Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-09-22
would AID MINORS
i Salary Limit Clause Is
Passed
BY NATIONAL COMMISSION
Glass D Leagues Appear to Play
Faster Ball Than Vir-
ginia Circuit.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
RICHMOND. Va. September 21.-The
plan proposed by President Sexton of
the National Association for supervision
by that organization OF the minor leagues
in the matter OF making salary limits for
these circuits, To be followed up by an
effort to have these limits observed by
the various teams, would be. Ii adopted,
one of the greatest boons that have ever
come to the minor ORGANIZATIONS. ii the
innovation would be the means of awlns
salary limit breakers in the lower class
lea CUES and thereby bring about anything
like an observance of the limits when
have been set from a business standpoint
rather than pride or sentiment there Will
be fewer circuit disintegrdtions in the fu-
lure. The minors can soon be put on a
fra financial basis under such a plan
Salary limits in the Virginia League
have never been observed unless 1t was
convenient TO do So. one instance is re-
called where player was PAD S'oo lol
n weeks work after the close OF the sea
son. his contract ca.l!rS for Si'FI a
month. whereas he really drew s--'- such
cases have been numerous. and the 1ans
know that since the second year OF the
Virginia League more teams nave been
signed above the limit than those that
have been in hailinS distance OF IL Inc
limit has been too high for most OF Tue
clubs and they have loss money by rea-
son OF IT, and President Sexton Will write
his name high UP in the base bail nan
OF fame if he can bring about something
that will correct this evil
Small towns in the game for the love OF
IN and not for money cannot afford 10
stand the pace that the larger cites
can go. yet the larger places IN lhe
small leagues, take ADVANTAGE OF TINS
tl1.4t tl.TlN - III.
uniting the smaller teams out OF the
running make the race bad. ana "hdt
can prevent the disruption OF such a CIR
cult in midseason? Fans in the mlnoE
circuits are back of this move. and II Is
TO be hoped it will come TO something.
That a base ball league filled with old
timers even if they are slightly IN tie
minority does not dish out the caloer OF
ball that youngsters can give tne lahs
is demonstrated by the two poSt-season
series played by Virginia League teams
Roanoke and Bristol, champions, respec-
tjyelv of the Virginia ana Appa d
chan circuits and Petersburg. which lost
the championship by d COZ margin, ana
Anderson, the Carolina ASSOCIATION
champ, being the performers. In tiese
games a majority of which were lhaEeu
on the Virginia League diamonds, the
Virginians were clearly outclassed pv
their opponents. .
These games show that either the
ing money far beyond their salary Inn
it's or PLAYERS fresh from the bushes Win
a seasons experience are better odii LOSS
.ers than veterans who never We're hlucli
and can just about hold their own III
the Virginia League.
1t has long been claimed that In
minor league of the lower classes si'oo
or 81 ,2DJ Il month Will buy better pdse
bali than $l.e1o. as paradoXlcal as IL
may seem. The reason is that the lower
salaries force the managers TO go TO tle
bushes and city back lots for players VINO
have regulations to make. Ihey are not
bothered so much about pay as they are
about the future The higher price men-
toned admits of getting FOUR or fFe ana
sometimes more players VINO are ndfuly
fast enough for class b, after PLAYING
for years in leagues still higher. Nheh
these drift back they care only for their
pay and play just good enough pan 10
hold their jobs.
The best base ball the Virginia League
ever had WIGS in 1891. when the Emit was
slew and before the hackers of the
league became past masters III the art OF
getting around the limit W nile thls
would not be true of the international or
tho Southern, il is certainly true Win re-
gard to the { and ID class ORGANIZATIONS,
and when the rnagnateS lind it out or are
forced by the National Association 10
take sentiment ont Of the game and sub
stitute common sense base ball VIII be
different article for these leagues
In both of these interieaSue series the
u class teams outplayed the Virginia
Ieaguers practically at every stage OF
the game Anderson, in the eour games,
scored II runs to Petersburg =, max
ing g.. hits To Petersburg's "a, ana 4
errors TO PeterSburgS >.
But the Roanoke-Bristol games. seven
in number are probably the best cri-
terion The first three games were
played al Bristol. and Bristol took them
all OF the remaining four. which We're
pfayed al Roanoke, Bristol WON two and
lost two. In these games, as IN the
Petersburg Anderson series. the team
from the lower class simply ran away
from the Virginia team. At no stage
of the game. excepting in base stealing,
did the Virginia champions measure up
TO the champs from the Appalachian, ana
then Roanoke only pilfered seven bases
I'm the seven games. to six stolen by
Bristol
But the following data, taken from the
newspaper scores of the series, VIII tell
their story in stronger terms than any
comment can make it:
RAFTING