Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-07

vigilance is pure: that is If these officials are on
the look for vfolators solely as q means of puri-
flying amateurism and are not altogether
prompted to their vigilance by personal motive;
that is, to down somebody for whom thew have
little love. have always held the opinion that
there were too many personalities imported
into the case of Mr.. M. w. Ford and have yet
many grave doubts as to whether that gentle
men was fairly treated py the majority who de-
creed his amateur career at an end. Well, then,
what is desirable now is for our amateur wise
acres TO guard against any personalities at all.
There can be no fault found with the l. A. W.,
or with the A. A. u in bringing these alleged
violators of amateur law to task; indeed, 1 fail
to see how the A. A. u could have acted other
wise than upholding the decision of the l. A.
w. until full and, hope, impartial investiga-
tion has been made.
Reason for Doubt
am free to confess that was not at all sur
prised when learned of the list of alleged vio-
lators. There are some on the list who have
been very questionable amateurs in my way of
thinking for very long time. have always
claimed that q man who earns q livelihood out
OF profession either directly or indirectly is
not an amateur. OF course on the surface it
very seldom appears that either an amateur"
cricketer, bicycle rider or anything else, is by
his efforts as q cricketer or a wheelman obtain
ing money toward keeping himself. When this
fact does not appear on the surface it is some
tlmes very Qlncult TO nEQ, Dut IL may De tnere
all the same. This being the case the most
rigid Investigations are needed and have often
thought that if little more atten-
tion were paid to the travelling amateur
combinations who cater for gate receipts we
might find some points worth laying before the
magnates whose business it is to deal with
them. There is q commonsense principle
that invariably guides me to very great ex-
tent Ii see an amateur whose entire time is
almost taken up in athletic contests; that is, if
time is taken up to such an extent that there is
no room left for him to follow employment,
try to first find out the source from which that
man lives. II he has no means of livelihood,
that fact goes very long way toward con-
yincing me that he is living on his athletic per-
formances. In recent years there have been
many cases of this kind which all 60 to show
that the A. A. q. officials have much reason to
doubt the purity of amateurism in some quar-
terS
Good Cricket Scheme.
Last evening the members of the Belmont
Cricket Club. Philadelphia, passed a resolution
to the effect that cricket league be organized
for next year The cities which will probably
be invited to join the league are Boston, New
York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsourg and
Chicago. 1t is needless for me to say that the
idea is a good one. mean the general idea is
good one. There is nothing that will COM
mand success more than organized effort, and
a cricket league will certainly be infinitely
better in placing good cricket playing before
the public than the old method OF, l may say,
isolation. 1 have long held the opinion that
cricket matches would be much better patron
lied were these matches arranged by any kind
of system. For instance, we have team in
Pittsburg. but scores of people who would go
to see 1t scarcely hear of 1t simply because the
club is not contending against any opponent in
particular OF any clubs in general. In short, it
is not in race. A league would bring 1t be-
fore the public in the most prominent
manner, because Pittsburg, for an entire sea-
son. would be pitted against a number of other
cities and surely that would increase the public
interest and that increased interest would Sc
cure greater financial returns. So much for
the general principle, and might add that the
cricketers favor the principle heart
ily In Pittsburg we have more convenient
and better cricket grounds than ever we had.
But there may be some of the details of the
proposed league not suitable for Pittsburg.
For instance, it is long jump from here to
Boston, while the distance between here and |
Detroit and Cleveland is much shorter. The |
two last named cities are not on the list. OF |
course, am aware that the receipts at Boston |
would be much higher than they would likely |
be at Detroit or Cleveland This feature is |