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The Momentous 1901 Baseball Season
Commences To-Day

Another spring is upon us, another football season is winding down, and with that, another baseball season begins.

It has been a momentous winter, replete with changes that have altered the very League itself. Among them, our newly crowned King has graciously consented to lend one of his titles to our League Cup, and we could not be more honoured and pleased. Add to that the official recognition that the very best players will receive for their achievements, and it is clear that the credibility and importance of the sport of baseball is growing by leaps and bounds in Great Britain, and indeed throughout the Empire. We shall dare to say that as the nineteenth century belonged to American baseball, so will the twentieth century belong to the baseball of the British Empire.

In the First Division, the top clubs will likely be Bolton and Newcastle United, closely trailed by a cluster consisting of Sunderland, Stoke, and Burslem Port Vale. The pitching of the Wanderers have become the equal of that of United, by dint of their front line strength. The top three Bolton starters (Scott, Fulton, Peace) are all among the best five in the entire League, and while the Magpies also have four top starters of their own (Morgan, James, Magill, Phillips), only Jesse Morgan, the strike out artist on course to become the greatest pitcher in the history of the British game to date, matches up with Bolton’s best three. Add to that the superior attack of the Wanderers at the plate, and one must conclude that Bolton are the clear favourites to repeat as champions, and be the first to hoist the Emperor of India Cup.

Keep an eye, too, on Pat Hodgson, Burslem Port Vale’s young slugging right fielder and the heir apparent to Alistair Bolton’s top flight home run crown. Mr. Hodgson has been smacking the ball quite sharply in spring practices, and has cultivated a lift in his batting style that should carry more hits over fences than in seasons past.

Speaking of young Mr. Bolton —he of the power stroke unparalleled by anyone in history and perhaps the world —his being unfortunately saddled with terrible team talent has sunk him and his mates to the Second Division. He should benefit from feasting on inferior pitching, but will also be challenged by longer pitches and higher fences, so it is anybody’s guess as to how that will affect his homer totals.

Also in the Second Division, trained eyes are on the new entrants from London: Fulham and Clapton Orient, champions of the surprisingly skilled Central League. No Lancashire League this, the Central has housed the very best teams from the south for some years now. The execrable Woolwich Arsenal club notwithstanding, all the while our League have been slow to adopt the southern teams, the latter have coalesced into their own strong loop that many feel is the superior of the Baseball League’s lower division and perhaps even the equal of the top flight. While nominally professional, they are in reality the most advanced university influenced league in the country. No one south of Birmingham would be surprised to see the new London entrants run the table and land in the top flight for 1902.