Waterbury Democrat., 1901-12-16
BASEBALL BREEzEs.
President spalding Says Freedman Is
 Out of Baseball.

ssAt 4:3O o'clock tomorrow after noon Andrew Freedman will get out of baseball and A. G, Spalding winsl Telephone that to the Democratic clulb.''
 Such was the startling announce ment made by Spalding ill the corridor of the Fifth avenue hotel yesterday afternoon at o'clock in voice that could be heard all over the lower floor. Newspaper men who asked the new president of the National league what he meant by this statement were laughingly waved aside with the fur ther remark:
 s'I mean just what 1 say. In tWen- ty-four hours I will announce that An drew Freedman and A. 6. Spaldlng separate as far as the issue IS con- cerned and that Spalding wins! Then there will be other issues that will be similarly treatedv' Then Spalding went away and prepared statement for the press, after first going over the inter- view of Freedman in yesterdays pa- pers.
 At 4:3O o'clock tomorrow afternoon (AIonday), at the Fifth avenue hotel will announce to the reporters that will treat this controversy between us as water that has passed the wheel and will introduce new issues into the baseball campaign Joking toward im- proved conditions in our great national sport
 This announcement which is of vital interest to the baseball public of not only New York but of America. was received with consternation by Brush, Robison. Soden and Conant when they learned of it. Freedman, too. was dis turbed, for he said, when asked for an interview:
 'sThere is nothing that MT Spalding can say any more that is worthy of re- ply from me- The interests of the stockholders of the New York club will be amply protected.
 Robison, when he heard of Spald- ing's def, asked to have it repeated to him half dozen times. ''The only construction I can place on it." said have card up his sleeve, for other wise he would not make such bold bluff. It appears to me to he possi- ble that Spalding in some way has se- cured control of il majority of stock in the New York club.
 Robison hurried off to see Soden and Conant, who were in their room ill the Fifth avenue hotel. where earlier in the day they had conferred at length with Freedman and Brush. Just what card Spalding has to play at the hotel this afternoon remains to be seen.
 Spalding was hard at work on some thing all day yesterday. He and his brother, J. Walter Spalding, were hustling about town on some mysteri- ous mission. They had several stenog- raphers at work pounding away at bulky documents. Several Spalding agents were loRing about the Abe marie and telegrams were received from somewhere in abundance. There was so much activity that anybody could guess that there was cyclone brewing The new president of the National league believes in quick ac tion, and when he announced boldly that his contest with Freedman was all over but the shouting, he sank back into big armchair and laughed heart fly. f
 Ut is quite a victoryr' said Presi dent Spalding, but I expected a hard CT fight. I might qualify the statement that Freedman will be out of baseball at 4:30 tomorrow by saying that ht might bob Up ill the Canadian league But as far as our personal issue is concerned, it is all oyer."
 What card has Spalding got up his sleeve? Spalding seldom loses, espec tally in baseball His election to the l league presidency, by the way, shows 1 that he knew all along what play t6 make, for, as q lawyer said yesterday ''The National league is not a cor poration, but merely a volunteer com bination of business interests governed by it's own constitution. Nobody car sue it and collect q cent. It has nc 1 charter and would not be recognized ill court of law. Baseball contract. l md other contracts have never beer l recognized in the courts for the reason that baseball law is not usually legal I With this in view, it may be seen tha | Spalding's election would stand any way and it is not improbable that hi opponents have learned by this tim
 that they have no legal address. Th
 eight National league clubs are no
 bound together by any ironclad agree
 ment. Any one of them can resign l If four of them do not coincide witt 1 Spalding's election they can get out That is all there is to it. Spalding 1 president and has the leagues officia l documents ill his possession. Posses
 sion is nine points of the law
 The dropping of Bristol from tn I Connecticut State league is now re garded by baseball men as the wors I mistake the league ever made, as
 storm of indignation all over the stat,
 was raised. Those who voted Bristo l out claim that as business proposi
 tion Springfield is a more valuable cit l for the league than Bristol and tha
 Hartford and Bristol are too close to l gether to be in one league. Whel l Hartford was first admitted it was un I derstood that Derby alone would b
 dropped. After Hartford had beer
 admitted some of the league magnate
 believed that there would be nor
 money ill Springfield than in Bristol.
 The claims of Bristol are that tn
 Bristol team of last year improved tn l playing of all the teams, as the Bris tols set the pace. Bristol people als
 claim that Springfield is dead as baseball town and that Roger Como
 will not put out enough money to ge
 a good team. I. l.. Wlltsie of tn
 Hartford team says that personally Ii
 was not ill favor of shutting Bristo