The dropping of Baltimore from the list of League cities, just as I had prophesied, followed, after which came the sale of McGraw and others to the St. Louis Club, the terms of which McGraw has refused to ratify, the result being that the snappy little Baltimorean will in all probability not be seen on the ball field in a League uniform. The calling off of the deal was a great disappointment to me at the time, and yet, as things have turned out, I am satisfied that everything happened for the best after all. The recent iron-clad agreement entered into between the American League and National League magnates, by the terms of which a team from the first-named organization is to be placed in Chicago, smacks too strongly of syndicate methods to become popular. In a recent letter from Baltimore McGraw and Peterson both strongly urge the necessity of going on with the new association and getting in readiness to place strong teams in the field at the beginning of the season of 1901, and this is likely to be done. That the time is ripe for such a movement I am confident, as I am also that plenty of good ball players could be found to join its ranks. The methods of the League in late years have not been calculated to make friends either among the ranks of the players or of the public, and both would gladly welcome a rival in the field. It would, however, be a mistake, I think, to start with anything but a strong circuit or to antagonize any of the minor leagues, with whom nothing could be gained by rivalry. If I could have my way in the matter I would place a strong team in every single one of the League cities, taking in Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Pittsburg in the West, and New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore in the East. Such a circuit would, in my estimation, be a paying one from the start, and that is the circuit that I hope to see formed in the future. There is one thing certain, and that is that a rival to the National League will spring up sooner or later, and that without any help from Mr. Richter. CHAPTER XXXVIII. L'ENVOI. With my retirement from the Chicago Club in 1897, my active connection with the game may be said to have ceased and it is more that probable that I shall never again don a uniform. My affection for the game still exists, however, and I am confident that, purged of the many evils that now exist, the game itself will continue to be in the future what it has been in the past, the National Game of the American people.