Omaha daily bee., 1910-04-06
Nebraska Board
May Yet Condone
Ball in Summer
Steps Being Taken at Nebraska Uni
versity to Remove Ban Against
Students Playing it.

LINCOLN, April 5.-CSpeciaI) )-The Ne
braska Athletic board probably will take
some radical action in regard to summer
base ball at its next meeting and openly
sanction the playing OF its athletes on pro-
fessionRl teams during the vacation months
This matter is now being discussed by the
Cornhusker mentors and the attitude Of a
majority Of the board is in favor Of per
mittng summer base ball by all college
players in this section Of the country. The
five student members have openly declared
themselves in favor Of the proposition and
two faculty members freeiy admit that they
see no wrong in allowing the men to earn
mOaSy during vacation by playing base
ball.
One member OF the board has expressed
himself in the following words:
Il have never been able to regard sum
mer base ball as an evil and ] am free to
admit that 1 am in sympathy with the
college athletes who try to earn money
during vacations by taking part in profess
sional, or rather, seml-professional. games.
There is no evil in allowing them to do so.
and the anti-summer base ball cranks
cannot give a single solid argument in
favor OF their case.
The athletic board OF the west might
just as well officially recognize the sum
mer base bail playing as to secretly con-
done it as they do now at every college in
the country. In the western athletic con-
terences we have rules against summer
base ball, but ! am certain that there is
not a school in either the Missouri Valley
or Chicago conference league that does not
have several of its players on semi-profes-
sional teams each summer. l. myself
know Of many college men who PLAYED the
so-called professional ball last year and
several years before"
The statement OF this member of the
Nebraska board expresses the sentiment
of a majority of the other members--they
realize that the rules against summer base
ball are violated openly every year and
they favor doing away with the rules
and giving the athletes chance to have
an innocent mind.
The Nebraska board last fall passed a
motion ordering its representative to the
Missouri valley conference to try to secure
the passage Of a rule permitting athletes
or the valley TO play with seml-professionaI
teams during vacations. This proposition
was brought before the conference repre-
sentatives at Des Molnes and turned down.
III the Cornhusker board should take
action in favor of the summer base ball
case, it will be defying the other schools
in the conference and will be breaking
rule laid down by the governing body It's
action may result in the withdrawal of
Nebraska from the conference. The sum-
mer base ball rule is highly obnoxious
to the Cornhuskers, and If they do not
openly declare in favor of permitting their
athietes to take part in the semi-pro-
fessional games they will at least notify
the conference that Nebraska will not try
to punish any of the local athletes who
play on teams during the summer months.
Nebraska has a precedent for it's action
in the course adopted by Colgate recently
in stating that all its players should be
allowed to become members of semi-pro-
fessional teams in order to earn money
during the summer months