The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1910-08-18
RULE WEAKENS
= : LEAGUE TEAMS
PROVISION RESTRICTING MAJOR
LEAGUE CLUBS TO 35 MEN
WORKS HARDsHIPs ON
SOME TEAMS

Many a major league owner with n
second division ball club on his hands
is awakening to the fine points of the
rule adopted last winter To the effect
that only SO men can belong to big
league club at one time. II Is hard
on those who have a bunch of old
timers all going downhill at once, fol
out of every ten Class A and further
down players drafted or bought one
probably gets one or two fit for fast
company
Heretofore II has been the custom to
go out and lay hands on everything
one wanted. provided the owner could
come To terms on purchase price or
was lucky enough to get men I'm the
drafting period This cannot be done
any more. Now when a man seeks
players he has finished when the
thirty-fif man has been added to the
list.
Every major league club has be-
tween 20 and % men on tie pay roll
during the season. Twenty-Five is
probably a fair average Each club has
possibly six or seven men out on OPP
itional agreements subject to recall
by August 20. The men out on option
al agreements do not have To report
until the season of the league in which
they are playing is finished. However,
every option exercised eats up one of
that permitted 80.
oh nAt fAN fVat hAa
22 men on hand now and six out OPP
tionally. If these six are recalled, II
makes a total of 2S, leaving seven
men to be drafted and purchased. Out
OF this seven recruited from the high
ways and byways of baseball, the Tlg-
ers will be lucky IL they land one cap
able player. In other words with the
35- man rule in effect, Detroit can ex-
pect to add two or three men at the
most. beneficial to the team.
This 35-man rule was adopted by
the National Association of Profess
sional Baseball Leagues as n means
of pacifying the Glass A leagues. They
howled because the minors were all
gobbled up by purchase or draft, and
men who might have labored in Class
A leagues with credit to themselves
were sent back to some friendly team
I'm Class Il or Class c leagues, In re-
turn for which the major leagues that
sent cast-offs had the pick of those
clubs free of charge next season.
In this way the new rule is n good
thing, but 1t is bad for the second
division major teams. They need more
than two or three good men, and al
the clubs having made money are
willing to spend big sums chasing that
ever-recurring hope. "the first division
Not All Can Advance
The rule works against the minol
league clubs of less than Glass A and
will cost them thousands OF dollar.
they might have had from the sale o
players. 1t will work against a lot o.
young men who might otherwise hay,
advanced to the major league more
rapidly. Big show owners will no
waste money on players almost ready
but who need little seasoning, be-
cause the lumber of men they car
carry is limited.
In consequence lot OF men wh6
might have at least received bis
league trial will be drafted by the
Class A leagues, and when they gee
there they will stick unless they dis.
play enough ability so that their sale,
look worth from $4,000 to $4,000.
An owner can draft but one man pei
season from Glass A league teams
Maybe three or four clubs try to draf
clubs have designs on other players
from the same team. Lot decided
which player, shall go, and lot decided
which club he passes to, This con
cession was. brought about through
'oft-repeated declarations of outlaw
ball on the part of some Glass 4
leagues.
Little Leagues Hurt
Where the limitation rule hits tn
class b. G. and ID. owners is that 1
takes from them a good source o
profit through sales. Baseball II
leagues less than class A. Is largel,
a matter of civic pride. teams bein,
owned Dy STOCK companies WHICH tninl
baseball a good advertisement. Selling
players has pulled more than one clul
out OF bankruptcy. and has added more
money to the treasury along in Aug.
ust so that further assessments or
stockholders were not required.
Big league clubs like the two st
Louis teams Cleveland, Washington
and Chicago. which need new men. arr
buying here and there. until In few
weeks they will suddenly find out the,
have all the players they are allowed
Then they will either have to releas'
men outright or stop adding.
Will Aid Some Clubs
When the drafting season start
there will be lively mix-up. Suppos
one has 80 men on his club, and draft
ten more. and Is allowed seven OF tn
ten. He will be two over the lega
limit. and then what will happen
Mix-ups are sure. and the nationa
commission is going to have livel.
time. E4
The s5-man rule is a fine thing 70