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1913 Baseball League Starts To-Day

April is on the wane, May is nigh, and with it comes another season of baseball, this being the twenty-sixth programme of the Baseball League.

There can no longer be any doubt as to the popularity of baseball in England. The lean years are in the throes of passing, and what troubles the selectors of available baseballers to-day is not to fill out a squad worthy of a campaign but to find enthusiastic believers in different systems of tactics to combine into an organized team. Moreover, the game has an increasing following of spectators, probably as large as is desirable. For all that is wanted is sufficient financial support to meet disbursements as necessary; there should be enough money to maintain the ground and accessories in the condition demanded by the game at its best and provide adequate accommodation for those who wish to look on. Few clubs in the League, probably no more than three, are wanting in their finances and in any danger of winding up.

It is in these conditions that the baseball season commences with all expectation of delivering a rousing entertainment for the man who wishes to pay his tanner and be repaid with a good time had at the ground. The Liverpool club are, again, the team for all to beat for the championship and the Cup. Bolton will be there in the mix again. Three other interesting clubs to follow will be Chesterfield Town, Everton and Chelsea. The first listed has leapt up two levels in two years and it would not surprise many to see them play the Cup tie in September, as they have the reigning Second Division Baseballer of the Year Gilbey and the great Hendry on attack, and pitchers Winn and Mr. Bridgeman helming the moundsmen. The latter two will be relying on the leadership of British players with American experience in hand: Chelsea welcome Armstrong “Klondike” Smith, erstwhile Liverpool Red, back to League ball, while Everton welcome Ned Crompton, a native Merseysider with scant major league and somewhat more minor league experience in North America. But even the minor leagues of America are the better of the British game at this time, so we should expect nothing less than a sterling performance from Crompton by dint of that alone.

In the second division, a free-for-all fight is likely to ensue at the top of the table, and the list of competitors should include South Shields, Coventry City, Bury, Lincoln City, Blackburn, Oldham Athletic, and Grimsby Town. All of these teams have something to recommend them for promotion, and it would surprise us if at least one of the listed clubs were not playing in the top tier for 1914.