The times., 1899-03-02
THE CASE OF THE BROWNS.
The Baseball Magnates Have IA Hard
Problem,

The Baseball Mngnates Have IA Hard
| Problem.
New York. March 1.-The League base
ball magnates spent the afternoon today in
star-chamber session after lobbying all the
| morning. and when President Young was
| asked what had been accomplished he an
| swered, Nothing absolutely nothing. has
| been done" This was in part true. for
the reason that while the. magnates wanted
| TO do many things they found themselves
| so tied up in various ways that they could
not move hand or foot. When the board
| OF directors adjourned late last night it
was confidently expected that the ili-fated
| St Louis club would be expelled from
membership for non payment OF dues and
other debts. The agnatcs VINO engineered
! this coup with the idea Of installing Robi-
| son in the Mound City with his Cleveland
| team received assurances that all OF the
| club delegates would support them. and
that they could 20 ahead with the expul-
sion business the first thing this morning.
| According TO some of the magnateS it
| required three-fourths vote to accom-
, plish the Punishment of Won der Abe,
while others pointed to the constitution,
| which called for u unanimous vote on this
| important matter. When the League con-
| Vened at noon the report of the board of
! directors was Immediately taken up, and
| the st. Louis club was placed upon the
pan. While the magnates were discussing
| the case Muckenfuss threw a bombshell
| into their midst by announcing that he
had received some bad news from St.
Louis. He said that he had been advised
. that if the League expelled the st. Louis
/ club for non payment of dues and thereby
took away the franchise the Missouri
courts would not sanction such action, but
would probably tie up matters SO that no.
| body, not even Robson, could play ball
there this season. Muckenfuss also de-
| clared that in his opinion the courts now
| having Jurisdiction over the club which
has been ordered to be sold at receivers
| sale on March IA, would protect the credi-
tors and would permit them to enjoin the
League if the franchise should be taken
| away.
1t was further disclosed by the st. Louis
| man that the courts might object if the
League should try to keep the franchise
away from any bidder who should attempt
to buy the club. This information carried
| the day with some of the more conserva-
tive members of the League and long
| wrangle followed. The discussion was
brought to close with an informal vote,
which resulted in defeat for the expul-
sion proposition by Z to 4, the minority
consisting of Chicago, Cleveland, Cincin-
| natl, and Washington. At the same time
IL Was mutually agreed tHaL t1lS action
would not be final, but merely meant
postponement until after March "A, the date
of the st. Louis clubs sale.
From what many of the magnates say,
there will be a special meeting of the
League called for the last week OF this
month to settle the matter definitely. The
fact that two schedules, each arranged
for twelve cities, were looked over yester-
day and placed on file until March IA is
further evidence that another meeting will
be held. 1t is also ground for belief that
efforts will be made. between now and
that time to reduce the circuit to eight or
ten cities The schedules submitted called
for three and four trips. respectively, and
the latter appealed more TO the delegates
than the former.
Brush. Soden, and Hart, after the st.
Louis business had been settled, acting as
the committee appointed at the December
meeting to prepare report on the appli-
cation of the board of discipline for in
creased powers. got the attention of the
delegates, and Brush, as spokesman, read
the new resolution. which is sweeping in
its scope. 1t provides that players who
kick against decisions, assault one another
or the umpires or insult spectators by the
use of vulgarity, can be tried and punished
by the board of discipline
Some of the club owners said that per
haps it might be better to hear the report
of the rules committee and also that of
the committee on amendments to the con-
stitution first, because in these reports
they understood there were several re-
quirements that were also contained in the
new board of discipline resolution. 1t is
understood that Dreyfus, of Louis
vile; Kerr, Of Pittsburg. the New
York club by proxy, and few
others, including Rogers. of Phjla-
delphia, had agreed to stand together
on this point. The attitude of Rogers was
explained as being in the nature of
'hold-up" SO that he might receive the
sanction OF the Leagues leaders for the
readoption of his 25-cent tariff business.
After short talk on the subject it was
decided to hear the reports of the minor
committees first and then take up the
board of discipline resolution.
When the League finally adjourned 1t was
with the agreement to meet again tomor-
row morning at II o'clock. The delegates
said that they did not expect to conclude
their deliberations until Friday or. per
haps, Saturday rumor was In circula-
tion that Freedman had agreed to sell out
controlling interest in the New York club
for $4,000 to Soden and COnant of Boston
Conant said: There Is no truth in this
at all. II we made such a deal, however.
we could put the whole Boston team under
Selee's management into New York and
beat it out with the present New York team
under Duny's management In Boston Still
there is no chance of such a movement"