to excel the picked team of star players of the Boston club, simply by superiority in handling those they had left to them. In the Association arena, too, a similar condition of things prevailed in the case of the St. Louis and Brooklyn clubs, the costly investment of the Brooklyn club for new players, only enabling them to reach second place in the pennant race, while the "weakened"(?) St Louis team, by better conceited work together were enabled to break the record by capturing the Association pennant for the fourth successive season, something only equaled by the Boston club under the reign of the old National Association in 1872, '73, '74, and '75. An event of the season of 1888, also, was the widening the sphere of professional club operations in the United States, by the inauguration of the Texas League, which, though not as successful as desired in its first year, nevertheless opened up a new and large territory for the occupation of the professional clubs. Closing too, as the year did with a commendable movement on the part of the League legislators to regulate the salary system so as to get rid of several costly abuses; it may be justly said that in no year since professional ball playing was officially recognized, was there so much done to promote the welfare of the national game as during the season of 1888. The summary record of the season's work of the several professional Leagues and Association prominent during the season of 1888, is as follows: |Champion |Games |Per Cent. of Leagues |Club. |Played |Victories -------------------+------------+---------+---------- National League |New York | 532 | .641 American | | | Association |St. Louis | 540 | .681 International | | | Association | Syracuse | 433 | .718 Western | | | Association | Des Moines | 458 | .648 Central League | Newark | 4*6[A] | .783 Southern League | Birmingham | 101 | .620 New England League | Lowell | 209 | .566 California League | Stockton | 268 | .615 Texas League | Dallas | 146 | .660 Tri-State League | Lima | 538 | .701 [**Proofreaders note A: * indecipherable number**]