tested before they are released, after engagement, and this testing
process cannot at the shortest be done in less than a month's trial. No
pitcher can do his best while in doubt all the while as to the result of
a single day's play on his engagement. Five pitchers are amply
sufficient to begin a season with, and at most three catchers. But one
of the greatest and most costly blunders in team management made in 1894
was that of encouraging "hoodlumism" by the countenancing of blackguard
kicking, in defiance of the laws of the game, which presidents and
directors, as well as managers and captains, were alike guilty of to a
more or less extent. The rules of the game positively prohibit any
player of a nine on the field from disputing any decision of the umpire
except the captain, and he only in certain exceptional cases, and yet
not only did captains of teams allow this rule to be violated in every
game of the season, but they were openly countenanced in it by not only
their managers, but in many cases by club presidents and
directors. Under such circumstances is it any wonder that the season of
1894 stands on record as being marked by more disgraceful kicking, rowdy
play, blackguard language and brutal play than that of any season since
the League was organized? And all this was the result of a neglect of
business principles in club management, and in the blunders in managing
teams committed by incompetent managers and captains--an arraignment of
the National League which we hope never to have to record again.



THE MONTHLY CAMPAIGNS.


THE APRIL CAMPAIGN.