El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-10-21

FRED TENNEY IN A CHARACTERISTIC POSE.
belong to that old army of hero worship
ers who were more numerous five years
ago than they are today. That there are
not more of them today is the fault of
the club owners themselves. The club
owners have done little too much talk
ing about the financial aspect of the
game, and they have been a little too
grasping in their effort to secure stock in
outside franchises which gave promise of
financial returns.
This is the opinion of the veterans,
and it comes pretty close to hitting the
nail squarely on the head. These condi-
tions have brought about the cry of
syndicate" baseball, and it has done
the game no good this year. Eddie Tai
colt had the right idea, and, finding that
he could not carry it out, he sold out all
of his interests in the New York club,
gave all of his attention to Wall street
and in three years retired from the street
with a cool million in bank to his credit.
1t was good move for him financially,
but it a sorry day for the game in
New York when he got out of it. Tai
colt believes in home talent both in a
team and in the club owners. He be-
lieves that ali of the stock should be held
by citizens of that town. and he believes
in encouraging local players whenever
possible. He had plan perfected for
purchasing the stock of the New York
club held in Boston, Chicago, Brooklyn
and Philadelphia. and he would have car
ried it out if Freedman had not come
along about that time and purchased a
controlling interest in the club.
There was some excuse for distributing
baseball stock around rather promiscu-
ously when it came to settling up the
Brotherhood war in 1890, for many of
the club owners were close to financial
wrecks. Those conditions do not exist
today, and the sooner foreign stockhold-
ers get rid of their stock the better it will
be for the game. Cincinnati does not rel
iSh the idea of a man, good as he is, liv
ing in Indianapolis and yet controlling
the destinies of the game in the town
the banks of the muddy Ohio. New
York does not like the idea of having
Boston put in the deciding vote when it
comes to baseball legislation affecting
baseball in that city. Baltimore does
not relish the fact that somebody must
be seen in Brooklyn before anything can
be done regarding the Orioles. ST. Louis
is controlled by Il capitalist from Cleve-
land, as far as baseball is concerned, and
Pittsburg has had similar trouble until
she wants no more of it. Divorce these
outside interests. and it will be surprising
how much good it will do the game
While the majority of the baseball
critics and club owners in the east have
to date given little serious attention to
the threatened rebellion in the west the
fact remains that the thinking men of the
game are beginning to realize that some
thing may come out of it after all. Still,
our western brethren made some mis-
takes at the start. and they will probably
make great many more before they get
through. Considerable amusement was
created in the east when it became
known that the organizers of the propos-
ed opposition had placed the presidency
of the new organization at the disposal
of Andy Freedman of New York Andy,
In addition, was offered the pick of the
players and about everything else if he
would only join In the movement. The
fact that Freedman has not seen a game
of baseball this year and takes positively
no interest in the game whatever was not
known evidently to the clique in the west.
The promoters of the proposed organiza-
ton were luckier than they knew when
Andy declined their invitation
1t rained one day recently when the
western teams were in the east, and the
players had day off. Many of them
decided to attend the races at the Graves
end track and did so. The average play
er does like to put a bet down occasion |
ally on the "ponies," and he is as happy |
as child out of school when he can get |
a chance to attend the races. 1t was be- |
tween the contests when l ran across the |
bunch of baseball lights, and as the book |
makers had taken about all of their spare |