Evening star., 1913-02-05
ALL BUT THREE OF
GR|FF'S MEN SIGNED
Hughes, Milan and Schaefer
Have Not Sent in Their
Contracts.
FRANK LAPORTE LATEST
TO COME INTO FOLD
Few Players in American
League Played in Every
Game Last Season.
BY ]. ED GRILLO.

only three members of the Nationals
remain unsigned. They are Hughes.
Milan and Schaefer. The former is apt
to drop into Griffith office any day,
while Milan has agreed u talk business
when he reports at Charlottesville. As
for Schaefer. he has been SO busy with
his theatrical engagements that he has
not Vet given any of his time to base
ball. but his contract duly signed is sure
tu reach here shortly.
The latest addition to the signed-up
squad is Frank Laporte. who sent his
contract in this morning. l.aporte writes
that he j. down to weight Incidentally
h.. saws that lie does not want to come
here for the Inauguration. but that ne
will go direct to charlottesville. Thls,
however. is impossible. that he Will be
here before he goes into training.
No other club III either major league
has had so little trouble signing its play
,rs as Washington. There has not been
a single objection TO any of the contracts
submitted To the players. barring the case
If Milan. who never signs until he re-
ports There have been no threats TO
h,id out and there have been expressions
OF satisfaction with the terms from all
raises made in the salary list. however
but this was To be expected after the
team finished second in the race
The new men secured from the minors
have all been offered 70 per cent more pay
tlaIn they received last season. This is
now rule in base ball and cannot be
violated. The idea of this rule is to pro-
tect the minor league clubs which IN the
past have had a lot of trouble satisfying
players who went up for trial at a much
T,,Gr sol birf fail IN n 20
When they returned TO the small club
they insisted getting the same pay
they had signed for in the big league.
and, of course. the little clubs cannot af-
ford that The new rule Is for their pro-
lection.
The board of directors of the Was hing
ton club will meet Friday to elect officers
Tor the ensuing year President Ben
Minor will leave here Sunday with Man
aSer Griffith to- attend the meeting of the
american League in New York.
There were nine men in big league base
hall who played in every game scheduled
performed in ia contests. Compare
lively few of the athletes were rugged
enough to last more than 125 games In
fact. but twenty-eight men in the Ameri-
can League and thirty-eight in the Ma
tional did that we'll.
Having stars is worth nothing if they
cannot be kept in the game Seven men
played regularly in the American League,
and each of the three leading clubs had
two of them. Boston. the pennant WIN
ner. was unusually fortunate in having a
set of men that stood the gaff.
Speaker and Lewis played in every one
of the games the club was in. Hooper.
the third of the fielding trio. engaged in
IA mix-upS Heinie Wagner played 144
times, while Gardner was only one behind
him. taking his time OUT when the pen
nant was won. Yerkes was better than
average in attendance. with III games.
part Of these because Engle was Stahl
early season choice for second base.
Moreover. Stahl had his pitching corps in
shape all the year
Connie Mack and Griffith were less for
,Unate. though each of them had cou-
pie of men in all the time. Milan and
Foster of Washington played straigh,
through. as did Collins and Mclnnes OF
the Athletics
The worst sufferers in the two leagues
were the Yankees and the Phillies. whose
number of injuries was phenomenal and
kept them down in the race. But injuries
are the rule rather than the exception
of sixty-four regulars in the American
League more than half missed over thirty
games. The absence of any one of these
men was likely TO turn victory into de-
feat.
Detroit has been hit hard by the alb
sence of players. Del Gamers well known
habit of breaking to pieces has robbed
the club of splendid first baseman
Last year he was In only tifty-one games
Another man that missed "a good man!
Was Oscar Witt. But for illness Wit
could have played i'll every affair He
actually worked in seventy-three - less
than half the seasons schedule
No Tiger played in every game. San
crawford came closest. the Wahoo gen
tIeman missing hut five during the year
cobb was i'm lio and Bush waded through
1i& Outside of these three Othel
PLAYER even came close to the 1J3 mark
Taking at random the season of 1908
when the Tigers won the pennant. Cobb
played in 80 games. Crawford 1.'a. Nc
Intyrc 15i Rossman 13S. Schaefer III;
while Charlie Schmidt caught in II
games. Stars never win pennants unless
they play.