Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-06-20
Many College Men Indulge In
Professional Base Ball Dur
ing Vacation
PRACTICE is VERY COMMON
Two Instances Where the Evils Re-
suItne From it Have Been Reaped
by School and Indivdual-cedar Val
ley Circuit News-Ba1l Players Jump
Contracts.

1t is becoming quite a fad for COL
lege base ball players, during the sum
mer vacations. to hire themselves to
some one of the many professional
teams that are maintained in the cities
or towns of this and other states The
man who does this takes his amateur
athletic career In his hands. and throws
into the air a boomerang which with
out waning and when least expected.
may return TO the thrower, bringing
with it dire consequences A consid-
ieraple per cent of the college base ball
players OF this state support themselves
during the summer months by PLAYING
professional ball. and there is scarcely
a team with a pay roll in Iowa that
does not contain the name of some
man. or men. who. three weeks ago.
represented some college on the dia-
mond. The practice is so common that
lit escapes particular notice, but the
vail Of unfair play is never louder than
when the harvest of such actions is
reapsd, as was the case with the state
university at Minneapolis two years
| ago.
| The salaries. ranging from $50 to
800 paid by managers. furnished
most alluring bait for the college man.
just entering three months vacation.
who IS a trhe strong to work. and
whose pockets are empty. But the
young man who ever carries at heart
the best interests of his school and
himself, viii leave the temptation
alone. He should be one of the two.
either the dyed-in- the wool profess
sional. after his first plunge into the
business on a salary, or once and for
ever an amateur. SO long as he re-
mains with nothing other than local
reputation he can fit from salaried
team to college nine with impunity, |
but let him once attain prominence in
position where he is liable to become
menace to an opposing schtol. and
his record will be dug up and flung in |
his face. He will be pulled from his
pedestal of athletic purity and the hon
or and integrity of the school he rep |
resents will be questioned
Two notable cases come to mind |
that fully illustrate this point. Cap
tain Clyde Williams. of Iowa City,
whose record as an amateur was ques-
toned at Minneapolis two years ago,
by she Minnesota state eleven. He
had been accused of playing ball for a
salary somewhere in South Dakota
The allegation was sustained and he
was forever ruled out. Supporters of
Iowa City still claim that his loss cost
Iowa the game. 1t cost them more. for
1t was around Williams, as a mucous,
that the team was built. When his
support and leadership We're removed,
it crambled and fell to pieces until it
is but little more than a shadow OF its
former self. Homer Holland, since
murdered is the other. He gave prom
Use of being one of the fastest 100 yard
men IN the state. He represented 1
Drake. His record was questioned and
he was disqualified with base ball on
the Lake City team, years before, as
the cause. He killed himself athletic
ally, and did the school he represented
no good. Instances like these seem to
prove of no benefit, however, for today
all over Iowa, college men, are I'M
blushinsly accepting the coin and
swatting the ball, with as much vim
as they did for their school,
With each succeeding meeting the
Cedar Valley circuit is getting better
Horses, that early in the spring We're
not tit to go the route, are boiling up
and are doing business with the bunch
The string scheduled to go at Waterloo
next week is said to be one of the
best that ever started in that city. Wa
terloo Marshalltown, Cedar Rapids and
Oskaloosa have yet to receive their al
lotmea; of the circuit, and with the
right weather they should show better
sport than the early meetings of the
spring.
All other events on the track among
either the harness horses or the thor
have been cast in the Shad-
ow of that other big national event
the American Derby run at Washing
ton Park this afternoon. Everything
depends upon the weather and there
Is no way of either determining to II
certainty the size of the crowd or the
One of the besetting evils of the small !
base ball team and one
against which it has no way of protect
ing itself is the avarice of the player .
as has been made apparent in the
Hampton team. The great difficulty
with this class of teams is that they
h;sve no way to protect themselves
from the player who feels so disposed !,
so that he may jump his contract at
any stage OF the game whenever he is =
offered u higher salary somewhere else ,
Several men Of the Hampton nine have
gone leaving the team crippled but
along. There seems to be =.
40 preventive against this, as sim !,
lar complaints are heard everywhere ,
Now that rivers and streams are
lgain creeping into their banks the
sherman is out thrashing the water
or rise While there is no doubt
I, III, ,,p