Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-18

successfully as a new ship before spanking
breeze. But the Association, with its beer
Sunday games and miserable management
was going from bad to worse. Its wiseacres
could not keep together profitable circuit
even, although they were afforded material
assistance by the League. The latter was
prospering and the Association was failing,
and this gave rise to the envy OF Ignorant
minds
Finally it eliminated in the Association
failures making a resolve something like
| this: 1--WE have seen that we cannot make
headway by confining ourselves to the con-
ditions under which we started out. We
cannot make our cities pay, and those
League fellows are raking the shekels in by
cart loads Now this is what we must do
We must shut our eyes to all fair play
and all pledges of honor, and 60 straight
on to League territory and help
ourselves to the good things they have
built up by their genius" 1 claim that this
is modest and fair representation of the
case and I claim that is absolutely true in
fact. In view of facts of this kind is it not
amusing them to hear Phelps and other
people talking so glibly about unfair deal
| ing? This kind of artful lodging ought to
to have no influence at all with the public. If
| the Association had made success in its own
| cities depend upon it we would never have
heard word about the defects of the Nation
al agreement or anything else. Rank fail
ures caused the Association to break all
rules and honorable pledges and try to steal
! the result of the Leagues labor. Unfair
treatment Let those who charge the League
with any such toward the Association go
and bury their faces in shame.
Another Little Dodge.
But the latest President of the Associa-
tion, Mr.. Phelps, had attempted another
little dodge. He has tried to persuade the
public that the League has been an op-
pressor of the players. It's fact he really
has attempted that. Just fancy it; Presi-
dent of an organization that is poverty
stricken; that has not paid as much money
to players during its entire existence as the
League has done in one or two seasons and
an association whose general tendency is to
degrade players; just fancy, say, its Presi-
dent talking about the Leagues treatment
| of players. Bosh. But Mr.. Phelps also
| tells us that the Boston American Associa-
tion team are champions of the world. Mr..
Phelps does not believe any such thing: in
fact in a moral sense don't see where they
should have any standing at all. The two
| organizations made an agreement or COM
pact The Association violated it and
trampled it under foot.
Despite this fact they want recognition
from those whom they deceived. L would
like to know what claim at all anybody can
have to championship title who violates
the very first condition made regarding the
contesting for it. Technically speaking. the
Boston club is disqualified from competing
for the title at all, as it has deviated from
the recognized conditions that have guided
and regulated previous contests of the kind.
1t is useless to talk of "only one party hav-
ing that agreement" The agreement or its
conditions have become law by custom,
and they are in vogue until others supplant
them.
Affairs of the Local Club.
Matters are not going along very pleas
antly in the local club. There still con-
tinues to be that diversity of opinion among
the directors that has ever been the great
barrier to the clubs success. 1t is, indeed,
amusing to note day by day the conflicting
notions that emanate from these directors.
During the week we have had some of the
most interesting from standpoin. of con-
f1ict; at least the directors have been so re-
ported in the daily papers. We were told
that one director said there would be no ad-
vance money given; we were told that an
other director said there would be advance
money paid, and then we were told that still
another director said nobody would be
signed until after the clubs annual meet
ing. The latter is exceedingly interesting
in view of the fact that Manager McGun-
nigle is at present busily engaged trying to
sign players, and that he was specially
elected to sign players for next year as soon
as possible.
Isn't all this very, very funny, and does
it not all tend to show that the Pittsburg
club has very wonderful Board of Di-
rectors? 1 cannot believe for one moment
that players are not to be signed until it is
known who the President of the club for
next year is going to be? What in the
world has the President to do with it?
Have good players to be ignored now be-
cause there may be a change of President?
Can a good player signed now under Mr..
O'Nejl, or by Mr.. O'Neil, no: be good
player under any other gentleman who may
be President next season? The thing is
ridiculous. Why, some of the best players
on the present team were signed by the
present President. But really the matter is
too absurd to argue, and l would hardly
have mentioned it had 1t not beer to point
out the verv evil effects of The directors be-
ing so much divided among themselves
The truth is if there cannot be more unity
of action among them they had better dis
pose of their club entirely and let other
people have it VINO can make it
play. If there was any sound
reasons for all these chickering's and bad
feeling they might be excusable, but know
of none except a few trivial personalities,
that business men in business transactions
should not notice. But there is another
feature in the matter of signing the players
at once If those who are here are signed
before they leave for their homes won't
there be considerable expense saved? If
the Manager or President of the club has to
travel about the country signing the old
players after the December meeting, won't
there be good reason for complaint about
unnecessary expense? Certainly there will.
If the directors of the club would for once
get down to common sense business princi-
Eles all would be we'll There is not man
on the board but what means well, but un-
fortunately there is a spirit of mistrust
abroad that must be quelled if things are to
prosper.
A Very Pleasant Affair.
Along with about 90 or 60 other people I
had real pleasant time of it the other
evening at the Hotel Duquesne, the event
being a banquet rendered to the baseball
team cf the East End Gymnastic Club for
winning the County League Pennant. OF
course it is invariably pleasant to be the
guest of winners, but the evening referred to
was an exceptional occasion. The banquet
not only served the purpose of allowing
well deserved compliments ard congratula-
tions to be paid to the ball team, but it af-
forded opportunity for the saying of many
interesting things about the East End Gym
nasium. The Gymnastic Club has quite a