The St. Louis Republic., 1902-12-21

1 which begins January D. which date
| peace" committees from the American and
| National leagues meet at Cincinnati to ar
! range the details and provide appropriate
| coStuming and stage setting for the long
deferred production II the tabl-au entitled
| Getting Together"
| The overworked inasnate will not get
| much rest during the holidays. The annual
| meeting of the American League j. st for
| tomorrow at Chicago. but the session will
| hardly last longer than a day. The pen
| naut proba bly, will b. formally awarded to
| Philadelphia bur the n al business Of the
| meeting will be the selection of commit
| tee 10 act arbitraturs with the National
| League trio.
The men who will likely act for the
| American League are President Johnson.
| Henry kiliiea. owner OF the Boston CLUB
| and J. II. kilfoyl principal owner Of the
| Cleveland club.
| Ii Is certain that Johnson will head the
| committee and what he SAYS will go with
| the Americans. Henrv killiiea is i ShreWd
| lawyer. and the success of the American
League is largely due to his enterprise anu
| backing
| MIR. kiifoyl will be selected because he is
| Thoroughly familiar with the situation. as
| he was in New York when the National
| League came down to the earth and sued
| for peace. Ii il unlikely that any other
| business viii be transacted AT Chicago this
| week. as even tv;o-day session would cut
some of the club owners out of a Christmas
at home. AS was the case last year. the
| real business session Will be the schedule
| meeting, which may be held in St Louis in
March.
| Possibly. if a poll were taken of the club
! owners in both leagues. there might he q
| league but the public does not care for any
such organization. The fan wants 10 see
| two lsaeues. that he can compare the
teams. The spirit of rivalry appeals to him:
tnouestiondblv u tweive-club league would
| be good thing for the men who owned
clubs in it. for baseball will command the
attention of the faithful fan, even If he
doesn't like the government of the game
Baseball writers the country over incline
to the opinion that two leagues are better
than one. because the standard of the game
is raised by competition, honest or other
wise. There is no denying that the class or
ball PLAYED In the American @ and National
witnessed.
The twelve-club idea will find more adj
herents in the old league than in the Amer
lean. for in several cities the parent organ
ization ia In such bad way that consolida-
ton would be lfe-saver The American
result of their efforts. Ban Johnson does
not personally favor consolidation. Un-
doubtedlv 1t would be good thing for him.
for he is the only man who would be con-
sidered for the presidency of such league.
but Ban can see into the future and can
read there some things that might not be
pleasant to contemplate. Here is what he
says about consultations:
Since the National Leagues letter
reached me I have declined to discuss the
! question Of what terms we would accept.
and do not intend to do SO now. in advance
Of the conference and of our own meeting.
/ think can say. without jeopardizing any
interests. however. that there will be two
leagues. and not consolidation into
twelve-club circuit find the sentiment
strong throughout the country in favor Of
two leagues. and there are not more than
two or three club owners in favor Of re-
in the American. so far as / know.
Our circuit will be Boston. New York.
PHILADELPHIA. Washington: Cleveland, De-
trct. Chicago and st. Louis. There is CO.
terie of men in Pittsburg ready to make q
handsome offer for the Detroit franchise and
club. but no transfer could be made without
the leagues ratification. and do not know
, that the league would ratify it,
Peace is not a certainty. for the ADJUST
ment of several delicate matters may result
in a deadlock. BY the words In which the
National League couched its note to the
American. the latter organization is placed
In peculiar position. If the peace party
breaks up In a row. the National League
can claim that the American practically
refused compromise by making exorbi-
tant demands. Still. the American Is in q
has little to gain and something to lose by
any agreement that calls for concessions to
nns,e the old LEAGUE Cy san6oTn Of the Chicago
! gias peace pact. Sanborn is one OF the
American Leagues stanehest supporters.
AMERIcAN LEIGUEs -CoMM1rTEE.
The American League has yet to name
| league In conference, but 1t is not difficult
TO guess that Ban Johnson will be one
member and Henry Killilea of Milwaukee,
another Ban may not want TO serve, but
| the league will insist. This will bring
about peculiar situation. for 1t will bring
Ban face to face with James A. Hart. and
It was not SO long ago that Hart said
there never would be any peace while
johnson controlled the league and elicited
sharper retort from the American Lacquer.
But the long-standing friendship between
Messrs. Johnson and Hermann will be Of
any: soreness that may still exit. Lot OF
things have got TO be forgiven and forgot
ten and there are lots of bigger ones than
thi..
If the magnates eyer expect to reach an
agreement they ought to begin with the
easesf It IT will be smpe matter Si nrre es
on the survival Of the f1ttest in the cfiies
where there are rival clubs and the Ma
sons claims 10 New York when he pro-
duces the proofs in his possession. Right
in this line there was a significant move
lon predicted a club for Baltimore. 1t may
be the intention to offer the American
ton if it will surrender its claim to a big
club In Manhattan Itself. then transfer the
present Brooklyn club to its old stamping
ground in Maryland
The handling of the player question may
prove too big a task for the arbitrators.
viii viii be better to leaSe slS Il that part Of It to
the leagues and to the individual club own
ers. OF course the leagues will reach an
agreement to respect contracts and SAL
airy limit may be fixed. but each league
should deal with the much vilified contract
jumper as his offense may demand. There
are few who will not rest easy until the |
peace conference Is over and the public !
wants to know what sort of treatment will |
be accorded them. Here some OF the |
questions which will confront the arbitra- |
tors:
What will be done with Tommy Leach and
IAlfhaofI-p oh 10 ho,-a
two-year contract with the PittSburg
club. covering the seasons of 1901 and 1862 |
If he signed with the American League for |
1902 he undoubtedly broke q contract. II |
the National League Is allowed to keep
him then Deehanty should be returned to |
Washington. as he signed a two-year con-
tract last year and deliberately broke 1t to |
accept McGraw's New York offer.
What disposition will be made of Mathew |
son and Bowerman? II Mr.. Hedges can |
prove his priority oi contract will he get /
the men? |
Where will Victor Willis land? He signed !!
and sidestepped an American League con- |!
tract year ago, signed another last fall |
and is intending to ignore that also
How about Sam Crawford. who signed q |
Detroit contract and then returned ad- |
vance money and signed once more with |
Cincinnati?
If both big leagues continue as separate |
organizations and arrangements are made |
whereby inter-league games may be played !
before and after the championship season, |
the length of the season probably will be |
reduced Only few days ago Charles Au-
gustuS Comskey remarked that he would /
rather be on the schedule committee than
on the committee that is to attend to the |