Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-16
ABOUT THE PROBABLE RESULTS.
Reasons Showing How the Promoters of
the Players League We're Its
Chief Wreckers.
HOW THE LAW DEALS WITH PUGILIsTS.
Probabilities Of Battle Between FOgarty and La
Blanchs-Gsnersl Comment

has received. The would-be liberators, like
the heroes who fought ior the liberty OF the
Waldeneses, the Italians, and those who
are still fighting for the poor Poles, at
least have the inward satisfaction of know
ing that they tried to improve the
moral, social and financial condition of a
class of down-trodden, heel-of-tyranv-on-the
neck citizens known in modern history as
baseball players. Have we not been lold by
the advocates, and have We not read In the
records that to rescue these players from the
"hands of the Philistines" was the only OBJ
ject. Alas, that such noble, such a divine
like mission should remain unfulhlled.
Well, il is safe to say that what we once
knew as the Players National Baseball
League has thrown in its chips and disap-
peared. But stop; believe 1 am mistaken
in the "chip" business, because it appears
that it was because it had no
chips that it decamped in remarkably sud-
den way However if we look at this mat
ter seriously well find one or two verv
grave features. 1t is a mis- iortune that none
of US can laugh at, or at least we should
not, when honest men lose hundreds of
thousands of dollars innocently. Sometimes
We pay dearly for our experience, and certain
" a number of business men have done so
in this instance. That they will all be sad
der and wiser men there is no doubt and il
may be many long month before party
OF human beings, like Jonah's gourd, rise
up in night expecting to kill the National
League, more powerful to-day than it ever
was in its history, and the very fact is the
strongest possible reason why the National
League should be more cautious in its
movements now than ever. Too much
power has ruined many great men and
wrecked many good institutions. 1t is nee
essary then that in this instance the mag
gates of the National League should show
no desire TO be yindictve. Doubt
less the object of the PLAYERS
League was to sweep tine National
League entirely from the earth, but a victor
like the \. L. can afford 10 treat with the
vsnquished on the iairest of business prin-
ciples just as if no intention of killing each
other had ever existed, Misguided men
have lost much money in this abortive,
though well Intentioned, effort to reform
baseball generally and elevate the ball
player from the degradation Of Pullman cars
and frst-class hotels TO more civilized CON-
forts of lie. l say much money has been
lost, and it will not be to the crediI OF the
National League ii it now tries TO exact its
x
Some Probable Results.
OF course it is much too soon to talk defin-
itely about what all the direct and indi-
rect results of the end of the conflict will be.
The National League circuit will almost
certainly be the same as it was last year
and this shows that in the Cincinnati deal
the old heads were very much superior to
the young ones 1t is difficult to say what
will become of the Boston Z. i. club, but
common sense will tell us that the players of
that club will look out for themselves To
be frank on the matter, 1 have very little
sympathy for the Boston Players League
magnates. In what they thought their hey
day of success they had no sympathy for
either friend or Zoe. Another result will be
the enforcement of the fact that while some
of us can enjoy the comforts OF riding on
train We cannot own railroads and make a
success OF them; that while we may be good
and success 'ul players on musical instru-
ments we will be failures if we try to make
them; in other words we now know that
other people know that it is one thing to be
a good bali player and another to found and
successfully run a national organization.
What will low become of the player? is a
question that has been asked time and time
again during the last few days. Why, the
result OF the surrender will be that the
player Will be just as we'll off as he ever was
aud that means much better off than he was
last season. l am aware that stockholders
OF clubs are indulgirg in the belief that
the salaries of players will be reduced.
1 don't anticipate this by any means be-
cause in the natural course of things the best
talent Will always command good prices.
That spirit OF competition for good players
which has done as much to improve the
game as anything else, will continue, and
just as sure as it does good ball players will
get high salaries. 1t is useless to talk of any
concerted effort on the part of the magnates
10 keep salaries down. We all know OF the
miserable failures in the past in this direc-
tion. But even if concerted effort of this
kind were to be resorted to then the stand
ard of the game would begin to wane. The
good ball player has nothing to fear, except
il may be, temporarily; that is, for the first
season or so, he NAV be required to play for
a few hundred dollars less than he would
otherwise have gotten. There is another re-
suit that j anticipate and that is that the
clubs OF the National League will be of a
higher quality next season as far as playing
ability is concerned, than they have ever
been before. The team that wins the cham
piOnship will have to be a great one.
Save Us From Our Friends.
If there is one thing more than another
that have steadily urged during the year
of curious baseball history, 1t has been the
fact that those who praise us SO extrava-
gantly and so impulsively at a days notice
are invariably the most liable to censure
and vilify us the next day; in fact, it is only
a week or two since said a few words about
summer friends. BY that 1 mean those
friends who are like the leaves on the
tree. When all is beautiful and warm and
joyous in summer time the leaves cling to
the trees, but as soon as cold blasts begin to
appear the leaves drop off and the branches
are lett bare, TO protect themselves as best they
can. Well, this kind of friendship has been
illustrated more during this baseball con-
fict than during any other period that
l am aware OF. Those heroes of the pencil,
those orators OF the cafes, and, 1
NAV add, emporiums, who filled columns
and yelled themselves hoarse in praise
of the misguided men who were putting up
thousands OF dollars for the Players League
have evidently become censurers and SLAM
ders OF the most rabid type; they are now
condemning as serpents the very men whom
only few days ago they held up as gods.
After bestrewing the paths of these men
with palms as far as praise and panegyric
were concerned, they are trying to cruelty
them. Surely history repeats itself. Again
l SAY: Save us from our friends. This re-
vulsion OF thought; no, not thought, this re-
vulsion of impulse only shows what small
amount of mental stability there was among
thUse recognized advocates, may use the
less elegant term, ''pluggers, of the Play
ers' I,eapue Rut let me ask Whv this