[chucksabr]

1911 Season Starts To-Day!

May Day has arrived! To some May Day is redolent of the crowning of May Queens and dances around maypoles; to those of a socialist bent it is a celebration of labour. But this year, May Day falls on Monday, and the first Monday of May means that the Baseball League season commences to-day, May Day!

These are exciting times for the League, as new clubs are becoming ascendant to sprinkle more interest in the professional game around the island. Liverpool have had a firm hold on one of the slots in the EOI Cup ties of the last four years, winning three of them, and of course will be a strong contender to return in 1911. However, they are not guaranteed a position there, and besides Tottenham, who are the current Cup holders, the strongest sides look to be Crewe Alexandra, Port Vale, Sunderland and Blackburn. Crewe are especially an interesting side, as they play in a rather small but baseball mad town who have been among the best supporters of any team in the game, even when languishing in the nether regions of the second level since coming into the League with that division. They have been in the top flight for three seasons now, and although they finished 20 lengths out last year, that was still good enough for third. They expect to rely on their pitching, likely the best in today’s game, whilst counting on their newly signed first baseman Ernie Turrell to supply much needed power on attack to help young and improving short stop Sam Polson on that side of the ball.

The second level expects to be equally crowded at the top of the table where, based on the spring friendlies played for the first time this season, the best clubs appear to be newly arrived Lincoln City, Glossop, Bury, Sheffield Wednesday, Derby County and recently relegated Stoke.