needs no compilation of fact nor any dogmatic assertion on the part of
the Editor of the GUIDE to attest that fact. It is a present condition
which speaks for itself. The general tone of the players is far higher
than it was and there has come into evidence a marked improvement in the
spirit of the men who own Base Ball clubs. In the earlier history of the
sport there was a tendency to win by any means that did not actually
cross the line of dishonesty. Later there came a season when the
commercial end of the game tended to encroach upon the limits of the
pastime. This has been repressed in the last two seasons and to-day the
morale of Base Ball is of a higher type than it ever has been in the
history of the pastime.

It is a high class sport in the main, managed by high class, men for
high class purposes.

Going through the early stages of building up a successful league,
which, by the way, is the severest of all tasks, and even now at
intervals confronted with changes in the league circuit, the Southern
writers have steadily been sowing the seeds of high class Base Ball and
they have seen results prior to this date, for Base Ball has become
popular and has been handsomely and loyally supported in sections in
which fifteen years ago it would have been considered impossible to
achieve such results.

It is true that business reverses and adverse conditions have had at
times their effect upon Base Ball in the South and possibly may produce
similar results again, but the admirable offset to this fact is that
none of these conditions at any time has daunted the spirit and the
resolution of the young men who have zealously been preaching the cause
of clean and healthy Base Ball.