DEVELOPMENT OF THE NINE.

At the beginning of the present season there were in College four of the regular members of last year's team. With this substantial nucleus to start on, the whole University was thoroughly canvassed for promising material by Captain Reid, and an unusually large number of candidates reported for work at the cage. New systems of practice were adopted in the cage, by which each man was given every possible chance to show his ability in real baseball. In place of the old regime of three grounders to a man, plays were substituted which were modelled exactly on those which take place in actual games. The largeness of the squad proved a slight disadvantage, but the cage was divided in a new way by means of cross-nets, so as to make four different portions for separate practice. As soon as the weather allowed the men to get out-doors, a system of grading players was adopted. By this, all the men had opportunities to play real games, and to work up in proportion to their abilities, by means of the Second nine and the Leiter Cup series.

The system of graduate coaches, adopted last year, was again tried this season, with the change of having a few regular coaches, instead of a larger number of graduates, who would necessarily be irregular in their attendance. The schedule was materially changed by having nearly all the games easy up to May 12, and after that playing a higher grade of teams. As a result, the team has played much more consistent ball than did last year's, and has shown steady development. Although weakened by the absence of their captain in several games, the men have learned to play well together and to use their heads in games. They appear now to be well seasoned after the last Princeton game, and should put up a good fight. There has been no decided slump, nor has the team lost a greater proportion of games than was to be expected, considering that at the first of the season, a number of the men had had no experience outside of that upon their class teams.