The times., 1899-12-13
NATIONAL LEAGUE MEETING.
Diversity of Opinion Among the
MugnnteS on Several Questions.

Diversity of Opinion Among the
Mugnntes on Several Questions.
NEW YORK, Dec. 12.-At the Fifth Ave
nue. Hotel, where the National League mag
mates are holding their annual fail meeting
the baseball situation today became further
complicated. and the relations between sew
eraI Of the cIub-owners are pretty severely
strained this evening. After long confab
with Freedman at the Democratic Club on
Monday night, several schemers who have
planned to reduce the circuit to eight clubs
and who are prepared to put up strong
game OF bluff to accomplish this end came
TO the hotel at a surprisingly early hour this
morning. Freedman's hand was seen in
every move made by Soden. Brush, Robson,
Rogers, Hart, and Dreyfuss.
These are, in effect, the demands of the
New York president:
Favorable decision in the Wrigley case,
return of $500 fine for Brooklyn forfeit;
payment of Manhattan field rent; contri-
button gratis of good bah players; death
Of syndicate ball, especially as it applies
10 Brooklyn and Baltimore. dismissal of
President y. Z. Young and the appoint
A--N.--~ VI - -AAlFNA 70 AAAt bASAllbl u
umpire superintendent.
If there is anything else that the New
York president wants The magnates prob
ably found il out tonight for they spent
another long session at the Democratic
Club
The plan to get the Brooklyn club to
let go Of the Baltimore franchise began
today when the national board of arbitra-
tion met. With n. E. Young in the chair
and SOden, Brush, Rogers, Hart. and Rob
isOn present the board proceeded to take
up the much talked-of Wrigley case. Presi-
dent p. T. Powers. of the Eastern League
went before the board and presented his
case in the strongest possible manner. The
board then considered the case in secret
and after several hours in which a few
other minor cases were acted upon. this
ruling was made public:
The protest of the Syracuse club
against the action of the New York club
in contracting with George Wrigley, on
September To- 1893. on the ground that
the Syracuse club had not transferred to
the New York club its right of reservation
OF the players services, as provided in
the national agreement, and that the said
Syracuse club did a few days afterward
transfer such right of reservation TO the
Brooklyn club. having come before the
national board OF arbitration it was re-
solved:
THAT the national agreement does not
give TO the reseTying club the right to
control the services of a player after his
contract has terminated with the said club
and its right 10 transfer such reservation
is not impaired by any action of the player
entering into the service of any other
club after the termination of such con-
tract and before the commencement of the
next season Of the club to which he has
been transferred"
II turned out that the Syracuse club
never filed any protest at all until after
it was learned the case was coming up
Then Jake Wells, of Syracuse. arrived
upon the scene, sent in a formal protest
with demand for 4 hearing. and also filed
charges against the New York club for
tampering with a player Wells was not
given an audience. The members of the
board, after making this decision, hurried
out OF the hotel ana refused 10 talk. They
gathered the other magnates together, and
called a regular session of the League,
which was adjourned in two minutes
Meanwhile no adjournment of the ma
tional board had been recorded, which was
regarded as strange proceeding. The
board Of directors viii meet tomorrow
morning and the WTigley case as regards
New York and Brooklyn, viii be consider
ed. The directors will probably throw
out all Of the games played by the Brook
lyns in which Wrigley participated. 1t
viii not alter the championship record.
The national board, the supreme court
Of baseball, has been dictated to by Freed
man and the latter has received his first
bouquet Intended as a knockdown this
move has not Jared the Brooklyn Balti-
more syndicate in the least. Abell Won
derhorst, Hanlon, and Ebbetts are not
worrying. They are awaiting further de-
ters up TO their own satisfaction tonight,
they say. They reached agreements with
the owners Of the Cleveland Louisville,
and Washington clubs during the day,
whereby those franchises will be surrend-
cred to the League at the proper time. This
statement is made in spite Of Wagner who
said tonight that he still wanted $4,000 for
mis- holdings. Wagner, by the way, sprung
story 10 the effect that Freedman would
buy the Brooklyn club entire and place the
champions at the Polo grounds, while he,
(Wagner) would buy the Baldmores and
locate them in Washington. thereby max
ing an eight club League easy.
Then Brooklyn Baltimore, Cleve-
land, and Louisville, imperative and
sulI owned by the League, would
be held until a chance is offered 10
put them into an American Association.
But the Brooklyn and Baltimore clubs are
not for sale at any such price as believed
by Wagner. Abel said tonight that the
Brooklyn stock was worth par and that the
club is capitalized al $3.50, 600.
The play 10 be made by the magnates,
probably tomorrow, is TO inform the Brook
lyn Club that unless Baltimore is dropped
both clubs viii be frozen out at the end
of two years. The schemers believe this
viii Go the trick, but they viii strike
snag. as the Abell-Vonderhorst syndicate
is fun of fight. From the way things look,
a ten-club circuit seems probable. But
whether Brooklyn and Baltimore viii con-
sent to any reduction at all is a matter
that may puzzle the magna;es when the
proper time comes.