“ The mere fact that club owners and leagues were so willing to adopt a system better than its predecessor wholly confutes the absurd assertions of the radical element that there is no consideration shown for the player.
To the contrary, every consideration has been shown to the player, but the latter must not confound with the consideration shown to him the idea that his interests are the only interests at stake in Base Ball. The man who is willing to furnish the sinews of war has as good standing in court as the player who furnishes the base hits and the phenomenal catches. ”

“ But if it were necessary to advance an argument as to the integrity of the sport and the high class of the men who are engaged in the summer season in playing professional Base Ball, there could be nothing better to prove that the price of victory is the one great consideration, greater than the fact of Philadelphia's success against a team which was a strong contender against that which finally won the championship. ”

“ Never threatening to become a championship winning team Boston played steadily with what strength it possessed and always a little better than in 1911, so that the year could not fairly be considered unsuccessful at its finish.
Going back to the beginning of the year and looking over the contest for the National League championship of 1912, it is not uninteresting, indeed it is of much interest to call attention to the remarkably odd record which was made by New York to win the pennant. In that record stands the story of the fight, with striking shifts from week to week. ”

“ The president of the National League complimented Manager McGraw in public upon the excellent conduct of his team upon the field and the players deserved the approbation of the league's chief executive.
The general work of the Pittsburgh team throughout the year was good. It must have been good to have enabled the players to finish second in the championship contest, but the team, speaking in the broadest sense, seemed to be just good enough not to win the championship. As one man dryly but graphically put it: "Pittsburgh makes me think of a wedding cake without the frosting." ”

“ The new president of the club has had practical experience in Base Ball and perhaps plenty of it, as almost everybody has had in Washington, but he is a wideawake, progressive and ambitious man, who is of just the type to keep Base Ball going, now that it has struck its gait in the national capital, and the future of the sport looks all the brighter for his connection with it. ”

“ Wise in the lore of the game, a man more of the future than of the present, as he always foresaw that which some of his contemporaries were less alert in perceiving, it meant no easy task to be his successor.
Prior to the death of Mr. Brush there was a great deal of curious and some idle speculation as to his ultimate successor in case of decease, or, in the event of his retirement because of bodily weariness. One or two went so far as to say that upon his death Andrew Freedman would return to prominence in Base Ball, because he was the real owner of the New York club. ”

“ Unlimited satisfaction must be had by all who are connected with Base Ball over the greatly improved conditions by which the season of 1913 is begun under the new National Agreement. While it perhaps might be exaggerated boastfulness to affirm that Base Ball, as a professionally organized sport, has attained perfection, it is not out of reason— indeed, quite within reason—to observe that Base Ball never had such a well balanced and perfect organization as that by which it is regulated at the present time. ”

“ Misfortune and ill luck always attaches itself in a minor degree to every team which engages in a championship contest, but most assuredly Philadelphia had more of its share of reverses through accidents to players and illness than any team of the National League. ”

“ Two tie games were played and the confusion and inconvenience it caused the fans was deplorable. It is unjust to the followers who support Base Ball. It is also unjust, in a small way, to the club which has to play two or more games on its opponent's field. Players when away from their home grounds, in a fall series, are more or less under a nervous strain. If there was confusion, inconvenience and difficulty in a local series as a result of a tie game, the folly of the arrangement must appear more absurd when towns like New York and Boston are involved. ”

“ It is true that improvements can be made. It is evident that there are still commercialized owners not over capitalized with a spirit of sport. It is undeniable that there are ball players not imbued with a high tone of the obligations, which they owe to their employers and to the public, but it is as certain as the existence of the game that progress has been made, and that it has not ceased to move forward. ”

“ The Chicago team always was a puzzle to all parties to the race, including itself.
From the outset there was almost no hope for the other four teams in the league. Cleveland and Detroit occasionally broke into the upper circles for a day or two in the early weeks of the season, but not far enough to rouse any false anticipations among their supporters. St. Louis and New York quickly gravitated to the lower strata and remained there, the Yankees finally losing out in their battle with the Browns to keep out of last place. ”

“ BY THE REV. CHRISTIAN F. REISNER, NEW YORK.
The Bible is the Spalding book of rules for the game of life. James B. Sullivan, beloved by all athletes, gave me these rules for athletes: "Don't drink, use tobacco or dissipate. Go to bed early and eat wholesome food!" The boozer gets out of the game as certainly as the bonehead.
I have interviewed scores of the most noted players. Every one had a religious training. Many are church members. All avoid old-time drinking, as our fathers did smallpox. ”

“ All season Stahl's men were known as a lucky ball team. Delving into the files for the dope, revealed the fact that the newspaper reports of about every third game they played on the average contained some reference to "Boston's luck." This does not detract anything from their glory. No team ever won a major league pennant unless it was lucky. No team ever had as steady a run of luck as Boston enjoyed in 1912, unless that team made a lot of its own luck by persistently hammering away when luck was against it and keeping ever on the alert to take advantage of an opening. ”

“ DAMON RUNYON, The New York American.
"A change in the rules regarding world series games would he fairer to the patrons of the sport. Here in Chicago this past fall two ties were played and, as a result, there was considerable confusion over the ticket arrangements. How much more is the case when two cities are involved? A condition which allows five games to be played in one city and only three in another is scarcely fair to the two teams. By making a schedule calling for alternate games in each city, irrespective of ties, everybody—fans and players—would get an even break." ”

“ As for the argument for not playing off a tie game on the same grounds, thus disarranging the dates and inconveniencing the fans, patrons of the world's series games are accustomed to this, since bad weather frequently cuts into the event and causes postponements.
"In a way it does not appear fair that one club should have the privilege of playing five games at home to three games at home for its opponents. The rule of playing off a tie game on the same grounds is a fixture in Base Ball. ”

“ Measured by scale and tape, our athlete's are not so much superior as a class. The theory of 'more beef' must be discarded. We may not lay claim to having all the best trainers of the world. We must look to some other source for American prowess.
"I may be a prejudiced judge, but I believe the whole secret of these continued successes is to be found to the kind of training that comes with the playing of America's national game, and our competitors in other lands may never hope to reach the standard of American athletes until they learn this lesson and adopt our pastime. ”

“ William H. Locke is the new president and part owner of the Philadelphia club. He and Mr. Hempstead are the "junior" presidents of the league. There is no necessity for the Editor of the GUIDE to enter into any long and fulsome praise as to William H. Locke.
His career speaks for itself and he speaks for himself. A young man of the finest attributes, he has brought nothing to the mill of Base Ball to grind except that which was the finest and the cleanest grain. ”

“ As a general rule it may be taken for granted that the players of the major leagues can take care of themselves. That is to say, their positions, if they are expert in their calling, and conscientious in their deportment, really take care of them.
No club owner, unless he is maliciously or foolishly inclined, will jeopardize the interests of his team by acting in a wilfully unjust manner toward a player who is cheerfully and uprightly offering his services. ”

“ Eliot, former president of Harvard, who recently returned from a trip around the world, holds that Base Ball has done more to humanize and civilize the Chinese than any influence which has been introduced by foreigners, basing his statement on the fact that the introduction of the sport among the younger Chinese has exerted a tremendous restraint upon their gambling propensities.
It is a rather queer fact that where the civilizations are older in the countries of the Occident there is a greater tendency to gamble, especially among the young, than there is in the newer America. ”

“ The training of Base Ball may not go back quite that far, but it approaches the time as nearly as practicable, for America starts training of future Olympian winners very early in life. Youngsters not yet big enough to attend school begin quickening their eyesight and sharpening their wits and strengthening their hands and arms and legs by playing on base ball fields ready at hand in the meadows of farms, the commons of villages and the parks of cities all over the land. Base ball combines running, jumping, throwing and everything that constitutes the athletic events of the Olympian games. ”

“ Since drawn games are treated like postponed games in the regular season, and are of infrequent occurrence in world's series, any other arrangement than the present does not seem advisable. The patrons, who should be considered always, would be among the first to object if each team did not have an equal show to win. In the last series only four games that counted were played in Boston and three in New York and if New York had won the toss for the deciding game the situation would have been reversed. It would be manifestly fairer to play the seventh game if necessary in some neutral city. ”

“ One of these days it may be its province to report a series for the international championship, and then Base Ball will have become the universal game of the world, a place toward which it is rapidly tending. ”

“ Thus, while it is always probable that some players may receive more than others, based upon their preponderance of skill, it is now a fact that two-thirds of the major league ball players of the present day owe their handsome salaries to the system which John T. Brush so earnestly urged and for which he fought against odds which would have daunted a man with less fixity of purpose. ”