The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-11-03
Laughs at Esan's Statement That ST.
400 Limit Will Furnish Good
Players for Entertainment
Of Bugs.
NO I'M FOR HIM, HE SAYS
Makes Comparison With NeIshboring
Bush League, Declaring That
no Inside Ball is Played
There.

QUINCY, Ill, Nov. 3.-"Ned Egan's
400 per month and strict adherence
to it by all Central Association clubs
will give just as good ball, in fact,
better than that of last year, makes
me laugh" The fan who spoke thus
is real fan. He is travelling man,
but always Sundays in Quincy and
when games are played here is usually
on deck when the jumps calls play
ball" Being a travelling man and
liking baseball as he does, he always
attends the games in other cities of
other leagues. He has seen all
classes play and has seen them often.
What he says. therefore, is worth
noting. Here it is in substance:
A s1,400 limit belongs to :. low class
D league. A league of this class is
usually composed of cities from five
to fifteen thousand inhabitants. IN
few of the cities is the attendance
sufficient to pay the relatively small
expense of maintaining the clubs, and
the merchants contribute largely to
their support.
With the limit at $1,400 and the
number of PLAYERS limited to thir-
teen, it is eviuent that a salary of a
little more than 500 per man may
be paid The manager Of any pro-
fessional club receives not less than
5000 and this leaves less than a hun
dred each for the regular players. The
pitchers receive the highest salaries.
usually, and this narrows matters
down to a point where we find field
ers. outfeld and infield, receiving all
the way from $50 to $50 per month.
The players are, for the most part,
youngsters. They have had little or
no experience in professional bal.
aud expect to learn it in these bushes
They can stop the ball and throw it;
perhaps they can hit EN- out at a
merry clip, but there is something
missing.
NJ last year. said the fan, land |
saw large number of games in that
league. Well, l stayed for the finish
of most of the games | attended,
simply because I was with some mer.
chant who was personally interested
in the outcome"
Then he tolo of what he saw in
I'm. ball.
The. boys there stopped grounders
and caught flies; some of them
cracked the ball for nome runs. and
! few were able to lay it down. There
were some double plays, a few OF
them sensationally fast. In fact, they
played good ball-after a certain man
| ner. But there was no inside base.
ball. There wasn't Babe Myers
there to pull off his stunt; there was
no Red Owens, Joey Burg, Mike Cav
anaugh. Bill Donahue, Pepper Clarke.
Danny Kerwin, Charlie Tanning, Bill,
Forney, Kensel, Ochs, Clark (of Bur
! lington), Miller, Jack Herbert, and SO
| on, even including Egan himself
| Then take the class of players In
the back bushes;" the speaker says
! they are different altogether from
/ those who work in bigger company.
! In the bushes the gentleman playe.
is almost the exception; in the higher
classes the rowdy is the exception
/ and lasts but short time.
Il don't want any I'm. class in
mine. I'd rather see the Reserves and
the Parish league Games where a mis-
cue makes us laugh but doesn't give
us a pain. | haven't anything special
! against the other cities of the presenl
i Central if they will put up the same
class oil ball as Quincy demands
/ They also must hold up their end Of
the pole when it comes to attendance
and I don't believe they can do it
Me for the Three-Eye where the limit
is big enough to allow every club to
have some real ball players