Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-07-14
THE Atlas STRIKING OUT.
Members of the Nine Want Division OF
the Receipts.


the Receipts.
At the meeting of the honorary mem
bers of the Alta Baseball Club last evening
the members of the nine appeared and
urged that they were not being paid in pro-
portion to the amounts received by men,
bers of the other clubs of the League.
They called attention to the recomnense
received by other players recently, which
was largely in excess of the Alta players
salaries, and asked that the profits OF the
game played at Alameda last Sunday be
divided among them pro rata. Ihey also Oh
fered as suggestion" though 1t might De
considered a demand, as they say they pro-
pose to stick by it, that hereafter certain
amount of the receipts of each game be set
aside as a reserve fund, and the balance dl-
vided among the members of the nine, the
pitcher and catcher receiving two
twelfths each, and the iielders and
manager one-twelfth each, no matter
whether the sum to be divided IS
large or small. The honorary members,
who have been conducting the business,
and stand in the position of employers, Gid
not take kindly to the proposition, but
after free discussion the matter was post
poned for a week, and the nine Will play
next Sunday. The position of the honorary
members is this: They organized for the
purpose of getting together strong nine
to represent Sacramento, without any de-
sire of making money, but Just from love
of the game, PLAYED 1" on the square" and
for the benefit Of the city. They guaranteed
the players certain sums-the battery $40
each, and the fielders So notwithstanding
to pay those figures until the close of the
season in October, whether the receipts
were enough or they had to go down in
their own pockets If anything was made
they did not want it, but at the end of the
season it was to be divided among the
players, being reserved in order that
il might serve as an inducement to keep
the men in discipline and hold the nine to-
gether. The games at the opening of the
season did not pay, and prior to the last
game at Alameda they were a few dollars
in debt and there was an assessment on the
members of $l60 Tor thereaboutS). The
clubs share of the Alameda game last
Sunday was about $500, which leaves some
where in the neighborhood of $500 in the
treasury. They claim that the salaries
guaranteed the nine were twice as large as
the Sacramento players were able to make
when going " on their own hook last sea-
son. and that it is not business for them
to claim more than they agreed to play for.
On the other side, the members of the nine
say that they want to be put on the same
footing as members of the clubs they play
with, and who do not do any harder work,
and would like a chance TO make big
Gays work, like members of the Haverlys
and Pioneers. They are willing to play
without guarantee, taking their chances,
but do not want TO wait for a division of
the surplus cash on hand until the end of
the season, for the reason that any one of
them may, through no fault, but i'll luck,
become disabled, or have to leave town, or
for some other reason be compelled TO quit
playing with the nine, and new man,
taking the place of the old, would at the
close of the year draw down the money
that the old one had earned by hard anu
conscientious work. There is, of course,
much to be said on both sides of the ques-
ton, and 1t is to be hoped, in the interest
of the national game. now so popular here,
that it will be considered coolly. Perhaps
a compromise could be effected on divis-
ion of the receipts from games played by
the Atlas abroad. One thing is sure, the
public, or that portion of it interested in
baseball, want to see good, honest playing
or none, and care little as to how a nine is
paid provided it can hold its own with its
competitors. A ball game is, or should be,
patronized according to its merits, like a
theatrical performance. The club last
evening accepted Denny Hayes resignation
as member of the nine.