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Prospects for the New Season.

After many trial matches, and a great amount of work in the re-organization of teams by means of trades, transfers, and diligent search for young and unattached players—hard work which is often not realized by the spectators—the Baseball League season will be begun in real earnest on Monday.

Almost fifty years on, Baseball has indeed become a most thrilling game. One stroke will often change the whole trend of play. A home run with men on the bases may make of a deficit a handsome lead. The game has been carried to a high degree of perfection. That is to be seen not only in the terrific hitting over long distances, the pitching with its cunning swerves and tremendous speed, the quick fielding, and the long and accurate returns of the ball from the outfield—but also in the codes of signals given by pitcher or catcher, or by the coach on the sideline where he has a place of his own marked off. Each player knows thereby what is likely to happen and is therefore on alert. The catcher faces the pitcher throwing his hardest with only a head mask, a huge chest protector, and an enormous glove on his left hand. He passes few balls that the batsmen miss. The batsman has no protection save his club. The big batters appear when the bases are well filled and the chance is offered to drive in several runs with a great hit. They can be drafted in at an emergency as a "pinch" batsmen, even though they did not appear at the start of the game. So, too, if the pitcher is off colour or “blows up”, as they say, he may be called off and a fresh man sent out to take his place. That is readily understood when the effort demanded in pitching is noted, for he may easily strain his arm or shoulder, and then he is of little use, and few pitchers can last through a whole game. It is a system that adherents of other top British sports, such as football or cricket, cannot altogether appreciate. To play the game really well requires great skill, constant practice, and thorough fitness, and also a quiet and unruffled temperament. The realization and understanding of all this is in itself the reward for the devotion to the sport of baseball that the most ardent of supporters profess, and practise.

In the top level of British baseball, Oldham Athletic start at the head of the championship, having last year managed to deprive Crewe Alexandra of the chance to repeat their triumph. Coventry City and Preston North End have gone down into the Second Division for the coming season, Watford and Leicester City having been promoted to take their place. Watford is now the third London club to play their way into the senior competition of late, following Fulham who had made the grade the season prior. The Arsenal and Derby County, as the two bottom clubs in the Second Division, go down, and Leeds United, winners of the Northern Section, and West Ham United, winners of the Southern Section, are promoted to the Second Division beginning this season.

The Arsenal were actually level on record with Bradford Park Avenue, but even though they were also level on runs scored, the Arsenal conceded a full 51 runs more runs than Bradford, and so they draw the short straw and will play their trade in the lowest level of the League. The Arsenal were actually well advantaged going into the last two weeks with a five game lead over Bradford, but lost nine of their last 13 to fall level, and then to lose out based on runs difference. It was only the latest galling development in the chequered history of the Gunners team. The club has clearly had much greater success on the football pitch, even despite their performance in recent seasons, than on the baseball pitch.

Two new proposals have been made during the close season. One will be that of the numbering of the players, to take effect immediately. It is a development that is generally welcomed. Numbers for baseball are not as necessary—for the enjoyment of the spectators—as they are in Rugby Football, but there are occasions when it is not easy to tell who it is coming to the bat. The League will become the first baseball organisation in the world to mandate the numbering of players.

The adoption of the other proposal, that of maintaining bright white baseballs during play at all times, has been tabled for one more year and will be begun for the 1928 season. This law change was prompted by the serious injury to Simeon Beckett of Huddersfield Town, who was hit in the temple with a pitch last May 25 and spent the ensuing three months in hospital hovering near death. In America, Ray Chapman, of the Cleveland Indians, was killed by a pitched ball in 1920 which led to the adoption of a new ball law in the major leagues. The safety of batsmen notwithstanding, objections by numerous clubs, particularly those in the Third Division, centred on the great expense of providing numerous baseballs, perhaps several dozen during each match. The delay of one year was agreed to as a compromise to assuage their concerns and to allow them to properly budget for the expense.

On the pitch, the spring practice sessions saw the strong return of the Walsall club to previous form, and they won the Portugal competitions among the First Division clubs. Elcock and Ramsey look as excellent as ever, and their keenest competition appears to come from Newcastle United, who seek to cap a decade long slog from the depths of the Second Division back to the top of the championship, as they were so often at the beginning of this Century. They are led by the pitching duo of Long and Hall, the former approaching the end of the fairly good career, and the latter quite possibly the best pitcher in the League these days, still young at age 26 and in the prime of his athletic prowess.

As for the Second Division, despite their weak showing in Portugal, the strongest side appears to be Sunderland who were exiled for the past season and look sharp enough to make their way back into the top flight. They will have to beat the likes of Liverpool, who are trying to return to the First Division for the first time since 1921, and Preston North End, who dropped down this past season. In the Third Division, the strongest sides appear to be Doncaster and Stockport County in the Northern Section, and Birmingham, Portsmouth, and Tottenham Hotspur in the Southern Section.