The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-07-07
BASEBALL LEAGUE IS
LOSING PROPOSITION
Not Enough Money to Launch
Project i'll Proper Shape
at Beginning.

The baseball fans of this city would
not like to see the lntermouutain base
ball leagne go under, but from present
appearances there is little hope for the
organization. Manager Barnes has got
III bad in Butte with the owners of the
ball park for transferring last week s
games to Salt Lake and they now re-
fuse to allow the Butte team the use
of the ball park 1t seems that the
grounds are owned by the street car
company and the company wants games
every day if IT can be arranged, The
Boise team has been total failure for
some reason. while Salt Lake and Hcl-
ena have been the only teams III the
league TO make good
The patronage in Salt Lake has not
been what it should have been, but
there was a reason for this. The prlce
of admission was raised TO % cents and
an extra charge was made for cushions.
The price was too much for the kind
OF ball furnished. Salt Lake and Hell.
ena would pass, but games with Butte
OF Boise were considered Joke and
were so one-sided that they did not
compare favorably with the high school
article. and people win not attend any
kind of amusement unless they arc get
ting their money worth. In playing
two weeks without n change In teams
was another mistake Butte was shown
up so badly in the first game played in
the last series by Salt Lake that pco-
pie lost all interest In the game and
refused to attend Notwithstanding the
uneveny matched teams, the league
held Salt Lake and Butte here for two
weeks. and suffered thereby.
Manager Farnsworth said that when
he first came here he was gwen 20 un-
derstand that this was baseball town,
but he was disappointed and said that
they did not want baseball here Earns
worth does not seem 10 realize that
ma aiority Of the Buttc.Sat Lake games
were Jokes and the same kind of ball
would not he patronized IN any other
city. liz is true that all teams have
their of DAYS. but it looked very mnch
as if Butte had taken a vacation for
the entire season. Then TO make mat
ters worse, the Salt Lake team played
carelesslv at times In order TO allow
the Butte boys to score few runs
and this made matters still worse from
baseball standpoint of view, and 1T
was r common thing 10 hear people
in the grandstand say that they had
seen their last game. 1t was only the
out-and out fans that stuck to the last
and these did not number enough to
keep UP The expenses Of the sport.
Manager Farnsworth did what no
other man has done for this city, and
that was to put IN winning team
Salt Lake has undoubtedly the best
team in the Intermountain league,
Farnsworth was game and came here
md put in his own money 10 start the
sport going. With a little help he
would have been able to put the grand.
stand in presentable shape and to have
fixed up the grounds properly, but as
matters stood he did the best ne could.
Then again. only one years lease can
be secured on the Walker field and ii
does not pay TO put in the necessary
baseball improvements which would
make the place attractive enough TO
draw people who seldom think OF at
tending a game.
According to present rumors, the
league will disband and the Salt Lake
team will play at Dillon, Mont, IN a
leave Salt Lake without any baseball
again