The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-01-22
SIGN NEW PLAYERS.
BUT KEEP OLDON
Suspicion Stalks Bravely
Through Circuit, and Managers
on Anxious Bcnch-Some
Want Salary Limit Raised;
Others Do Not-List
of Men Signed.
nY GUS MALnEn1,.

guessing bee? Conhdent!ally. that's
what the Virginia League is conduct
Ing right at this minute. You may
not know II, and may not have had
the slightest suspicion that so time
bonored game as the Innocent guess
ing bee was being INDUCED Icy tho dig
nihed maEnates who control tho des-
tiny of baseball in Virginia. But liza
true. every word Of IT; true az gospel.
IL you promise not to tell. and 10
regard 1t as largely confidential,
don't mind going little further in to
details and telling you why this over
grown guessing bee is happening right
'inder your noses without the slight
est suspicion on your purt.
To start at the beginning. lot mo
remind you that the salary limit in
The Virginia League has been out from
si.70Q in 1910, TO $1,000 In 1911. Cat
that? Also be II told for your en-
l!ghtcnuent that last year very few
Of tho teams lived within the il.7OO
required by the laws OF the organfza-
tion, while In the year 1911 each and
every manager OF the several teams
hos been informed that It Is moro
1hnn probable that "A man named Bob
Williams. president, Will insist upon
the salary limit being adhered TO.
Everybody Suspicious.
tout lt'S funny tn!nS tlnt no sim
gle man in the league seems 10 trust
any other man. Each magnatc is firm
Is or the opinion that the other mag
mates are going 10 try and put some
thing over. ne II were. Each nagnatc
is getting his manager TO gather a lot
of youngsters from the wilds of every
where. add some of them from no
where in particular; aud believe me,
gentle ones. that all OF this timber is
srtF, t..a Il
day arrives. which has been set for
March 20.
No, when Il comes 20 putting trust
III ones fellows the Virginia League
inagnates are not 1T" They are just
AS far from the real fratornal spirit
as old Doc Cook Is said 10 have been
from the North Pole. So what's tho
result?
Each owner and manager OF a ball
club in the league Is scratching his
head right at this moment and trying
TO guess what tho other fellow is
going to DO. iJc Is obsessed by two
things. One is the fact that VILLA ms
is going to enforce the salary limit,
and the other Is that some masnatc Is
going TO outgucss him ilr evading or
getting around the law.
One OF the magnutcs remarked yes
terday that II was an impossibility
10 tell what "a ball player was being
paid. This might seem strange, but
II comes mighty nearly being true or
course, you can tell pretty nearly
what they are getting. but $40 here
and IS there. and s1b somewhere else
soon runs the salary limit up couple
OF hundred dollars.
Ont YOUNGSTERS, but Holding Old Ones.
But TO get back TO the guessing bee.
EHCHnSa hn fl,o. rI,.e
owner can guess at this time what his
rivals are going TO do he is corralliny
lot OF youngsters. but-and here
comes tho secret--he is also holding
on like grim death TO his veterans,
the tried and trusty. about whom no
knows something. That's why you
hear so much about not giving tho
players a fair deal. and holding them
SO TINT they can't get Jobs next sea-
son. and more OF the Same kind of
stuff.
Each team wants TO put winner in
the feld. For reasons not necessary. to
mention here. II is essential that GER
tain cities have winning clubs this
year. Don't misundcrstand my mean.
ing. There Will BIO no jockeying to
get this result.
II. however. 1t is possible to line up
winning team for the towns In
Question peIoTe the season begins IL
Will DO done. But 1t will be done
in spite of the other towns, who will
work their heads on to get a bettor
team There's tho rub. For no man,
nor magnate either. can tell what tho
other clubs I'm the league arc do,s~>g.
Z Therefore, the old men are being
Kept, and they Will be kept until each
team manager has Il chance to get a.
line on tho material composing tue
other teams.
Some Want Limit Raised,
IN some of the towns OF tho circuit
IT Is hoped that the league will de-
eide to Increase the salary limit to.
say, s1,400 or s1,5o0. In THIS way they
argue 1t would he possible to keep
some high class men and MI In with
the new material which is being sign
ed up.
On tho other hand. those who advo-
cate the $1,000 limit. claim that new
blood Is what Is most needed to bring
the league back to what 1t was three
or four years ago, when there was
snap and ginger and good baseball
every day, with very few loafers on
tho team.
1t is a case OF every man against
every other man: a baseba tug-o'-
an pulling to bring about tho same
Notwithstanding pennant. But 1t Is
q guessing bee; one of the biggest and
most interesting ever happening In the
Virginia League, and bless my soul,
else. There Ia just one thing which
IS absolutely certain--you can't make
$1,000 do the work Of $1.700, and the
Sradley and reports that he has a
CONTINUED on Second Pags).