New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-11-25
THE R4SEB4LL RETOLU TTON.

The official announcement that DdseDall sal
aries were to be classified and reduced is said
ia have fallen. TO use a new and striking smile,
like a bolt out of clear sky upon the players,
and no wonder, for the season that has Just
closed left behind il the general impression
that no other pilgrim through this vale OF
tears had quite so much reason for cheerful
ness as the expert in our National game. This
is said without the remotest intention of dis
paraging either the vocation or its opponents.
Baseball gives legitimate pleasure to countless
freeborn American citizens, not to speak OF an
enthusiastic and vociferous contingent VINO
were not born free, and the professional play
ers have SET up standard and acquired skill
which could not have been attained az any
small outlay. They earn good salaries, and
good salaries must be paid if the standard is
to be preserved. The question is, how much
money constitutes a good salary Tor man
nearly one-half of whose time is at his own
DISPOSAL? The magnates Of the League have
decided that 80 500 is the proper maximum,
ard that 81 800 is enough for the lowest class
of League players.
This action was undoubtedly taken by the
owners partly in behalf of their own pockets
and partly in behalf of the small organizations
which cannot afford to pay the prices that have
been current, but which are essential as train
ing-schools in the baseball system. From
these inconspicuous clubs scattered through the
country come the fair buds OF promise which
expand into full-blown roses on the Polo
Grounds, and without such nurseries the stuff
out Of which champions are made would be
lacking. 1t is true that the increasing salaries
Of the last two or three years, and still more
the enormous prices paid for the release OF
crack players have brought heavy losses upon
many clubs, and it had become apparent that
the system must undergo some change IL Is
also true that such an organization as the New
York club, supported by enormous gate re-
ceipts and very shrewdly managed, can afford
to pay more for the amusement of its patrons
than would be possible under other conditions.
There is local sentiment which prefers to
see home players win, but after all its name
is about the only local feature of a professional
ball club in these days, and people pay their
money primarily to enjoy good playing THIS
is especially true in a cosmopolitan city like
New York, and the maintenance of two mines
of the first class to play against each other
here throughout the season for handsome
purse to be divided among the winners would
be an interesting experiment.
Whether the new rule about salaries will
accomplish what is intended remains to be
seem The burden of making it effective will
fall upon the clubs, but the players are not
left exactly defenceless They have Brother
hood which will certainly take the matter into
consideration, and already there are portentOus
rumors of a strike at the opening of the next
season. That would indeed be an appalling
calamity to the thousands who would rather go
hungry than miss ball game. Moreover, if
the clubs desire to violate the rule they will
probably find little difficulty in doing so. Rail-
road companies break their own agreements,
not to speak Of the law of the land, as often
as they see fit, and the ball clubs may easily
cultivate kindred ingenuity. Indeed, we are
already informed that an enterprising manager
had devised simple and effective escape from
the tolls before sunrise on the morning after
the new rules were passed-not for practical
application of course but merely as an exer-
else Of the imagination.