Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-25
BASE BALL OUTLAW
Term MisannIied Many Times
as Regards National Game.
HAVE ALL RIGHTS NEEDED
Ted Sullivan Says New Leagues Are
Working Along Wrong
Lines.
BY TED SULLIVAN.

Whoever first applied the word outlaw
to base ball phraseology must never
have read Webster's definition Of It. The
word outlaw has back handspring
action meaning to It. according to some
peoples ideals. In base ball.
George Washington was called an OUT
law 10y the British government when he
was fighting for American liberty. but
when he won he was a patriot. In base
ball its meaning is rdiculous-and used
by people who want to tack IL onto other
persons as stigma.
III new company wants to build a
railroad and lay tracks Of its own with
out stealing any of the rails or the en-
pioyes OF the other road, then the pro-
motors of that road are within the in
alienable rights of American citizens, and
should be left alone. So 1t is with base
ball leagues that are forming and desire
to build leagues of their own without
taking any of the present established
leagues. players or grounds, have been
connected with organized base ball nearly
all my life. and / have added many a
branch road, in the shape of minor
league, to the main lines of that road. in
| the form of major leagues. So. unless
| have the obtuseness of a bat or the wis
dom of an owl, / should have acquired
some knowledge Of the politics of our pa
tionai game. When you see captain
or captains of large steamships become
| nervous at the approach of squall you
would have little faith in such captains
seamanship in a real tornado. This smile
apples to some OF the major leagues and
class A owners of ball clubs, who are
becoming alarmed by those yapor. phan-
| tom and shadow leagues that are forming
annually.
There was a man named Fletcher two
years ago who seemed to alarm the
whole base ball world by six or seven
postal cards that he sent around to diff
ferent players throughout the country.
The alarm of those magnates should be
about as much as that of the United States
come up the Potomac river to assault the
capital with roasted apples. Brains are
not the cheapest thing in the market by
any means; this borrowed phrase was
used to me in a discussion I had with a
| certain base ball magnate In 81. Louis,
| who is now deceased. But he found out
afterward the lack Of the right kind or
brains made him penniless man. When
| the American League started IL had moth
ing but brains. but they were the right
kind of brains, and had been developed in
| the business they were in all their life, out
| side the amateur ranks of large cities or
country towns. Comiskey and few
other. men of his way of thinking
guided the politics of that league. and 1t
| was the personality and experience or
such men that Mr.. Somers of Cleve-
Philadelphia and Boston and planted his
money. When the other weakened
| men in those two cities saw that there
was q base ball Santa Claus who showed
them the riches of the game under their
eyes, then, and only then, did they buy
Mr. Somers' interests. which placed the
American League on the solid footing II
enjoys today.
Pilots of small river boats are not
pilots that cross the Atlantic year out
and year in. Now, Let me say few
words to those supposed new leagues.
and say them with the highest regard for
the purity of their character and their
honesty Of purpose, and I'll say, furtner.
they have Just as much right to start a
league on the free soil Of America as
the richest base ball plutocrat. The
gentleman In Chicago, Mr.. Powers, Is an
organizer of force. and II he had pro-
fessional training and experience in major
league affairs and had come In contact
with the political angles of the game In
the different states Of our country L
think he would be an organizer inferior
to none. But his methods and ideas OF
organizing the Columbian League are
amateurish, and are those OF the United
States League promoters. Sparrows cannot
interest eagles to join In their flight. nor
can squirrels take part in the convention
OF lions, nor can you hunt ducks with a
brass band. A man of prominence and
moneyed interests in st. Louis must
know who are his co-partners In other
cities, and these latter, il they are
men of any circumspection, will also
want to know who the former IS