The times., 1898-02-28

fos-- eb. 27.-The magnates who
oe-Gnies Of the National
-o. can Association OF Pro
aa Clubs VIII ali be in
j-. vrlow morning, and will pro-
business without delay. The
..-I 10 arrive were the Brooklyn repre-
Z YES, c. II. Ebbits, d. A. Abeil and
t,..am Ea-nie.
a J. Reach, president of the Philadel-
phia club, arrived this morning, and at
o-,e held an extended conference with
the Brooklyn men, Won der Abe and
Muckcn1uss, of the local club. Reach is
s!arcd for the national board, and if Eb-
bits withdraws his candidacy, the Phila-
delohia man may be elected. ". f.
Young and Robert Young, his secretary;
James y, Hart, of the Chicago club
Manager Burns, successor to Anson, and
Frank Robson, of the Cleveland club,
came in tonight. Mr.. Brush. of Cincin-
natl, and other delegates are expected
on later trains.
Rowdyism and kicking against the de-
cisions OF the umpires are topics that
are being discussed by nearly everybody
tonight, and on every side the opinion
prevails that the League will take steps
TO throttle this disgraccfui behavior.
Frank Robson said tonight that he was
opposed to the blacklisting rule. and
would fight IT to the end. He said the
rules were sufficiently stringent and that
the presidents Of the clubs could control
the players if they saw fit,
What l shall propose at the meeting"
he continued, instead of the s. 5O00 bond
arrangement. which l strongly thought
of offering, is this: A brief suspension
say. of thirty days, for an offense on
the diamond. That plan would punish
both parties TO the fault alike"
President Reach, Of the Philadelphia
club, said:
You can't put it too strong for me-
If the League does not stop kicking by
ordering the players to let the umpire
alone, then the press should take up the
matter. and force the club owners to
come to a realizing sense"
President y. f. Young was expected
to be non-committal, because Of the po-
siticn he holds and the fact that he has
all along refrained from making COM
ments But when asked for his views to-
night he declared emphatically for clean
ball
"If, at this meeting" he said, the
clubs DO not agree TO stop the kickers,
the public viii get the impression that the
game Is not respectable If kicking is
permitted the game Will be killed. and
there Is a suspicion now that it has been
seriously damaged Kicking must be
stamped out, and it VIII be done too
James 4. Hart, OF the Chicago club is
red-hot against kicking. and SO is his
manager, Tom Burns.
J. +. Wagner, president Of the Wash
ington club, has fallen into line. lie
said:
Am / in favor Of stopping all kick
ing? You bet | am. ana III be in line
with the others. The point is this
though: ] want to be assured OF the
fact that the others mean business.
can stop kicking by the Washingtons in
a day by iEsuing orders TO that effect
] am opposed 10 the blacklist rule as it
is un-American. / am also an opponent
of Hart's plan to let umpires suspend
kickers for an indefinite period That
should be done by the president Of the
League. As far as kicking is concerned
am against IT, and will agree TO any
thing to stop it
When Brush arrived tonight he was be
sieged with questions. He said that he
had drawn up his rule to blacklist oh
scene takers. and that he had not
changed the original principles Of il in
any way
1t was said tonight that the Philadel-
phia ana Pttsburg clubs have joined the
Brush ma jority. The Boston and New
York clubs sull stand together.