Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-09
PH|LL|ES TOPLAy
AT SH|bE PARK
Locke Said to Have Made Ar
engagements to Sell Nation
al League Plant.
PLAN WOULD HELP BOTH
CLUBS IN PHILADELPHIA
It Detroit Asks for Waivers
on Davy Jones, Griffith May
Be One to Refuse.
BY ]. ED GRILLO.

When VIII Locke completes the deal
| whereby he and his associates will Sc
cure the Philadelphia National League
club. an evenH which is scheduled for
next Wednesday. an arrangement will
aiso be made whereby Shibe Park. the
| splendid plant of the American League
| club, will he used for playing the Ma
tional League games in Philadelphia
| 1t Is reported from reliable source
that Messrs. Shibe and Mack have vir-
tually agreed to this arrangement for a
| fixed rental, which will relieve them of
! much of the heavy expense of conduct
ing the plant. The figures, it is said
are to be $4,000.
1t is the plan of Locke and his asso-
ciates to sell the property now occupied
by the National. League to a railroad
company.
Locke and his associates are to secure
90 per cent of the ball club stock for
something like $1s0,ON. The balance,
$4,000. is to be furnished by r. A. Bal
four. Frederick Chandler and other Phil
adelphians. 1t is reported that the prop
erty now occupied by the club can be
sold for something like 100000 to
railroad company and that the deal will
be closed as soon as the Locke interests
get hold of the property. Before doing
this, however, arrangements to have the
Phillies play their games on Shibe Field
Will be formulated, so that both the Ath-
iet1cs and Phillies will play on the same
grounds. The two schedules of the md
5or leagues will be SO arranged as not to
conflict.
Mack proposes to greatly increase the
seating capacity at Shibe Park and Incl
dentally the prices will be advanced so
as to come somewhere near comparing
with those in vogue in other major league
cities.
In New York it is also likely that the
Giants and Highlanders will play on the
Polo Grounds, an arrangement which
would prove most beneficial to the Ameri-
can League; for If Chance can make any
Kind OF showing with his team he will
be almost as good an attraction in New
York as is McGraw.
Detroit is thinking seriously of asking
for waivers on Davy Jones and Il is not
at all unlikely that there will be several
clubs refusing to let the Tigers send Jones
to the minors Griffith might be one of
those to object, for he figures that it
would be well worth his while to give
Jones a chance. Jones is still a fast,
nard-hitting player, who has the ability
to wait out pitcher better than any
other player in the league. 1t is figured
that with Jones in the fold the Nationals
would be better fortified in the outtield
than the team has ever been. President
Navin of the Tigers is not in any hurry
apt to take him south to see if Davy will
show better form than he did last sea-
son.
Realizing the value of the ACQUISITION
of Frank Chance to the American
League forces, Ban johnson caused the
postponement of the annual meeting of
the national commission SO that he
might he present when Farrell and
Chance met in Chicago. But for the
presence of johnson at the conference it
Is possible that Chance would have car
ried out his plan Of laying off from base
ball for year to look after his orange
groves in California. There is never a
time when the head of the American
League is not looking out for the inter-
ests OF his organization. and to this fact
must be attributed the remarkable sue
cess the American League has attained
There have been few instances in the
history Of base ball where there has been
successful ball team which could not
boast of star shortstop The impor-
lance of the catching position on team
has been exploited for many years and
yet If one looks over the makeup Of the
successful teams one finds that 1t pos
sessed a shortstOp of remarkable ability
Back in the old days of the Boston
pennant winners there was Herman
Long. The old Baltimore team. which
won pennants with regularity had Hughey
Jennings. Inc CUBS had Tinker and the
Tigers OLeary and Bush The old Chi
cago champions of years back had that
remarkable player Ed Williamson. and
more recently was the worth of a short
stop proved by the victory of the Red
Sox over the Giants last fall, made pos
stble by the remarkable playing of
Heinie Wagner.
Cincinnati would have been more prom
inent in the pennant race of recent years
had the team had competent man in
that position. 1t was the one weak spot
which caused the failure of Kelley, Han
lon. CAMEL and Griffith. Tinker may not
have the ability of a manager, but he is
sure to help his team, because he will fill
a position which has not been in COM
petent hands during the past decade.