[chucksabr]

The 1892 Season is Here—Now TWO Divisions
in The League to Follow!

The joy that is following the exploits of the Baseball League is now greater by three-fourths again. With twenty-eight clubs to mind versus the prior sixteen, the interest level in both the League and in base ball should be much more palpable, as now any one of the clubs can rise to the top of the top flight within two years. The Baseball Alliance was a fine brand of game while it was around, to be sure, but as the denizens of the Champs-Élysées might say, it had none of the “cachet” the League confers upon its member clubs and its attendant proceedings.

Not that the Second Division are a pile of horse manure, either. The base ball being played there, as mentioned earlier, was all well and good, and the champions of last year’s Alliance, the Foresters of Nottingham, should acquit themselves quite nicely in the First Division this year. But as the Alliance, per se, the product was perceived as rather second-rate.

But as the Second Division of the Baseball League start up on Friday, we shall thrill to the exploits of new baseballers such as “Speedy” Edward McCready of the Blues of Everton, Danny Thompson of the Lincoln City Imps, and Cornelius Gilbert of the Burton Swifts; and on the mound, Charles Grundy of the Vics of Northwich Victoria will surely dazzle with his “stuff”, his control and his movement, but don’t keep Abe Walker of Grimsby Town and Elias Hampton of the freshly-relegated Small Heath club far from mind.

The biggest story to follow will be the efforts of the Everton Blues to regain position in the first level which they’d lost three years back. As bad as the Reds of Accrington are to-day, it is difficult to remind oneself that Everton were in quite the same boat in ’89, albeit without the public dramatics of its front office and managerial staff. A keen eye will be kept on them and their quest.

Lest we forget, there is another division to mind: that of The First. The Villans aim to rule it for at least as long as did the Clarets of Burnley, and will get stiff competition from the aforementioned newly-arrived Foresters and their mainstay neighbours the Magpies of Notts County. Expect runs on the title from the Black Cats of Sunderland and Wolves of Wolverhampton as well.

We continue to mourn the waste of talent in Derby that is Vivian Mad Dash Sharp, still the best player in the League, and Brandon Phillips, certainly the best young pitcher in the League as well. With the waste of human flesh that surround them, one should not be surprised to see these two fine players regrettably drummed out of the top flight come September, and perhaps out of the League in two years. If there is a way young Joe Hulland, chairman of the Rams, can be shamed into putting an effort into placing a competent all-around product onto the pitch, please post us forthwith, and we promise we will follow through on the tactic with gusto.