El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-05-07
PUBLIC OvEREsTI-
MATES PAY Of
THE STARS

/ sslI u ttbiEO
| The statement recently that salary
| of but $500 was being paid annually
| TO Johnny King, the Chicago Nation
J ais star catcher, came as big sur
| prise to the baseball fans. 1t was pop
ularly believed that the clever back
stop was drawing a much larger sti-
pend for his work During a recent
| fanfest among the Pittsburg players
some interesting facts came out con-
corning baseball salaries in general
Wagner's salary. for example. is a
matter Of guesswork purely to all ex-
cept Pittsburg club oficials. the Fly
ing Dutchman and possibly one or two
others. who have been told IN strict
confidence. He is supposed to be
and probably is the highest salaried
man in baseball. but the wages he is
paid for clouting. base running and
spreading his giant frame over several
acres Of territory for the Pirates has
undoubtedly been overestimated by
many persons who profess to have in
side information on the subject It
has been put as high as $1,000 year
by some guessers. and very few per-
sons think he is getting less than
$4,000 One of the few. however, is
a prominent member of the Pittsburg
club
81 do not say that Honus isn't worth
that price. He is worth even more.
considering his playing ability and his
value to the club from a box office
point Of view. But baseball is a
business proposition. and $4,000 is an
enormous amount to give to any player
for a few months work They will
have to show me before they can con-
vince me that Honus is drawing that
much he may be getting 1t. but he
is not getting more"
Several of the players suggested that
the big Teuton ought to be getting a
percentage OF the gate receipts Then
the salary subject took a wide range,
and the same player who is quoted
above declared that in his opinion
every member of the Pirates who fig
ured TO any extent In the winning OF
the National league pennant and the
worlds championship received an adj
vance in salary for this year He be-
leved that Dots Miller's contract
calls for more than twice as much as
he received last year and that all the
regular players were advanced
1T seems to be the policy Of the
club he said, ito lend substantial en-
enlargement TO brains, ability and
willingness, and it is TO that fact. COM
bined with the very able leadership OF
Fred Clarke. that you can credit that
ideal club spirit that prevails among
the Buccaneers I'll venture to say
that the Pittsburg club paid out S75,-
900 in salaries last summer and that
no other club paid as much / have
been told. and believe 1t TO be true.
that the salary list Of the Philadelphia
Americans for the season Of 1909
amounted TO only $4,000. making a
difference of $4,000 in the money paid
out to players by two major league
clubs. How Connie Mack can pay
such small salaries and manage to
keep his club up IN the race is some
thing / cannot understand"
The salaries of the Cubs were also
discussed. and it was agreed among
the players that the average and the
total of the Pirates are much larger.
Chance. they understand, signed a
three year contract as manager OF the
team at a figure under $1,000, land
King and Brown are the only MEM
bers OF the team receiving anything
like $1,000. Reulbach is said to be
pitching for $500 Lajoie is said to
have received $1,000 a year from
Cleveland, OF which 5000 was for
managing the club. Many other star
players were mentioned and their real
and paper salaries given.
OF course it is possible that the Pr
rate players who gave the information
on the subject may be mistaken, but
it must be admitted that they are in
position TO learn the actual facts bet
ter than the newspapers. 1t was gen.
orally agreed among them that the
public has an erroneous idea about
fancy salaries paid to players Connie
Mack. even in war days, is said to
have averaged only $1,000 to his play
ers.
While the public may be wrong in
its beliefs, the fact remains that any
player which delivers the goods in fast
company gets enough money for it TO
keep the wolf from the door during
the winter. and most of them earn
several times as much as they could
take down in any other trade or occu-
patton for which they are fitted.