The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-02-15
THE j. S. LEAGUE
NOT TO CONFLICT
League Will Be a Two-B
Circuit-Has No Major.
Ranking

New York. Feb. 15.-The United
States baseball league does not wish
to be considered a major league or
ganization, and does not pretend to
be a rival of the big leagues.
we do not want to put ourselves In
a false position" said E. G. Landgraf.
owner of the Richmond franchise.
I'VE never intimated that we were a
major league, and the term third ma
tor league as applied to us by news
papers is wholly wrong. We believe
there is room for another baseball
league. and do not think 1t must be
a major organization. We are a %
md so cent league. and fan cannot
expect us to put up the same grade
Of baseball as the big leagues. which
charge Is cents or more. There are
many fans who cannot afford. to pay
Is cents or more to see a ball game:
We will educate such fans to go to
u parks. and we believe it will not
take long to get them educated.
The newspapers have led the pub
lie to believe we are after some of the
high priced stars. This is another
feature which l desire to make clear.
We will have good ball players in our
league, but We are not. prepared to
pay big league salaries. All of our
clubs have money back of them, but
we are not squandering any Of 1t. We
propose to conserve u resources. and
II we do not nav a profitable paid
admission in 1912 we will play out
our schedule.
Plan o No Fancy Parks.
Another thing l wish to make
plain to the fans is that we are not
going to build my %pretentious grand
stands Of steel. We will have plain
wooden stands. but hope to accommo-
date all the fans that care to see our
teams play. Everything must get a
start. A third league will come SOON
err or later, and we believe there is
for n nov at least, we are
willing to take a chance. We are not
making a ~pretentious start. but if we
succeed we hope to improve our parks
from season to season. We will de-
vclop t players of Il own. and
possibly in a lew car some of our
unknown youngsters may develop into
Cobs, Wagners and Collinscs.
ut has been said that our league
was got up over night. I speak the
truth when ] say that Witmna and
myself have been working on this
league for eighteen months. We
thoroughly went over the ground and
interested men on whom we Thought
we could depend. 1t was no easy mat
ter to get started, but now hat we
have selected our eight clubs. we be-
I1eNe our hardest task is over"
ILandgraf is chairman of the United
States league schedule committee, and
saws he will do nothing on his SEIZED
ule until the big league schedules are
announced.
To Dodge Washington. Conflicts.
We will avoid as many conflicts
with major league teams as we posi-.
bly, can" he said. of course, we arc
bound to have conflicting dates in
New York. We will not pay any at
tention TO the Virginia league or Tri.
State schedules. as we believe our
teams Will get the crowds in Reading
and Richmond. whether the other
teams are home or not. However, we
will do all we can to avoid conflicting
dates in Brooklyn. Washington. Pitts.
burg. Cincinnati and Cleveland.
Landgraf said that Richmond and
Reading surely would be represented
in the league this season. If it is found
these two cities cannot support teams
the franchises will be turned over to
other cities in 1913.
However" he said. 1--WE believe we
will make more money in Richmond
and Reading this season than in the
larger cities of the circuit"