New-York tribune., 1910-01-17
COMMENT ON SPORTS
RACE IN B4SEB4LL.
Nezcs and Viezcs on Lice Tones
of the Ddu.

of the Day.
L; begins to look as if Barney Dreyfuss.
owner of the worlds champion Pirates and
Charles Webb Murphy, who controls the
destinies Of the Chicago Cubs. were run
ming neck-and-neck race to settle the
question between themselves as to who is
the National League. Fortunately. there
are six other owners who believe that they
are part and parcel of this same league.
SO that Dreyfuss and Murphy are likely
10 keep on racing. with no particular dam
age except to their own wind. II also
begins 10 look as If the internal strife had
not been entirely quelled by the breaking
Of the deadlock over the election of pres
ident of the National League, as a new
controversy has broken out between two
members OF the schedule committee in
which neither man has spared the other.
In this particular case the fans TO
man should be, and no doubt are, with
Charlie Ebbets. opposed TO Barney Drey-
fuss. The latter began controversy over
the schedule which was as impolitic as IL
wss uncalled for. Perhaps Mr.. Dreyfuss
agrees with Charlie Murphy that too much
harmony is not good for baseball or. as
Interpreted in this column last week. pub
ncity is the life of baseball, as it is OF
trade.
Personally L am in favor OF shorter
schedule. for reasons which have already
been advanced in this column, but that is
beyond the question now. The National
League by unanimous vote, or so ii was
said. decided 10 play out schedule OF les
games this year, and a committee made
up OF c. H. Ebbets. Barney Dreyfuss and
T. ]. Lynch. the new president, was named
- draft such schedule and then to meet
with the committee of .the American
League. to the end that conflicting dates
should be avoided much possible Mr.
Fbbets, following the orders of the Ma
tional League, drafted a schedule of l6S
games. and forwarded II TO Mr.. Dreyfuss
for suggestions before the joint meeting
Of the schedule committees. in Pittsburg on
January -. L happen to know that Mr..
Dreyfuss did nor even acknowledge the
receipt of the schedule, and the fans"
know that he Immediately launched an at
tack against the longer schedule. although
he himself had voted for it, and against
the schedule itself, and in doing so did not
spare Mr.. Ebbets. Mr.. Dreyfuss appears
to have lost all sense of the fitness or
things The National League decided on d
certain schedule and instructed its commit
tee to draft one. II is the plain duty of
league, in order that the experiment may
have a fair and impartial trial Mr.. Ebbets
is right The owner of the Pirates should
carry on the worI: TO the best of his ability
and stop talking else resign from the
committee.
If the report from Chicago can be depend
cd on. the committee made up of Ban B.
Johnson and Charles A. Comskey will re-
port in favor of the present brutal spike
used on the shoes of the players at the
February meeting of the American. League.
The chance OF slowing up the game TO some
extent could not be tolerated, even with the
alternative of gripping a dozen players,
more or less. every season. This decision
was forecast in The Tribune following
balk with Mr.. Comiskey at the time of
the annual meeting of the American League
IN this city. The popular president of the
White SoX not only believes that no Suita-
ble substitute has yet been found for the
spike now in use. but goes so far to
applaud player who spends five or ten
cents for a file to keep his spikes good and
sharp and consequently good and danger
Gus. II is Just possible that the National
League will be more progressive and show
enough interest in the players, TO say moth
ing of their own interests from a financial
one of The many substitutes, some of which
are well worthy of consideration.
''Ty" Cobb, the champion batsman Of
tie American League and one Of the great
est base runners in the history of the game,
took the liberty. as he expressed it. of max
ing suggestion To the American League
committee on the question of spikes. He
says that a rule might be adopted TO force
the players TO use file TO keep their spikes
dull and make ii the duty Of the umpire to
examine the shoes Of each player before
every game 10 sec that they We're not sharp
ered down To a razor edge This is a new
use for file not suggested by Mr.. Comis-
key 1t might accomplish the purpose in
part Of making the spike less dangerous
Il is grave question in my mind whether
the use of one Of the substitutes for the
spike would slow UP the game to any
marked extent and if it did whether it
would make the game less interesting
There has been talk OF moving the pitcher
back and of other expedients to improve
the hitting, and it is just possible that this
could be accomplished 10y slowing mp the
fieideTs, at the same time removing a dan
gerous weapon on the feet of an unscrupu-
lous player As a matter of fact if the
change could be made secretly the fans
would never know the difference. or would
Tot care If they did. while club would not
lose. perchance. some valuable player at
critical point in the pennant race.
Now that the stewards Of the Grand Cir
cult have allotted dates for a meeting in
the metropolitan district next season. il is
e.. hoped that the lovers Of the light harness
horse viii spare money or pains 10 make
II a success 1t is not the first time that
an effort has been made TO arouse general
interest here in the trotter and PAGER. but
for some reason hard to understand these
efforts have always proved futile The
trouble is IL takes time, and the expert
rnent Will not be successful this year if il
begins and ends with one meeting The
sport loving public must be educated, and
a three or four day meeting once a year is
hardly enough TO keep the interest alive
The Grand Circuit stewards have walked ND
10 the necessity OF making some radical
changes TO arouse the waning interest as
witnessed by the fact that Detroit has been
--DF.1. r. T1,.a