The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-01
BILL PHYLE'S CHARGES
STORY ABOUT SELLING GAMES
 IS NOT BELIEVED.
Memphis Field Captain Started Re port About Montgomery "Throw- ins Of" to Pennant Winners.
 Some Baseball News.

The announcement made by Billy Phyle that Memphis won the pennant by buying games from Montgomery ana Atlanta Is not believed here. The story seems to have written In big black let- ters across its face, the words spite and spleen"
 When Charley Frank began strength ening his Memphis team towards the wind up of the season, he managed by paying fancy figures to get hold of two old Milwaukee players-Sam Duggan and Billy Phyle. The salary of the latter was $325 month, and he was made field captain of the Frankfurters Notwith- standing this there was disagreement of some kind between Frank and Phyle and now comes the serious charges made by the latter.
 He does not mention the name of any individual player on the Montgomery team, but in a general way says that an agreement was made whereby all the Montgomery games were thrown to Mem phis.
 When 1t comes to the Atlanta team he specifies the names of Frank Wilson, Jack Ely and Winters, alleging that the three of them were paid $25 each to throw the games with Memphis.
 As far as Frank Wilson and Jack Ely are concerned the story looks ridiculous.
 For a baseball pitcher to throw a game of ball for $25 and run the risk of losing several thousand dollars a season by
 being black listed looks bit fishy. Win ters has been drafted by Boston. and the idea of the hard hitting outhelder throw ing a game for $25 Is so absurd as to be laughable.
 The matter, however, should be thor
 oughly investigated For the good of the national game it should be sifted and
 ventilated to its .innermost recesses, and when everything Is over 1t is not impos- sible that the great Memphis field cap tain will find himself in the middle of | bad fix.
 The only salvation for the game of | baseball-professional ball-in pecun- iary way is the confidence of the pub
 lie in the integrity of the players Once
 let this public become convinced that | the confidence has been abused, that a professional game of ball can be thrown | as easily as the average amateur affair | and the gate receipts will shrink so fast that there will hardly be enough money | in the box office to pay car fare back to | the hotel.
 | Professional baseball has always had | the reputation of being one outdoor sport
 that has as far as possible all the Sele-
 mentary taints of crookedness eliminated,
 and no time, money or material should
 be spared to speedily get to the bottom of the Phyle charges.
 Besides the fact that Frank Wilson Is | Montgomery boy. and that Jack Ely | started the season with the local team, | Montgomery fans are anxious to see the | charges disproved for thes good of base | ball in general
 The Attendance Figures. A Little Rock special says: President w. M Kavanaugh of the
 Southern Association of Baseball Clubs
 has compiled the attendance ngures or | the league for the season, and as New ' Orleans, a tail-end club, heads the list.
 the figures seem to offset the oft-repeated statement that money was lost this sea- | son on baseball in that city. The adult | attendance there for the season was 10S,-
 GOO, which netted $27,OO0. not including | grand stand receipts and holidays. almost a winner, was next to last in home
 drawing, with but 49.0OO, exclusive of July
 4 and Labor Day-just 1900 better than | Shreveport who had to guarantee 6O,OOO l attendance to keep in the league. They | fell 1000 short of the number, but the | children's attendance will more than | make up the deficit.
 'The attendance figures are for adult | attendance only, or 25-cent tickets. I've | figures are given for six of the cities, for | the receipts of July 1 and Labor Day | were pooled, including grand stand, and | can only be counted as attendance as a | whole. The column headed ''holidays' in- | cludes the total receipts on those days. | including grand stand. The first column
 Is the total adult attendance for the sea-
 son at home. exclusive of holiday att | tendance. The last column shows the | census population figures of the cities. | The figures are as follows: