 20, has given them ample
time. Still, a college athlete does not
require a great deal of effort to bring
him into shape for competition at this
time of the year, because he is invaria
bly in condition, owing to the fact that
s
S ' i f'Jc
4-
batsman's task has been made even
more difficult. By giving the pitchers
the advantage of the foul strike rule
they have contests almost entirely un
der their control.
Low Score Games Tire "Fans."
There is nothing more tiresome to a
spectator than a game in which only
one or two runs are tallied. True, such
games show scientific work and high
class baseball, yet the elements that
go to make baseball the national game
are lacking. What nine out of ten peo
ple wish to see are good stops of diffi
cult grounders and good catches, base
running and good team work. By put
ting the game into the hands of one
player, the pitcher, the dictators have
robbed the "fans" of many exhibitions
of fast play.
In the end the foul strike rule will
bring about a deterioration of infield
and outfield playing. Men that cover
the bases, having less to do, will not
keep themselves in top notch form, and
the outfielders will find their hardest
job that of staying awake.
Unless the rulers of the big leagues
get together at the close of the season
and repeal the foul strike rule a great
deal of , dissatisfaction is certain to
arise. From present indications it can
be safely predicted that the obnoxious
regulation will not be found In the rule
book next year.
The Umpire's New Burden.
The poor umpire has another bur
den. President Pulliam of the National
league has ordained that each member
of the much abused tribe shall carry
a whisk broom to be used to brush off
5 . S
generally all the important meets are
held in May and June.
The Last International Meet.
The last contest between the repre
sentatives of these universities occur
red two years ago at Berkeley oval, in
the outskirts of New York city. The
Americans won the majority of points
handily. Only in the long distance
running were we . outclassed. In the
sprints, jumps and particularly in the
weight events we had our own way.
England has always been famous for
her long distance runners. Americans,
nor representatives of any other nation,
have the slightest chance to defeat the
Britishers in events of a mile or over.
It is not strange that our boys prove
to be superior in the manipulation of
the shot and the hammer. These
events have been developed to their
highest state of perfection on this side,
and in many English colleges weight
and hammer competition is practically
an unknown quantity.
Feeble Weight Throwers.
The attempts of the Englishmen at
Berkeley oval were ridiculous. They
could send the hammer barely half the
distance covered by the swing of the
Americans, and in the shot put no tape
measure was required to determine
which country had won. All that re
mained to do was to figure the number
of yards the English throws were
short.
The men picked by Yale and Harvard
include several intercollegiate cham
pionship winners and men of interna
tional reputation.
In nearly every event each of the col
leges names one man.
The American Contestants.
Yale and Harvard have nominated
Torrey and Schick, respectively, for the
100 yard dash. In the half mile Young
of Harvard and Parsons of Yale will
compete for Uncle Samuel. The one
mile run will bring out Olcott and Hill
of Yale. King and Colwell of Harvard
are to represent us in the two mile
run. The redoubtable Clapp and the
flying Bird of Harvard will be seen in
the 120 yard hurdle, while Murphy of
Harvard and Victor of Yale may be
victors in the high jump. The broad
Jump event will be well taken care .of
by Sheffield of Yale and Hayes of Har
vard. America Should Win.
A perusal of the list of American
competitors shows that we may feel
reasonably confident of scoring another
triumph over the Britishers. No one
in England can defeat either Schick or
Torrey in the hundred. We should
corral the points for first and second
places. Schick should win, with Tor
rey a close second.
In the one-twenty hurdle Clapp
should have an easy win. He is the
best man in this country in a hurdle of
this distance. The one and two mile
runs must be conceded to England,
while the broad and high Jumps are
uncertain.
The hammer throw and the quarter
mile race will In all probability be cap
tured by Yale and Harvard. Young
and Parsons ought to "pull down" the
half mile run handily.
Of course the fact that the competi
tions are to be held in England mili
tates against us to some extent. The
difference in food, climate and water
the home plate when occasion requires.
Formerly a broom was used by each
club, but since McCarthy of the Chica
go Nationals stepped on a broom while
running for the plate in a recent game
and sprained his ankle the day of the
long handled variety is past.
The brooms In question have some
times been the cause of trouble. On
one occasion Catcher Jack Warner of
the New Tork Nationals and Hans
Wagner, the star Pittsburg shortstop,
almost came to blows because Jack
wanted the broom laid to the right side
of the plate and Wagner thought it
should be placed to the left. Like many
other ball players, Wagner and Warner
believe in a sort of half superstitious
way that the position of the broom has
an influence on the game.
League Leaders.
Fielder Davy Jones of Chicago leads
the American league in sacrifice hits.
He has made more than twenty to
date. Heidrick leads the American
league in stolen bases. This speedy
runner has fifteen purloined sacks to
his credit. HARRY GRANT.
A NEW VIOLINIST.
American concert goers may as well
prepare for a sensation next season,
for Franz von Vecsey is said to be
planning to visit us. Continental Eu
rope and recently England has gone
wild over his playing, and it will be re
markable if the United States does not
yield to what, according to all reports,
is the most remarkable exhibition of
musical genius the modern concert
world has known.
Von Vecsey is a Hungarian lad who
is now only eleven years old. His fa
ther is a prosperous citizen of Buda
pest and a fairly skilled amateur on
the violin. The mother is musical, be
ing a clever pianist.
The boy showed marked talent for
the violin when only four years of age.
His father instructed him, but four
years later turned him over to Hubay,
the composer and violinist. He has
now been in Hubay's charge for three
years, and he recently has set all Ger
many, Austria and Hungary agog by
his performances. In Berlin alone he
gave ten recitals, and his receipts were
virtually unparalleled in the musical
history of the German capital. It ap
pears that there is no question as to
the boy's unqualified genius. Joachim
is reported as having said of him, "I
am seventy-two years old, but never
in my life did I ever hear the like or
believe it possible."
The little Franz has given four re
citals in London and has played in the
course of these Vieuxtemps' first con
certo and ballade and polonaise, Bach's
G minor sonata, Tartini's "Trillo del
Diavolo," Paganini's concerto in D and
Mendelssohn's concerto. In reviewing
the third concert a London newspaper
says:
"Vieuxtemps' first concerto opened
the programme yesterday, so that the
boy's technical opportunities began at
the outset. They -were grasped, of
course, with marvelous ease, and the
close of an exciting work found the
player fresh and unexhausted. One re
gretted that the music in itself, apart
MRS. FISKE AND HER PLANS.
Mrs. Fiske, America's greatest actress, is planning an interesting series of
revivals for next season. She will open in September at the Manhattan theater.
New York, with a brilliant revival of Mr. Langdon Mitchell's comedy, "Becky
Sharp," which was presented by Mrs. Fiske at the Fifth Avenue theater. New
Yrk, several years ago. The cast of that production was regarded at the time as
particularly strong, but it is hoped to give an even more notable representation.
"Becky Sharp" will be followed for a brief term by Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler," which
was given with signal success for a week early in the past season, but which it
was impossible to continue then for a longer period. A play by C. M. S. McLellan,
whose title has not yet been selected, will probably be the first new production
of the Manhattan's season. It is described as a play of remarkable originality,
novelty and dramatic interest. Maeterlinck's "Monna Vanna" also will be given,
with a beautiful fifteenth century setting and in accordance with the author's
Ideas and directions. Ibsen's "Rosmersholm" will be presented, too, and it is
likely that another Ibsen play that has never been done in this country will be
included in the season's offerings.
invariably affects athletes in training.
Then, too, the six days on shipboard
stiffen their muscles, no matter how
much time Is spent in exercise on the
deck of the steamer. But the Yale
Harvard cracks will soon become accli
mated, and when the day of the con
tests comes to hand they will be found
ready to run and Jump as though their
lives were at stake.
Were the approaching games open
to members of Aifierican college teams
other than those of Yale and Harvard
our chances of victory would be mate
rially increased. In that case Williams
and De Witt of Princeton, Hahn of
Michigan, the sensational sprinter, and
V 'V- - a.-n ' .
' " y h I -
JIMMY RYAN, FAMOUS BALL PLAYER, WHO MAY AGAIN
ENTER THE GAME.
Ryan was at one time one of the leading outfielders. He is reported to be
considering an offer from an American league club to play first base. Ryan is
now in Chicago, where his friends are legion. If he does not don a uniform
once more he will be made manager of one of the teams under control of the
National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, of which Pat Powers is
president.
Jimmy Ryan began playing with the Chicago Nationals in 1886, when Anson
bought his release in the east and put him into direct competition with such
men as Dalrymple, Gore, Mike Kelly and Billy Sunday, Anson's brother-in-law.
That year Ryan played 84 games and was at bat 327 times, securing 58
runs and 100 hits and stealing 10 bases. Regarded later as one of the surest
judges of a fly ball and with a splendid throwing arm, he clinched his position
and the next year, in 126 games, ranked eighteenth in batting, with such names
ahead of his as Anson, Brouthers, Ferguson, Darling, Thompson, Kelly, Ward,
Williamson, Fogarty. Richardson, Bennett, Rowe and Sunday, the speed of the
last named bringing him many a hit. In 1887 Ryan was at bat 566 times, scoring
117 runs and making 198 hits and stealing 50 bases. From then on to the time
Jim Hart let him go to St. Paul in a minor league Ryan was a fixture in the old
White Stocking outfield.
from its value as a means of display,
had not greater worth. Still Vieux
temps knew how to pile up difficulties
for the violinist, and in their surmount
ing lies a certain interest for the lis
tener. "An adagio and a fugue by Bach were
the next pieces in the list. Both were
unaccompanied and so calculated to
expose the weaknesses of a less re
A 2
Captain Kellogg of Michigan, the star
long distance runner, could be taken
over.
Dick Sheldon.
Dick Sheldon, the great Yale hammer
thrower and shot putter, is one of the
few athletes of wide prominence that
do not permit their interest in athletics
to drop after their college careers are
over.
Sheldon is now a member of the New
York Athletic club and of the Seventh
regiment of New York. At the com
petitions of these organizations he is
always one of the interesting figures
and, of course, captures the prizes In
markable performer. And yet the
fugue was quite a miracle of pointed,
masterly and intelligent playing. Of
faulty intonation, so common a failing
where, unaccompanied. Bach is con
cerned, one noted scarcely a trace. In
a word, little Vecsey carried away his
audience, and a short encore piece had
to be given before the boy was suffered
to depart."
the weight contests without much ef
fort. Sheldon is one of the .most popular
athletes in the country and is always
the center of an admiring throng. He
is without doubt the largest and stron
gest man now in competition in the
country. He enthuses at the mere
mention of the word athletics, and not
until he is ninety-eight years old and
carries a crutch will he cease to be a
competitor.
Champion Kiely's Career.
Thomas F. Kiely, the noted Irish
champion, has been the subject of
much comment since his arrival in
this country. He was brought over by
the Greater New York Irish Athletic
association to appear at St. Louis. He
has a long record. He won the all
around championship of Ireland every
year the contest was held and, in ad
dition, has broken all sorts of records.
He is the holder of no less than eighty
championships, forty records and 1,500
prizes. His record with the hammer is
151 feet 11 inches from a nine foot cir
cle. He sent the fifty-six pound weight
38 feet 11 inches with one hand, the
world's record.
FREDERICK R. TOOMBS.
HEARD IN THE WINGS.
Lotta Faust has a pretty wit, besides
a pretty face, and a pretty appetite as
Trixie in "The Wizard of Oz." She
was singing the "Johnny, I'll Take
You," song late last season when a
"full moon" was observed as the occu
pant of the "Sammy box." His head
was as innocent of hair as a billiard
ball. At the lines
You have his chair, sir;
You have his hair, .sir;
If I can't have my Sammy,
Why, Johnny, I'll take you.
Miss Faust gazed with mocked affec
tion at the smooth face and shiny pate
of the victim, who blushed from the
chin to the back of his neck as the au
dience grinned at his discomfiture.
"You must have embarrassed that
stout party," remarked Charles Mitch
ell, the stage manager, as Miss Faust
reached the wings.
"Not a bit," retorted the dainty in
genue. "Why, he never turned a hair."
AN ACTRESS HOUSEBOAT.
Mabel Barrison, who scored so em
phatic a success in "Babes In Toyland"
last season, is enjoying the summer in
a houseboat constructed especially for
her for the use of herself, her mother
and a few of her professional friends.
The boat is anchored near West Point,
on the Hudson river, and is just like
the one occupied by Miss Barrison on
the Thames during Edna May's London
engagement with "The Belle of New
York." It is two stories high, with a
veranda covered with vines and flowers,
and is equipped with all the conven
iences necessary to houseboat life.
Miss Barrison has signed a three year
contract with Hamlin & Mitchell.
THE DEADHEAD.
It is a familiar axiom among theat
rical men as well as railroad men that
"once a deadhead always a deadhead."
Permit a man to enjoy once the pecul
iarly fascinating pleasure of free seats,
and he immediately, and by the most
marvelous process of reasoning, be
comes obsessed by the conviction that
he is entitled to free seats whenever
he asks for them.- : ;- - - -
HOW A. T. WORM MADE
SOMETHING BY LOSING.
A. Toxen Worm, the press agent to
whose genius Mrs. Patrick Campbell
owed the notoriety which she found so
annoying and profitable last year, was
first employed when he came to the
United States as dramatic editor of a
Pittsburg paper. - It was the rule of
that paper that notices of actors or of
dramatic attractions were regulated In
size by the length of the advertisement
which they In
serted In its
columns.
One day the
press agent for
a traveling at
traction walked
into Mr. Worm's
office and asked
him to print
half a column
about his star.
Mr. Worm told
the press agent
the rule of the
paper.
"Yes, I know,"
said the press
agent; "but 1
want to make
a personal re
quest. I've been
out ahead of
this show two
I ll do It.'
weeks, and I
haven't made good. Tomorrow morn
ing, when the manager gets here, I ex
pect to get my discharge. Perhaps if
you'll print this long notice for me I
may hold my Job."
"All right," said Worm. "If you put
it that way I'll print your notice."
Next morning the long notice ap
peared. Before noon the press agent
called at Mr. Worm's office.
"I'm much obliged to you, Mr. Worm,
for printing that notice," he said, "but
it didn't save me. I've just been fired.
But I certainly am much obliged to
you."
"You ought to be obliged to me," an
swered Worm, "for I got fired for
printing it."
"The deuce you did!" said the press
agent. "If you would go right over to
the hotel and ask for Mr. Connor, the
manager of my company, and tell him
what you got fired for and that you are
a clever writer I shouldn't wonder If
he'd give you my job."
"I ll do it," said A. Toxen, "and I'll
give you a tip. You go right upstairs
and apply to the managing editor for
the Job of dramatic editor. I know he
wants somebody to fill my place."
The ex-press agent went up the ele
vator and applied for the job. He got
it. Then he walked over to the hotel
and found A. Toxen Worm packing his
trunk. "I landed too," said Mr. Worm.
"I'm just getting ready to start out for
Chicago ahead of this company, I like
this work much better than sitting in
an office and waiting for things to hap
pen." From such trifling and apparently
Insignificant incidents do men often get.
their start In life.
HAROLD WILCOX, THE
YOUNG GOLF CHAMPION.
Harold Hinton Wilcox, recent winner
of the metropolitan golf championship,
is now in his nineteenth year and is a
senior at St. Paul's school. Garden City,
N. Y. He is one of the youngest golf
ers that has ever won such distinction
in this country. He played throuph a
field of the finest golfers of this coun
try, winning with apparent ease. He
is tall about six feet one inch lithe
and has a very long swing. He learned
his game not from professionals, but by
"NX
taking it up as a young boy and grad
ually growing into the fine points of
the game, watching the methods of
other players.
Young Wilcox has been a member of
the Montclair (N. J.) Golf club for the
past four years and has had the chance
of playing with an excellent set of
players who are also members of that
club. He plays in a free, easy and bold
style, uses great head work and does
not seem to be disconcerted by the
play of his opponents.
Although it was apparent that he
was very nervous during the recent
tournament, nevertheless he showed
much more steadiness than any of the
experienced players against whom he
was pitted. He expects to go to Yale
this fall. The new champion Is a son
of Paul Wilcox of the Montclair Golt
club, one of the most able and one of
the best known golfers in the east.
"THE WHEAT KING."
A dramatization of "The Pit" wm
recently produced In the Apollo thea
ter, London, and was received with fa
vor. The English play is called "Th
Wheat King." The scene In the wheat
pit and the details of Curtis Jadwin's
corner in wheat were new and fasci
nating to the English audience. The
critics preferred the parts of the play
which dealt with Jadwin's business af-
fairs to those which had to do with his
wife. As one paper said. "Lovers arc
an old, old story, but the financial deal
ings of Curtis Jadwin are new to the
stage and as fascinating as they are
puzzling."
FROHMAN'S NEW PLAYS.
Among the plays secured abroad by
Charles Frohman are "The Gallant
King," "The Third Moon," "La Man
taneier" and "The Sorceress." Mr.
Frohman has also engaged some fifty
Parisian dancers who appeared in "The.
Schoolgirl" at Daly's theater. New
York, - . . .
iW