The Washington herald., 1908-08-13

come first served. These two dates de-
note the opening and closing Of the draft
ing season. and Il IS during the inter-
venlng time that National and American
League clubs must aIe tier wants. %
accompanied by the required amounts OF
money, with the secretary Of the COM
mission
OF course. any scout can notify his
particular club Of some phenOm who
might make good in fast company and
the club IN turn can telegraph. write. or
IN some other way notify the commission
OF its intention Of drafting such player
from one OF the minor leagues before the
open season but all these notices lre
not counted as received before September
1 has pulled around Il Is a question
whether OF not the majority Of the fans
who daily watch the doings Of the teams
fully realize the intricate proceedings at
tached 70 the procuring Of players from
the smaller Organizations OF baseball by
the big clubs by the drafting system
When a player IS for sale he can be
bought That's easy But drafting is
quite another tale.
Each club in baseball has a man or
men whose Judgment Of a real bail play
er is considered good enough 10 know
one when he sees him. even in a bush
league On these men depends q whole
lot, possibly the making OF q champion
ship team They travel about the coUn-
tTy watching the showing OF the won
ders" and judging as much as possible
whether OF not these much touted play
ers VIII blow up If gwen a chance in fast
company When a find is made the
club is notified. and then its up 10 the
management 10 decide If il wants the
ball tosser in question
IN organized baseball there are four
classes OF clubs-CIass 4. 3. c. and a
lower class When a big league club de-
cides 10 draft some player from the
minors they are specified amounts o.
money which must be deposited with the
secretary Of the national commission. in
company with the notification; and. TN
less the money accompanies the 'inten-
COn,' Il IS not considered until the coin
has been forthcoming from the club
which desires the player Then the play
er IS released by the club whose property
he has been. for a period OF ten days.
In that time. II he is not signed 5y a
major league club. ne again becomes the
property CT the club from which he was
selected For players who are connected
with clubs that come under the four clas-
slncations the following amounts must
be deposited wiki the secretary Of the
commission when such a player IS draft
ed Class A. SL0O5. Class 3. 500. Glass
c. 800. and for players from clubs Of
lower class. S31
But the clubs In the minor leagues
must also be looked after Il would not
do for some smaller association 20 have
II its personnel three OF even more play
ers O. a Caiber that would insure rhesr
enrolment IN the big league and have all
these players gobbled up. That would
leave the minor club 81 hole. Fore
seeing tlis. a clause has been inserted
IN the rules which govern this case. 1t
states that not more than one player
shall be drafted from a Class A club IN
season Z a Class a club wishes 10
dispose % player by sale. that IS an
other matter
Some idea OF how the big. league scouts
have been hustling this season can be
seen BY the number of players thar have
eltEer been purchased outright OF have
been proposed as likely material for next
season That the demand for pitchers IS
becoming greater and greater with the
coming OF each season is also shown bv
the manner IN which all those rwirlers
II the minors which have evincef sig1s
OF class have been corraled-