The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-10-07
Intends to Put Ten on Each
Team, and Sell Franchises.
AFTER BIG PLAYERS.
Will Hustle Among Athletes to
Get Their Signatures.
None OF Chicago Cubs Included
in Contracts Made.

Cincinnati, Oct. 7.-On D. A. Fletch-
er's gift of CAB depends the success
or failure of the proposed new baseball
league, which, if it becomes a reality.
will be a rival to the two major organI-
cations now in existence.
The promoter is not at all backward
about explaining his scheme to any one
who is curious to know it. In sub
stance, it is something like this: Mr..
Fletcher does not claim to have a large
personal fortune nor does he claim to
have backing enough now to finance
such a venture, although he says he has
interested enough wealthy men in the
plan to give him a good start.
His first move is to get the signatures
of enough big league stars to his con-
tract so that he will not have to worry
about lack of high class ball players
when the time comes. All this fall he
will hustle around among the athletes
and try to persuade them to sign. His
contract, the present one, is in the ma
ture Of an option and there will be
another one when or II the league ma
terializes.
Second Contract in February.
When a player signs the option, he
signs an agreement to put his sigma
ture on the other contract when it is
presented to him in February and for
this second signing, he will receive
bonus of $4,000. That sounds like
lot of money when you consider the
number of players who will receive
bonuses, but in reality, it isn't so much.
If man tried to buy the men outright
from the major league club owners
there are few of them he could get for
less than that sum. Instead of making
useless offers to the magnates for their
services, Fletcher buys the players from
themselves and $4,000 is the purchase
price.
1t is Fletcher's intention to get sign
ed options from about so of the best
major leaguers. Then he will divide
the so into eight teams of ten players
each, filling out the teams with class
y men and youngsters from the col
lege, etc. OF course, these latter will
not get in on the largest bonuses. When
he has gathered his men he will go to
wealthy men in each city which he in
tends to evade, show them the club
they can have if they will pay the
price, and tell them just how much it
Will cost.
Sells Team to Capitalists.
For instance. Fletcher might take a
list composed of overall Brown, Sheck-
ard, Schultz, Holman, Zimmerman,
White, Walsh, Sullivan, and Tannehill,
with a few youngsters thrown in to a
Chicago capitalist, sell this list to him
for $150,000, pay the bonuses out of this
sum ana nave some leIr Ior nlnSel1.
The purchaser, of course, would have
to expend another S100,000 or 100000
for a ball park At the latter figure
he would be investing $350,000. Mr..
Fletcher figures that there are several
wise capitalists, wise to the value of
a baseball franchise, who would will
ingly part with 100000 if they could
own a major league club in a city like
Chicago. In other towns his method
of procedure would be the same.
The chief difficulty confronting
Fletcher is to convince the players that
they will not get into any trouble by
signing provided the league should fall
through. He contends that he will
have so many stars signed up that the
powers of organized baseball could not
suspend or fire all of them without dis
rupting the present major league.
At present, the promoter is said to
have the signatures of many of the
best men in the game. There is no doubt
he is in earnest and that $4,000 in a