The Minneapolis journal., 1902-10-25
FOUR MEN =. SIGNED
4 ! GS3 3lS
Wilmot Gets Some Good Ball Players
From the Pacific North
west League.
Treasurer Johnston of the Local Club
Predicts Good Season
-. :$ for Next Year. .>.%' 49,. ~

Treas surer Ed Johnston Of the Minneapo-
lis Baseball club. predicts better sea-
son for the American association than was
enjoyed last year when nearly all the
clubs made money =.
"The teams will be better balanced next
year." said Mr. Johnston to-day, Louis
vile and Indianapolis will lose some Of
their best men, while the tail end clubs
will be strengthened. Wilmot returned
recently from, a trip through the Pacific
Northwest League. He signed four play
ers, who were practically the pick of the
league, but we cannot we'll give out their
names just yet, because we don't want to
lose them.
"Wimot says the northwest was full Of
National and American League and
American association managers on the
hunt for players. There is greater
scramble for good men than ever before,
and the players in many cases take ad
vantage of the split among the magnates,'
and refuse to sign. Watkins Of In
dianapolis, 1 understand, has not signed
player yet. have no fear about Wat
k1ns having a weak team, however. I
consider him one of the best men in base
ball to-day. Tebeau is another who al
ways shows UP with strong aggregation.
California League Not Fast.
"Wilmot tells me that Shay Burns,
Meaney and Phyle, who jumped from
the American Association team to the
California League, were stars on. the
coast, from which infer that the quality
Of baseball played there cannot be very
high, for Shay certainly was not sensa-
tion in this league.
w have been working hard ever since
August. and think we see our way clear
for coed team next season. We need
two mote infielders and first-class pitch
e". We tried hard to get Jack Katoll
back. Jack was hit pretty hard in the
American League, and we thought they
might let him go; but~he has signed with
Ban Johnson, although he does not know
yet what club he will be with.'
1t Is said in st. Paul that Manager
Kelly has had all he wants of being a
good fellow with his men, and that next
season ne VIII be a stern old Roman of
the first water when it comes to discipline.
Kelly ard Comiskey should form a mutual
condolence club.
Set Good Example.
The Chicago National and American
magrates are. setting a good example to
the other major league clubs in refusing
to stgI contract Jumpers.
The only rubberleg on either Of the Chi
cago teams is Davy Jones of the colts, and
he signed so many contracts last winter
that half dozen lawyers could not have
made worse tangle Hart therefore,
considered he had as good a right to him
as any one else Il :Comiskey is even more
strongly opposed to grasshoppers and
would not even talk Of taking Heidrick
and Wallace after their broken agreements
Of a year. ago, last Spring. =
It would be'a 1ong step toward bettering
| conditions if every club owner would fol-
low Harts example and announce what
players have actually signed contracts for
next a G az noccih1o
do away with much deception on the part
of players who take advantage Of the sit
uatton to bleed the nagnates by false
statements, of offers from other clubs. 1t
would keep a good many hands off play
er II 1t were known positively he had
signed for 1903, and those magnates who
would go afterda player under contract
would not gain any advantage by the
knowledge obtained from published lists.
An Illustration of the benefit baseball
would derive from publicity Is found in
the case of Pitcher Weimer, signed by
Manager Selee for next year. President
| Comiskey of the White Sox had an agent
after the same player under the impress
sion, gained from the player himself, that
| ne was free to r. sign. This, Weimer
| claimed, was true, because Hart had not
| lived up to some agreement. With the
| knowledge that Weimer was under con-
| tract to the National league, Comiskey
demanded Of the9player proof that he was
| not contract jumper, and If that cannot
| be produced, he will be dropped. But for
this the matter might have dragged along
all winter and Weimer might have made
representations which would have involved
| himself in as bad a tangle as Davy Jones
| got into last winter.
If the rival club owners will give greater
publicity to their transactions with play
ers there will be much less scandal con
nected with the game this winter and il
will accrue to the interest Of the mag
mates themselves in protecting them ir
| large degree from the avarice Of unprin.
cipled players, who are sure to make the
most Of the existing uncertainty.
Ban JoI1nson's Foxy Move.
Ban Johnson is said to be planning an
other foxy move: It will be remembered
! that the American league made a ten.
strike last season. when it let the strong
| Pittsburg team remain intact and guttec
nearly every other club in the National
thus rendering the race in the older league
| devoid Of interest and giving the Ameri.
| can all the best of it. In the four cities
where the two organizations came into
conflict
Now Ban proposes to fix his cards sc
that the Cincinnati team will be the only
| competitor of the pira tes for first place ir
1908. Brooklyn, :Pittsburg and Cincinnati
are the only cities where there is ne
competition between the two leagues. The
| Idea of Ban, according to the hot all
manufacturers around the circuit, is tt
let Pittstburg and Cincinnati battle among
themselves, and weaken as much as pos
sible the other teams. Thus the Ameri
can aggregations in New York, Boston
Philadelphia st. Louis and Chicago will
supply better ball than the National, anC
the public will continue to patronize the
younger league.
, roxy plan, If true, and if it works.
- Jack Grlm's Little Joke. :.-
| d" Seldom is a baseball tale spr,lne the.