, 1877-02-25

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY IS
dolngs OF the Convention, because that is mainl
unnecessary. After organizing By the selection
OF Mr.. Mcacha1n rs Chairman and Mr. William
as Secretary, Messrs- Cummings, Rankin, al(
(orman were madea committee to bring In con
stitutio.i. aIr. CummiuEs, reporting fortLe Com
mittee, read the League constitution with onl
q few amendments Of IN untmportant charac
ter, and the document was adopted section b,
| section after discussion. Tie only points o
variance between the League constitution, q
tuition, as adopted, are that the name Of til.
latter is the international Association of Base
Ball Players; one Of Its objects is + to protec,
and promote the mutual interests Of baseball
ball players''; any club may join on being ap-
proved BY the Judiciary Committee, aud voted
on at the annual meeting, or by unani
nous consent Of said Committee be-
tween the meetings; the officers shall
and Judiciary Committee Of five members, aij
to be elected py ballot, and the Committee tc
elect its own Chairman; the annual meeting
shall take place on the third Wednesday il
February.
did graceful and cluyer thing by inserting q
clause which prevents any club In the Assocln.
tion from playing or attempting to play any
player expelled from another club !" in this Of
| any other Associatian," clearly meaning that
the Association would not hire or play any
player expelled from the Lcague. The gentle
man who drew the clause explained its meaning
in that way, and it was credit to the Conyeu-
| tiun tlat it was adopted without dissent.
| The annual dues were fixed at SO per club.
One great evil from which the non-I League
{ professionals have suffered has been the too
| cosumon pract!ce Of players signing more than
! one contract To avoid tint In future, clause
was added to the section Oil contracts providing
that if any player sign two contracts covering
the same space Of time he shall he expelled
forthwith In the same article it was provided
that the Secretary OF the Association snail noti-
] fy the Secretary OF the League Of all contracts
| nude between Association clubs and plavera
the intention being Of course to accept tho
! Leagues protfer OF aMity in shnpe OF resolu-
! tion not to meddle with players under contract
! with outside clubs. After IN honorable release
from contract player may engage and play
at once without waiting twenty days, as In the
| League.
The article on championship as adopted pro-
] yiles that any club belonging to the Association
may enter, but is not obliged to-, for the PEN
nant. The special fec for entrance is SIS above
the $40 for aduttance into the Association.
The championship emblem must cost not more
than $50,anl the championship season continues
from April Is to Oct. IL, four guncs all around
being required. 4 committee. appointed spe-
cially for the purpose, prepared aud presented
supplementary section to the championship
code, but only a part OF It was adopted. That
part was to the effect that each visiting clup
should take SIS, Or 81 per cent OF the gross re-
ceipts, whichever should prove to be the largest
sum; also that in all championship games the
admission fce should be 25 cents. The chain
piouship was rcry seusibly made only OF the AS
sociatioI, and nu attempt was made to assert
that the winner Of the flag should be ''cham-,
pions of America" rs hau been proposed. Per
sforH
Sunday contests tor the tlag by removing that
part vi the League section which prohibited
them. This concession to d barbarous practice
which has never obtained auy foothold: except
In st. Louis, was greAt mistake
The playing rules were adopted as they are
printed in the League book except in the matter
vi scoring, where the section Which demands Il
record Of bases was stricken out. The bali
Boston, and identical with the one adopted BY
the League.
The 6iliccrs elected for the coming season
are US follows:
.{resiaeat-W. 4. Cummings.
Flee -PresidsHf-Harry Gorlnan.
.Secret6ry-J. 4. Williams.
Judiciary Con'mittfe-H. D: Mcknight, Pitts
burg: L. G. Waite, st. Lonis; n. r poud, Roch-
Guelph. " N'' '>''>'''' oSs s''''''''''
1t was pleasant tribute to the acknowledged
ability Of MIR. Young, the League Secretary,
that on the first ballot for Secretary Of the
assoSALIon ucaElI ualt Tue oailOLS were lnQofscu.
IN. Z. Young" It would be good thing for
baseball If it had plenty more * n. E. Youngs"
to take responsible positions in it.
The remaining business done by the Conyen-
ton was not very extensive, and consisted In
thanking the hotel where it stopped, in empow-
rules printed BY the highest bidder, and in dis
cussing the League Alliance plan with reference
to joining it. The last item Was the cause OF
considerable talk bus no particular action. The
ffar{ $3Y.o1t -,
Secretary to write to Mr.. spalding, expressing
as the decision of the Convention that tie clubs
composing it would join the Alliance, provided
Art. were expunged. This article is the
tied by reference to the League Board Of Direct
tors. It Was suggested that the League Board
might be used as an appellate COURT but finally
the matter dropped without other action than
that nuteu above.
After fixing upon the Sherman House, Chica- |
tiou adjourned. !
The account of the doings Of the Convention |
would be Incomplete without adding some men- |
ton Of whut i. did not do. In some respects |
the things which it relralned from doing are far !
more Important than those which it dill. 1u |
this connection it is necessary to refer to the !
cfrcular-<:al1 first issued for the Convention, |
which contained the following paragraph:
In forming Association it strikes that two
Of the most essential points to be carried out age
these: undes no circnu:stances whatever should We
play LeagUc csuos. auu only 70 cents ADMISSION
shonla be charged to our games.
or course these two things were the out
grow,ths Of deadly spite against the League, and,
though majority Of the clubs in the country
only laughed ct the idea OF refusing to play
League clubs, yet the ideas above given were
presented to the Convention with due gravity
and met with some support. The Committee
IN 8 special championship section incorporated
IN It provision that no club belonging to the
Association should charge more than Is cents
admission to its games, and reported the same
unanimously. It met with strong fight, hows
syer, the Buckcyx and Fairbanks delegates ut
erly refusing to be bound by it, and some Of the
,thers ob;ecting. The proxy system was so
trong, however, that the scheme WIS
md then only half beaten, or, rather,
,eaten in way that hurt the Association con-
iderably. It's effect was removed By the adop-
ion Of an amendment restricting the 25-ceut
Iause to games played for the championship of
he Association, leaving members tree to charge
fnat they please for games with League clubs.
Another point advocated BY some Of the Com
ntttee, and growing out of this matter, was
hat the guarantee offered to League clubs was |
ever to exceed TINT giTen by one Association |
lub to another. It was also grayey proposed |
hat no guarantees at aIl he given League clubs ,