Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-07-21

+. A. EGRgELL.
wipe Il out before the abuse got the bette
of them. The warning was not taken. ant
the National league is now confronted by 1
condition which must necessarily give
1t extreme concern.
The magnates have seen this growing
danger, but had not the courage To take II
by the throat and choke it into nonexist-
cnce. Last year they had a 500 maximum
penalty, but umpircs were ioafh to use it on
account of its after effect They knew that
clubs and not the offending players were
paying the big fines, and that therefore,
they were stirring up against themselves
| the ennity OF the clubs and not of the
| players. This year the heavy fines were
repealed, aud f removal from the game
was substituted. In only hslf a dozen in
stances has that penalty been imposed.
though IL hns been meriied hundred
| times. The rule Is avoided by the umpircs
| for the same reason which made the sl0O
| fine useless weapon.
At the last annual meeting Mr. Robi-
son Of Cleveland proposed rule to pro
| hibit coaching and to make il unlawful for
| any player IL question an umpire's dcci-
| sion except where il involved the intcrpre-
tation Of playing rule. This proposition
did not get vote. And now, before the
half Of the playing season is over Mr.
Robson is defending his captain and man
ager from the punishment of the League
for the gravest Of all offense under disci-
plinary rules Of the ballfeld.
l believe this theory advanced by Mr.
Robson last winter is bound to become a
law and practice in baseball Something
must be done to crush scnseless kicking
against umpire decisions or the interest of
the game viii suffer severely / saw the
Princeton and Yale teams play one of the
deciding games in the college championship
last month, and the uinpiring was very
faulty. Both teams knew it, and yet there
was not as much objection made in the
whole game as there is usually in Il half
inning of National league game. When
men were called out, they retired quickly
and without even IA word of protest, even
in few instances where the decisions were
so close that the victims must surely have
believed themselves to be wronged
You can never get professional ball on
that plane of field decency until the mouth
of every player is locked up tightly There
seems to be a raging belief in all profcs-
sional teams that unless they kick as much
or II little more than their opponents they
get the worst of the decision. 1t, there
fore, becomes a cross fire of bulldozing
with the poor umpire at the junction of
the angles
Keefe resigns, Hurst whips two Pitts
burg players after the game, and Tcbcau
gets out an injunction to restrain the
League from collecting fine of $500 for
disorderly conduct on the halliield, all in
one week. That shows exactly the demon
alizing extent of this umpire batting.
The public does not know half of the
abuse which players heap upon timpircs for
the mere purpose of otfsetting or destroy
ing the effect Of the bulldozing by the 9th
or side. IF the baseball lawmakers do not
hurry up and squelch this spirit of disorder
ON the ballteld, the national game will
soon simmer down to u "scrapping
match"
The old cry of "baseball slavery" has
been raised again through the Rusie con
troversy, and one hears the assertion that
the noted pitcher is deprived of making
his livelihood at his chosen profession. OF
course the assertion is not true, for ut no
time this year has Mr.. Rusie been denied
the privilege of signing contract with the
New York club at SI00 month. A mar
in these days who has u 500 Il month job
ready to his touch is hardly slave
Without rigid laws of their own to con
troll their peculiar business, baseball CAPT
talists would not dare invest Il dollar per-
lmanently in the sport, Ball players are, |
rs a class, legally Irresponsible, and IA club |
could have no recourse at law for broken !
contracts, as was shown when Mccormick, |
Glasscock and Briody deserted the Cleve- |
land club in midseason of 1884 and bank |
rupted the game in that city. The ma
tional 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. In 1880 the Cincin-
natl club, a member of the National !
league, paid $14, 900 for its ball team. Two
years later the American association club
engaged an entire team against League
competition at a total salary expense of
$4,000. To-day nearly every League club
pays three times that amount in salaries
Had you suggested before the adoption
OF the national agreement and reserve rule
the policy of any club investing in perma-
nent property you would havs been DEEM
ed tit subject for an ins.Ie cell A
vision of the Coliseumlike home of the
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 profits of the
game it gives employment to scores who
would not otherwise have IA chance to
play and also keeps the average baseball
salary up to twice its antercserye rule size.
Manager McCionnigle of the Louisyillcs
has been showing how easy it is for la.
irons OF . club to raise the cry strengthen
The team, but how difficult is the task for