The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-19

has been raised again through the
Rusie controversy, and one hears tha'
assertion that the noted pitcher Is de-
prived of making his livelihood at his
chosen profession. OF course the as
sertion Is not true, for at no time this
year has Mr.. Rusie been denied the
privilege of signing contract with the
New York club at $500 a month A man
in these days who has a $500 a month
job ready to his touch is hardly a.
slave.
Without rigid laws Of their own to
control their peculiar business. base
ball capitalists would not dare invest
dollar permanently in the sport. Ball
players are, as class, legally ire
sponsible, and a club could have no
recourse at law for broken contracts,
as was shown when Mccormick, Glass
cock and Briody deserted the Cleve-1
land club in midseason in 1894 and
bankrupted the game in that city. The
national agreement and reserve rule
made the game a business, spread the
territory, multiplied clubs, opened the
profession to triple the number OF
players and increased salaries 100 per
cent. 1880 the Cincinnati club, a MEM
Der of the National league. paid $14, 600
for its ball team. Two years later the
AMERICAN aSSOClatiOn CluD engaged an
entire team against League competition
at total salary expense of So, 200. To-
day nearly every League club pays
three times that amount in salaries.
Had you suggested before the adop-
ton Of the national agreement and
reserve rule the policy of any club in
vesting in permanent property you
would have been deemed a fit subject
for an insane cell. A vision of the
ALI iIy6 aF he al AL 49,
club would have seemed then like
foresight of the millennium. While the
present baseball laws may keep a few
from receiving offers Of salaries which
could not be justified by the proftsssof
the game 1t gives employment to scores
who would not otherwise have q chance
to play and also keeps the average
baseball salary up to twice it's an
tereserve rule size aa
Manager McGunnigle of the Leuis-
villes has been showing how easy it, is
for patrons of club to raise the cry
strengthen the team but how diff
cult is the task for the club. He aptly
remarks: mo club will part with the
services Of a star player for love or
money. The only way to get new and
satisfactory material Is to develop 1t
from minor league timber That de-
mands time and much experimenting
with possibly dozen failures to one
find
The Brooklyn club has been unusuaI-
ly fortunate in getting new stars dur
Ing the last two years Lachance,
Jones, Anderson and Burrell are a
quartet hard to beat. The latter for a
short time early In the season failed to
show well, and the club almost let a
good thing slip through its hands. Ne
cessity, however, called him into the
game, and he has shown himself able
to hold his own in the fastest COM
pany. New York, Philadelphia, Bos-
ton, Chicago and Cleveland have had
little success with Their young blood
What will the League do with Te-
beau and the games in which he plays
under protection Of a temporary in
junction? 1t is hard to answer. But I
want to go on record with just one pre-
diction: In the end Tebeau and the
Cleveland club will reap the National
league whirlwind. 1t is hard contract
to ''go up against"
%. p. Caylor.