Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-20
STICK TO ORGANIZED BALL
Magnate Hedges Has Plan tc
Squelch Invaders.
TO REGULATE TEAMS SIZE
Folwell's Record of Touchdowns
Good Racing at New Orleans.
College Chess Tourney.

as ma. Or league base Dali territory. worn
comes from Columbus that there is not
the slightest chance of the Columbus, To-
ledo and Indianapolis clubs of the Ameri-
can Association having anything to do
with the proposed invasion of Chicago,
even if the magnates who own the other
clubs. Havenor. Lennon. Cantillon and
Tebeau. outvote those who intend to re-
main regular.
Should the invasion of Chicago now
take place against the wishes of the ma
tional base ball commission, half the
American Association will become outlaw
clubs and big base ball war will be
started in the west. in which the grabbing
of major league players will probably be
feature.
President Bryce of the Columbus cruz
has sent assurances to Garry Hermann
of the national commission that he Will
not consent to the invasion of Chicago,
and other magnates have done the same.
With nearly half the magnates opposed 10
the plan. the bold buccaneers OF the
American Association are apt TO hesitate
a while before making raid on chi
cage. 1t is said that even If they decide
to go ahead they will wait a year to see
if they cannot get the backing of all the
Clubs of the Anne rican Association
The invasion of Chicago was first talked
of when the major league clubs would
no; deal fairly with minor league clubs
in the matter of waivers The habit OF
the big leagues buying brush leaguers for
s40o and selling. them back to class y
clubs Tor 81 800 caused the trouble. The
new waiver rules adopted by both the
big leagues will do away with this prac-
tica to a great extent. and this fact will
help to- smother the embers of war
Several methods for squelching the
American Assoc; alton if it invades Chi
cago are suggested in an interview given
out by Robert Lee Hedges, president of
the st. Louis Browns.
IF the Eastern League and the Southern
stand by organized base ball. says
hedges the american Association will
have slim chances of accomplishing any
thing. The fact that Columbus. Toledo
and Indianapolis seem opposed to the war
will also greatly cripple the chance of the
association living through it.
IF those three towns and one other in
the west would combine with four of the
strongest clubs in the Eastern League and
form n new organization, the prospects
for the outlaw ASSOCIATION would be
gloomy indeed. The big leagues might aid
in forming such league. Or it would be
possible to use Columbus, Indianapolis
and Toledo with one other city of that
locality. and put club in Kansas City
against Tebeau. get one in Omaha, Des
Moines and one other western city, and
the outlaws would be broken up in short
time.
Kansas City. and a club could go in there
and soon run him out. would consider II
good investment to put money into a
club in Kansas City even if Tebeau is
there. think he could also be run out OF
Louisville. The Association will also find
itself hard up for players, for the big
league will not -et their surplus men go
there, if it is an outlaw organization, and
i don't think the association clubs can
afford to pay salaries big enough to get
many of the players to jump.
I'VE, would distribute our players among
the Dfinor leagues in good standing. If the
the EHstesn and southern leagues should
join d\eyl in the break from organized
base haN they Would then have a good
change az carrying it through. But the
way kmatfers seem to stand l cannot sec
whsfe thtT haveja chance
. Irs>'rhomas secured from New York
by>Detroit. is a good catcher. New York
tdid not let him ont because of any weak
hess as bAekstop, but because of ILL
feeling heTEeen him and Kid Elberfeld
1tTwas a case of one the other going
VS. Grin needed shortstop more he kept
ElDs rfeld. Thomas will be happy to leave
the Yankees. lie m warm admirer of
Jennings and isfwell liked b. the Tigers.
VIII four catchers to draw from. Jen-
nfngs will probably pick Schmidt, Thomas
and Payne. Archer is great thrower
and may be kept. 1t all depends on what
"A
weakness is his inability to hit and they
dosay his eyes are poor.
One4of The several matters left over
from ne recent meetings of the major
leagueS>to be discussed for several weeks
and acted upon at the February conclave
of those organizations. is the problem en-
bodied in the suggestion to limit the num-
Der of players each team can carry during
the playing season. This is not a new
nd
ing. 1t did not solve the problem 1t was
designed to solve. That problem is how
to prevent the stronger and richer clubs
In a league from growing stronger and
richer by means of getting possession of
too much playing talent, leaving the
weaker clubs an insufficient supply for
their needs. Experience has shown it is
for the interests of all clubs in race
that there be no weak clubs, but that all
shall be as near equal strength as posi-
BILE within reasonable limits. Without
good players the weaker clubs cannot
strengthen their ranks. and the tendency
all the time is for good players to be
cornered by the good clubs, which have
the smaller need for them.
This is something in which enterprise
shrewdness, luck and ready money play al
most equal parts. If the surplus players of
the stronger clubs can be infused into the
weaker clubs it will help solve the prob
lem. How to accomplish this is the ques-
ton. The suggestion to limit the number
of players on a team to eighteen would
not accomplish enough to offset the dis
advantages of such a scheme in unusual
cases. The old Boston Nationals under
Selee used TO win pennants with only ff-
teen men in uniform. 1t required twenty
two. five of them catchers, for the Chi
cago White SoX to win their pennant in
1906. and Comiskey needed every one of
them. so constant were the handicaps of
accident and sickness. If a rigid limit is
fixed it viii not mean the weaker clubs
Will get many more of the surplus play
ers than now. They will be loaned out
TO minor leagues while the majors will
retain strings to them. thus keeping them
out OF reach of the weaker clubs. That
is the way clubs which carry forty or fifty
players under reserve during the winter
reduce their surplus to twenty or so dur
ing the playing season at present. 1t
would be just as easy to reduce the lists
to eighteen without surrendering claim to
any more players than at present. 1t will
be argued the weak clubs will have a
chance TO claim the players before they
are loaned to the minors. They have that
chance now, ,and a new regulation adopt
ed recently will increase that chance. The
real remedy is to limit the number of
. players which club can carry during the
winter. thereby reducing the number of
recruits which can be purchased and
drafted. That will give the weaker clubs
more talent from which to pick during
the off season, when teams are put to-
gether. instead of during the playing sea-
son. when constant changes in makeup
often injure teams.
Nrry VINO a NpArK Cu0T