The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-27
MONTGOMERY FRANCHISE
 HANGS IN THE BALANCE
Baseball Magnates Will Gather in Birmingham Tomorrow, But Nothing Definite Will Be
 Done as to Local Situation.

j
 Possibly there Is not in the United States a town thst has had such strenuous experience with baseball as Montgomery.
 For four years this town has been the football and the laughing stock Of the entire Southern League. The peo-- pie of Montgomery have been huncoed until they are disgusted. and because the owners of the baseball franchise have appeared to care much more for the fares accruing from the lambs go- ing to and returning from being shorn than for giving these lambs an article of at least second rate baseball.
 as the tbs dnthssn League O meeting in Birmingham tomorrow morning, the baseball affairs in Mont gomery are in worse condition than ever before. The directors of the local and know absolutely nothing of the future, while the Montgomery Trac- tion Company has fatlv refused to do say ,o ,ge sctoa at tSs recent meeting of the. Association, which was neither declined nor ac- cepted, the representatives of the Traction Company goStpon1ding, gIpsn1dag, aetiGn Apperson of the Traction Company. who was to have been here last week. Hs has not come to Montgomery yet, ana W. H. Ragland of the Traction com y ter from him in which he said that pc would be in Montgomery next Tuesday morning.
 This means that nothing can be known or said to the status of the Montgomery situation at the league meeting tomorrow SIS upon the fiat Of MT. Apperson depends the destinies oF the local baseball It IS immaterial 10 the franchise in any town as long as the dues, guarantee. forfeit and sinking fund pro rata is paid. TnereIore. tnP muddled conditions of affairs in Mont gomery will have no bearing whatso- ever on the status of this town at the meeting tomorrow.
 On account of sickness in his fam fly. President E. P. Amerine will be the interests of Montgomery will be
 While local baseball affairs are mixed at present, the Montgomery fans can that baseball will be played in Mont. gomery during the season or lSol. anu probably for many years. In view oL the scrambled condition of anairs at ike T don't know where I'm going. but I'm, on my way, and as the Mont gemery people are from Mlssouri, tney will have to be adherents or the raitn cure, for, some days. at least,y .na local attorneys of the Traction Company made the emphatic statement to one of the directors of the Baseball Asso- clation that under m clreulnstancss m sdn'ss Montgomery While he did not com init himself any further and ieft the future of baseball in Montgomery shrouded in sloom. stili U olsposes Sa franchise will he sold outside or the
 Now 1t is hardly within reason to suppose that with a franchise owne9 baseball parks on the lines of the street car company and about as fast a minor league team as the sontn svei saw ready to begin the season. tneae sa, Ing season. There will be ball ana while the ownership of the trancnlse is stilI to be decided the future own CTS of the franchise: IT they Vs shS, wtsv profit by the lessons of the past rev years. A penurious policy any ous~ inesa that eaters to the pubic IS La,ot not m {he 1ong run. This applies to base. bail more than to any other brancp ot business. After alt if IS the pubic upon which basebAil nas to I5 ISpSnu' SaI.,s in0 public with more neatness ana despatch than to have to undergo tnt agony of watching day after day the nltiful efforts of cheap sioppV .,is Dt.I Al. taken policy of economy the fastest team of individual ball piayers In the business can be butchereo and mace travestv of by having totally incom- petent manager at the head of t when 5v the outlay of a few extra doiisfs used in buying a practical iptodatS baseball man this same team coIlu De made a one, two combination at'the finish of the championship season.
 A good. fast ball team managed ,,,ttb S,t cIeasf human inte1lirUnce. will he a paving Investment in MontRonnerv; 2 fast ball team lnnrroperly manaSed is bound to be losing propos ton as tha sad mast has but too clearly de- monstrated. with possibly the swift est outfieId that ever cared for the lots of a minor league agRreRation. pitch ing stan that looks more than gocd. an Infield that needs only one-the ri9ht kind of--man to make 1t look al- most proof. and one vonnSSter 10 help out an already tried catcher. the local team for the coming season only needs a capable manager to lit