Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-11
Some Opinions About the Methods of
the Baseball Club Directors
of PittSburg.
PLAYERS AND ADVANCE MONEY.
The FooliShnesS of Investigating the Charges
Of Fraud Relative to the Boston and
New York Games.
OUR LOCAL AMATEUR ATHLETES,
John L Sullivan Stranded in Australia, and Gossip
About Pugilism in General

good, bad or Indifferent or whether it be
prominent or obscure, there will probably
be always one thing that will keep Pitts.
burg before the world as a baseball CITY,
and that is the Board of Directors of the
local club. am fully convinced that there
2ever was a more interesting body in exist
ence in the baseball world than the direct
Ors of our ball club. Of course, 1 have said
this before, but every time they meet one is
so forcibly reminded of the fact that one
cannot avoid speaking about it. The time
has come again when these interesting di-
rectors have to map out their policy, at
least they will call it policy, for next
season, but really judging from their past
efforts Of directing baseball policy they
should NEE: every day in the year, because
plans and schemes dawn upon them so thickly
and fast that once week is too seldom for
ihera to meet to make changes sufficient for
their numerous methods. So far these
directors have done toIerably fair in putting
up the cash Tor a ball team, but it has been,
and dare say ever will be, unfortunate that
they do not stop at that. No body
Of men on earth could make greater failure
Of ANYTHING than these directors have done
in trying 20 run the local club; indeed, they
have made a burlcSque of it, and when
everything IS considered it is not unreason-
able to say that the i'll success Of the team
has been the result of the uncertain and
ridiculous policy of these very directors
themselves. Indeed, it might be we'll if the
so-called board was swept out of existence,
or almost an entirely new lot be elected.
Ii is my firm conviction that Pittsburg will
always be the failure and the laughing
stock 1t has been as long as this famous
board have the destinies of the ball club in
their hands. There never will be a real
frendlineSs among these directors, because
they are unfaithful one to another, and I'M
iaithtulness is an important element of i'm
competency, and there never will be peace
among them, because those of them
who know nothing at all about baseball
have more TO say and more policy to
adopt than those who do know something
about the business. These conclusions,
then, suggest a very discouraging outlook
FOR baseball in this city.
The Directors Methods.
Ball PLAYERS of the team know quite well
Of the condition of things have just cited,
and so do the ball players throughout the
country, and it is no wonder that good
players hesitate to come to a city where
several men who have as much idea about
baseball as q COW has about its ancestors in
bSt on almost daily interfering with the
affairs of the club. 1 defy contradiction
when 1 say that there is not Board of
Directors of any baseball club in the coun-
try who acts like the directors of the Pitts
burg club Why, every time thev meet and
co ANYTHING thev rush out of their meeting
room and apologize to this man and that
man for what they have done, and meet the
next dav and undo that which they have
done They lack stability, besides being
untrue to each other, and that is caused bv
lack of knowledge and experience of base
hall business. They depend almost entire
" on the opinion of outsiders. irresponsible
people, for anything they do, and 1 never
knew a successful business run on any such
method. 1t would be exceedingly strange
e the directors of any of our big business
concerns would have to run their business
according to the whims and caprices of out
Eiders; bat this might be done if these di-
Tectors had no opinions or notions of their
own. Well, this seems to be the diff
Guilty of the local club Its directors are so
terrified by outsiders that some of them
are entirely IN the hands of the latter. This
accounts, in a measure, for the very strange
ard uncertain action of the Board of Dlrec-
Eble way in which ex-Manager Hanlon was
oeposed- His scalp was sought for bv all
Iae directors and we all know of the farce
the directors played in putting Mr.. McGun-
Elgle in power. The members of the board
didn't know what to do; they had no opin-
IONS Of their own, and they burlesqued mat
teI until the entire baseball world made
them the target of ridicule. As result
they jumped suddenly to a conclusion. But
pCain we have some of these very directors
wanting to undo all that was done then and
1--we the old order of things established
Why? Simply because they know so little
about their business that they are influenced
by carpins and talk of every Tom, Dick and
Harry they meet. First they want man.
eyer 10 manage the team; in fact, nothing
else will do for them. They get that and
the rext day they want the manager TO be
daily under their orders And so things go
or IN Just as certain a course as a ship at
sea without helm. There is an old biblical
ndage that forcibly applies to this Board of
Directors: Unstable as water thou shalt
not excel" If that had any force at all in
the Mosaic dispensation it surely has more
IN this instance.
Firmness Is Needed.
What have Just said has not been said
IN any unkindly spirit. 1t has been said
because, in nv estimation, the entire source
of trouble in the local club has been among
the directors. If that cause is not removed,
then we never need hope for any baseball
success in this city, because neither good
players nor good managers VIII be disposed
10 stay with u.s. What is most needed is
frmness. 1 cannot for the life of me see
why the directors of a ball club or any other
L. nf 4v1- 10 pn1r1l
Of their own and stick to them regardless Of
the whimperings and threats of outsiders.
Had the directors of this club been firm in
their actions from first to last matters would
have been very much better to-day. De-
pend upon it, the public Will tolerate no
longer the farces and burlesques we have
had here in the past as far as baseball is con-
oerned. If we must have the national game
We must have it in good style. If We can
net get it one way we may be able to get it
another. That baseball business in Pitts
burg is profitable is certain. The results of
this season prove it. Although we have
had q tail-end team for the major part
Of the season, more than 50 coo have been
cleared, if the extra expenses for the i'm
provement of stock is omitted. A showing
Of that kind is to me somewhat remarkable,
and shows that there is money In baseball. |
But the public will not continue to support |
q tail-end team, and there is no reason why |
they should. 1t is true we had winner, |
and if we cannot get one don't see why we |
should support team at all
Players and Advance Money.
Just as regularly as the season ends the
of advance money appears, and |
dare say it appears more or less in every |
city. 1t is to the front again in this town, |
as several of the players are demanding ad-