Wichita eagle., 1890-02-01
SHOULD THEY FAIL
What Collapse Of the Play.
ers' League Would Lead To.
NO DECREASE IN SALARIES LIKELY

The Masnates Could Scarcely AhOro 70
Let Revenge Influence Their Treatment
of the Men in Any Event-A Prepara-
tory School for Ball Players.
The ball players Brotherhood, whether it
succeeds or not, win go down in baseball his
tory as having accomplished a great deal for
! the players. Wisely directed by men who
were not figuring on making themselves rich
out Of it, it would have continued always to
have exerted a powerful influence on the
National league and the game, and been a
check upon those managers who might desire
, to take undue advantage of the players, and
there are some managers willing to squeeze
the men to the limit OF the rules, and often
beyond the limit.
One could reason that failure of the
Brotherhood would put the players into po-
sition where the League would grind them
down into a worse condition than they ever
were in as regards the relations Of employer
and employee. And there are baseball writer's
who are asserting that such will surely be the
result of collapse of the Brotherhood move
ment. It is hard to imagine that any sensible
man can really bring himself to believe in
such faliacious argument, and certainly
men who are supposed to devote themselves
to a study of the game, its history in the past,
and the history being made from day to day,
must either be very prejudiced or very dull In
analytical powers to champion such theory.
1t is useless to theorize on what the mag
mates could do in the event Of a collapse of
the Brotherhood. the only line worth fol-
lowing out is the one which is bordered by
the things they could affor,3 TO do Baseball
has got beyond the point of sentiment with
both magnates and players. As played pro
fessionally, it is question of dollars and
cents for both parties. That a balance shall
be on the profit side of the ledger it is neces-
sary to give the public square, honest and
artistic game, played for all it is worth and
decided on its merits. There is too much
capital locked up in the game, and the bread
and butter Of too many people depends upon
its success for the magnates to jeopardize it.
Truly said the players, in referring to the
magnates, Their eyes are in the turnstile, j
and if they had added, land ours are glued
to the same indicator, " they would have COM
pleted perfect sentence.
The tremendous amount of newspaper dis
cussion that the baseball war has aroused
has resulted in more thorough understand
ing by the public of the relations between
magnate aud player than has ever before ex-
listed. Millions of people have taken up one
side or the other, but there are other millions
who love the game more than either player
or magnate, who know that the player is
comparatively bat the hero Of a day and that
good, fair and honest sport can only be got
from well paid, contented men under good
rules and discipline properly administered
1t is this class of baseball enthusiasts who
would hold the balance Of power and prevent
injustice to the player with the turnstile
club.
1t would not be human nature if the mag
mates did not have feelings of dislike against
the ringleaders who have endeavored to de-
stroy their business interests and desire to
even up for the attempt should it fail The
chances are that in the course of time the
League would endeavor to get square with
these men, but as against the rank and file
whom the magnates claim have been led by
the nose, there would be no feeling Even
the leaders would be safe against League
dislike or revenge for long time because
public opinion as expressed in dollars and
cents would not sanction any harsh meas
ures towards them Eventually they might
be made to feel the weight, but the Leag We
could not afford to make it very heavy.
As to salaries, there Is not the least reason
or argument to believe that they would be
smaller should the Brotherhood collapse than
they are now, except in possibly few cases.
Those stars who have been accorded large
increase have long contracts. at the expira-
ton OF which they will have little difficulty
in renewing if their playing ability is the
same There were only few of the present
League cities which were unable TO pay large
salaries in 1889, but il was because the gate
receipts were not fairly divided Under the
40 per cent. division adopted by the League
this year, these cities can now afford TO, and
will have to- pay first class salaries
1t is true that In the case of young players
just making start, salaries will De low, as
they always have been, and they may have
to serve a somewhat longer time at medium
rates before getting the remuneration OF the
present stars 1t rs not at all unlikely that
many new men of good repute engaged viii
be signed for from one 70 three years at from
81, 600 "a $, 500, and viii have to hold their
own in good shape in order TO get sn increase
or hold their own at the end Of the term of
service.
1t is also probable that all the clubs will
engage from three to five young players
EACH at small salaries, say 81 900 to 81, go,
who have exhibited promise, The men VIII
make quite comfortable living while prac-
ticing and developing themselves 10 be future
stars They viii know when they are en-
gagged that it may be several years before