The Washington times., 1907-06-11


When he is not free to so where he
pleases.
This is the answer in the case of
Mike Kelley, whose appeal to the Ma
tionaI Baseball Commission. sometimes
known as the National Joke" was
decided late last night in Cincinnati.
after the honorable commissioners had
adjourned in the afternoon to attend the
Latonia races, near Cincinnati.
The commission ruling. according to
the synopsis which has reached this
city, is that Kelley is exonerated of the
charges against him of hav.hg unjus-
tifiably accused Umpire ovens. of the
American Association, OF crookedness.
and is also not under reserve to the St.
Louis American League club.
Caviling Crawl.
Having laid down these propositions.
the io1esmiths. who pose as the digni-
fed and square-dealing heads of the
greatest national game OF the greatest
people in the world. announce that. al
though Kelley is free. the president of
any league has the right 10 bar HIM
from playing i'm that league.
II it were not such a serious matter
and such a contemplate and cavilling
average reader as one Of the rarest
quips Of the day, but it cannot be treated
lightly when II is remembered that a
large sum OF money is involved and
that Kelley has a living to make and
family to support.
0ne-Man Decision.
1t is absolutely a one-man decision.
and Garry Hermann and Harry Pulliam
have been made TO look foolish and
childish in the hands OF Ban johnson.
They were clean sports and talked bold
~ until it came TO a showdown. when
they backed up and ate out Of the
hands Of the man who was a minority
member of the commission. Their
friends must be proud of them.
After declaring Kelley free. Hermann
and Pulliam stultifed themselves by
declaring that the president of any
league had the right TO bar him. This
was the substance OF the entire contro-
Nersy and was exactly what Ban john
son was after all the time. johnson
Is working in the interests Of Lennon,
OF St. Paul: Havenor. OF Milwaukee,
and other owners in the American AS
sociatiOn who are after Kelley's scalp.
These men have feared all along that
II the National Commission reinstated
Kelley he would bob up again in Min
neapolis TO manage the team owned
IucTe by the CantlllOn brothers and
thereby give them the laugh after they
had secretly voted to run him out OF
The association.
Where Does Kelley Get Off?
II the commission, supposed to be the
Pooh-Bah Of baseball, has declared
hat there is TO faint on Kelley. but AT
lhe same time any league president can
interdict him because Of the charges
Of which he has been honorably ac-
quilted. where does Kelley get of?
Scotch verdicts of Guilty but not
proved are foreign to American and
baseball iaw-except when johnson
needs them to further his private
schemes, it would seem.
Kelley was indignant this morning
and properly so. He is by no means a
blatant loud-mouthed man, but a quiet
spoken gentlemanly tallxer, who does not
appear to be given to INDUCING In in
discriminate roasting, still he could not
i help making a few remarks when he
heard what puppets Ban Johnson had
made OF the other commissioners. He
said:
Washington a Catspaw.
THE people here don't understand the
case very clearly because hitherto the
affairs of the American Association have
not been Of great interest to Washing
+ ton, but all the ball players and West
ern people will see at once that the en-
tire object OF the qualifying clause Of
the decision was not to keep me out OF
the American League but to bar me
from the American Association, where
they think ! might go to Minneapolis
for the Cantillon brothers II I were
TO sign with st. Paul today 1 could be
playing In that city as soon as a train
could get me there, and there would
not be a single yeIp. AS It is, they have
that Minneapolis idea in their heads
and I am barred.
Johnson fought the case for the Mil
waukee, st. Paul. and other clubs that
don't want me in the American AssO-
citation, and had this power Of the pres
idents injected into the decision for
their special benefit. hence. to make q
pretense OF saving his face i am not
permitted TO play in Washington. The
CLUB here is being used as a good thing
10 further the campaign against me in
the American Association.
suppose now the only thing to do
IS Tor me 10 go TO Des Moines for Can
tillon and make a living out there while
still under a cloud"
Why Is a Commission?
Joe Cantillon was as unqualified in
his condemnation Of the verdict as was
Kelley. He was convinced that Johnson
simply threatened to break up the
national commission and thereby almost
inevitably precipitate a baseball war
IL Hermann and Pulliam did not agree
TO his terms. In other words fhst
johnson, the third member. dictated
terms 20 the other two. Wherefore
Cantillon pertinently inquired:
What's the use Of having a commits
sion? It's a big waste OF expenses
time. and trouble TO have three men
get together in Cincinnati to dispose of
cases. when the word of only one of the
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