To the other managers, who had been watching the work of the Cincinnatis it was apparent that sooner or later the break would have to come for the reason that, as the season progressed, better pitching would have to be faced by the Cincinnati club, while it was doubtful whether the Cincinnati pitchers could do any better than they were doing. The manager seemed to have known this, for when the break did come and the Reds began to totter, he said in reference to their downfall that no team could be expected to win with only ordinary pitching to assist it. In this manner Cincinnati played through the middle of the season always just a little behind most of its opponents. As the latter days of the year began to dawn the Reds began to improve and not the least of which was in the better work of the pitchers. They did well enough to beat Philadelphia for fourth place, and while O'Day did not have the satisfaction of finding his first year as a manager generous enough to him to make him the runner-up for the championship team, he actually put his club in the first division, which is something in which many managers have failed and some of them managers of long experience. * * * * * Misfortune and ill luck always attaches itself in a minor degree to every team which engages in a championship contest, but most assuredly Philadelphia had more of its share of reverses through accidents to players and illness than any team of the National League. Yet the Philadelphias were courageous players from whom little complaint was heard. They took their misfortunes with what grace they could and played ball with what success they could achieve, whether they had their best team in the field or their poorest. Strangely enough they played an important part in the results of the race. Frequently they defeated the Chicagos, all too frequently for the comfort of the Chicago Base Ball enthusiasts, and when the loss of a game or two by the Philadelphias to the Chicagos might have turned the race temporarily one way or the other, the Philadelphias, with decided conviction, refused to lose. It may not be necessary to call attention to the fact of absolute fairness in the contests for championships in the various leagues which comprise Base Ball in its organized form. The day has passed when the Base Ball enthusiast permits his mind to dwell much upon that sort of thing, if ever he did. But if it were necessary to advance an argument as to the integrity of the sport and the high class of the men who are engaged in the summer season in playing professional Base Ball, there could be nothing better to prove that the price of victory is the one great consideration, greater than the fact of Philadelphia's success against a team which was a strong contender against that which finally won the championship.