The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-08-07
ARE STILL AT IT.
Henry T. Mcknight
Replies to DIR. Bas,
tian's Statement.
AGAIN THE GAUNTLET is CAST.
Business Men viii Play
But VIII Stipulate
Against Betting.
AGAIN THE GAUNTLET is CAST.

Clinton, Aug. Sine ghost or pro-
fessionalism, which made its appear
ance in the ball game between the pro-
fessional men and the business men,
Friday afternoon, win not down. The
trouble lies deeper than at first APP
peared.
NJ V. Bastian, the captain Of the
professional mems team, expressed
himself this morning, in The Spy, in
very plain language.
Everybody in town, who is interested
in base ball read. what he had to say
regarding the introduction of profess
sional players into the game. In fact,
the interview was the sensation of the
week here.
Capt. Bastian laid the trouble and
the feeling between the players of the
opposing teams at the door of Henry
I. Mcknight, who was in charge Of the
business mems teams.
The controversy has been very dis
tasteful to Mr.. Mcknight. Today the
latter gentleman decided to reply to
some of the structures imposed by DIR.
Bastian, and he desired The Spy to be
the medium of conveying his opinion
of the situation.
Mr.. Mcknight is especially aggrieved
because DIR. Bastian accused him of
unfairly introducing O'Brien into the
game.
Mr.. Mcknight said this afternoon:
Il hope The Spy will give what l have
to say as much prominence as it has
given to the story Of DR.. Bastian.
have the greatest respect for DR.. Bas-
tan. He is an accomplished amateur
a n1AfA owsd L i a Il 49,
the game between the professional men
and the business men success. The
large attendance at Fridays game
arose largely because the people knew
that DR.. Bastian was manager of the
professional mems team.
Everybody knows his record as a
runner, and the people wanted to see
him run bases. That alone was worth
the price of admission.
But DR.. Bastian is in error when
he says that O'Brien was unfairly in
PRODUCED into the game. It happened
IN this way. DR.. Bastian's team was
short a man and so was my team. DR..
Bastian told me he was going to play
Milo M Bemis.
o'Brien'
Or. Bastian said all right, and I put
o'Brien into the game.
DIR Bastian finds fault because Con-
naughton, Kittredge and Coughlin were
permitted to play with the business
men.
Il admit that all these gentlemen are
ball players. but they are also business
men. Connaughton is engaged in bus
mess; SO is Kittredge, and so is Cough
lin. Coughlin is in business with his
brother. John H Coughlin. 1t is not
true that he is merely clerk.
Now, DR.. Bastian is to blame that
our team went in to win, and nobody
else is to blame as much as he. If DE.
Bastian did not wish to play ball in
earnest, why did he try to bet on his
team?
This effort to make money out of
the game was the beginning of the
trouble. Everybody was in favor of a
farce game, in which the players on
each side would roll over each other
and over the field, and have a royal
good time.
But the first our team knew mem
bers were receiving mysterious hints
Inat DIR. Bastian had something up his
sleeve. Then we learned that money
was being freely offered by Dr. Basti-
ans friends on the professional mems
team. Finally Or. Bastian came to a
member OF our team and said that he
wouldn't stand for any crooked bust
ness, that he would have one team in
uniform and the other on the bench
AT the least sign of crooked business
ne said. he would take players of the
bench and put them into the game
Time after time members Of oul
team refused to bet on the game. MoneS
was Haunted in their faces. We were
faanted with not being willing to bach
ourselves. We heard of attempts Il
procure bets. Stories came to us thai
DR.. Bastian was offering to back hi.
team to win.
Ordinarily betting would have beer
in order. But this game was to b.
played in the interest of the Y M. c
A. The Y. M. G.. A. is opposed to betting
and gambling in all forms. I did mo-
consider it just 10 the Y. M. C. A. t.
gamble on she game and did not, ant
! discouraged ell my friends from doins
so. It was my idea that the professions,
men should be allowed to do the bettinf
themselves If they wanted to. l woul(
have no part in it. Until two or three
days before the game it was the inten.
ton of the business men to have sim.
ply farce game.
But when, after Mr.. Merchant hsf
retired from the conduct of the team
and left the charge of the team witt
me, / received information that some
OF the business men had been persuad.
ed to make bets, changed the plan.
ut was not we who bet on the game
or who sought to induce others to be
on the game. But after our friends had
bet on us 1t was our duty to win by al
fair means.
1T Is quite evident, it seems to me
that the theory of a farce game, upor
which DR.. Bastian so strongly insisted
is entirely inconsistent with bets.
farce game is all right, but a bet is I
cold fact. In farce game we woult
have lost; as 1t is we won, and ouI
friends saved their bets.
The issue was not forced by us. How
can DR.. Bastian object to our winning
on the issue which he produced? WI
never claimed to have two teams, one
to use and one to keep in reserve II
case there was crooked business. w,
never suspected crooked business. w,
did deplore betting, but we were power.
less TO help the betting. After oui
friends backed us was determined Il
win the game IL it could be won By
fair means.
DIR. Bastian was fairly treated
throughout. / personally went to hin
with the makeup OF our team. / ex.
planned to him that all our players were