Omaha daily bee., 1903-03-08
BASE BALL IN SPRING TIME
Manager ROurke Unburdens Himself
I'm ReEard TO n Very Apparent
Injustice.

Right now, before the season begins"
said Manager William Rourke of the
Omaha base ball team yesterday, IL want
to say a word In regard to my losing
Brown, Owen and Stone at the close Of
last season. At that time there were a
great many people who accused me of SELL
ing those players to the big league teams
that took place. In fact, almost everybody
interested in base ball made that assertion.
And l still hear people saying the same
thing. This has been a sore point with
me for a long time, and l want to answer
it now and say a word in my own defense.
I'm the first place, l did not sell a
single one Of them. They were simply
taken away from me, bought over my head.
l raised their salaries more than l could
AFFORD in order to hold them, but could
not compete with the prices the big teams
offered them. No man in his senses would
expect me to enter into a salary contest
with one Of those teams and win out. I
offered Stone $4,000 to stay. Boston took
him for $4,000. 1 offered Owen 81, $780,.
Chicago White Stockings took him for
200. l offered Brown $500. st. Louis
National league team took him for 81, 00O,
the highest salary of the bunch.
mo one on the outside, even one keenly
interested in base ball and in the Omaha
team, could have been as sore about this
as / was. l spent time and money de-
veloping these players, and then didn't get
a scent piece for them, nor even so much
as a by your leave 1t was simply a rank
outrage that the big leagues perpetrated
on the smaller ones. There was no use
saying a word. They'd simply give you the
laugh. 1t was simply a case Of hog. When
that national agreement was abrogated the
big leagues jumped in head over heels and
gobbled UP summarily all our players that
they wanted. Now that they've got them
all, they want peace again. There are sew
eral phases to that peace proposition and
I've just exposed one of them to you.
ain the meantime, while these big league
teams take away my players without giving
me a cent or a chance, what do l do? 1
pay cash money for almost every man on
my team. l bought Ace Stewart from Man
ming, Genins from Cleveland, Brown from
Terre Haute, Fleming from Hartford,
Wright from Rock Island, Gonding from
Kansas City. And that isn't all of them.
Almost every man on my team cost me
money. But l suppose there is no use
drawing the comparison and bowling about
the injustice of 1t. We've got peace again
now. l merely wanted to make 1t strong
that / didn't sell these men, that they
were taken away from me and that I
offered all l could afford, and more, to try
and keep them.
MY team remains the same. 1 still have
the two trades, for pitchers in view, but
haven't either fixed up yet. I expect to
trade Alloway for Shafstal with Peoria all
right, although 1 understand now that AL
loway refuses to go to Peoria. He'll prob
ably change his mind. Shafstal is the big,
rangy fellow who pitched all season with
Peoria last year. He is a right handler and
a fine fielding pitcher as we'll as being a
good hitting fellow for a box man. Then
l still expect to bring to a head my trade
of Whistler for Hopkins, or possibly for
Bruner, with Montgomery, Ala. All this
will mean eight pitchers for me to go on,
and l certainly ought to get a bunch OF
good ones out Of that.
II started work on my grounds last
Thursday, and they will be lone in ample
time. I'll build fifty feet Of new grand
stand, and also steady the old portion Of
the stand by putting stone foundations
under all the main posts. This will be
quite a job. as all the posts must be lacked
up to get the foundation in under. There
~ NAAAN " ~ w ~ bo1NhB CA6h9
new ones.
President Sexton now wants to do away
with the spring meeting of the Western
league. He wired me asking me what
thought about cutting 1t out. You see
there's really nothing to do but adopt g
schedule and a ball. Meanwhile Sexton
and Hickey are fixing up their two seized.
ules so as not to conflict. Our meeting IL
called for Denver OF course there is some
little expense to all Of us in having thu
meeting, especially away out there. Blu
still / don't see how we can do without 1t
just on account of that schedule. l never
saw one adopted by mail successfully yet
So / told Sexton that 1t was my opinion
we ought to have the meeting, but that 4
should be in one Of the river towns. There's
no sense in taking US all away out there
The real right way to do would be to hav,
both leagues meet together to adopt SEIZED
ules, as the American and Nationa.
leagues did"