The Washington times., 1913-04-23
COBB CASE IS MOST
ABSORBING OF ALL
Question Arises as to What
Greatest Player of Game Is
Worth to League and Club.
COULD TRADE OR SELL TY
Reserve Clause of Baseball Will
Not Stand a Test of Ameri-
can Law, Says Rice.
By GRANTLAND RICE.


NEW YORK, N. Y, April 23.-The
case of Ty Cobb, ball player, VS.. Frank
Navin, club owner. in pursuit of
$4,000 annual salary. brings up the most
interesting case of this sort ever record
ed in the history of baseball.
Cobb is beyond all doubt the greatest
living ball player Of the game today.
: He has led his league six out of seven
counted an average of more hits. more
runs and more stolen bases than any
other players Of the game. Undoubtedly
in the course of these seven years he
has won more games individually than
any other one player. The question
then arises: Is the greatest ball player
of the game worth $4,000 a year
$4,000 a year-or perhaps $4,000 a year
to his club and to his league?
We have talked with number of ball
players, managers and fans upon the
subject, and there seems to be a more
or less general disagreement. A num-
sided with Navin. In our opinion, Cobb
as ball player is worth every cent OF
$4,000 subject to every rule of disct-
pline that guides every other player on
his club.
How many fans will Cobb, in the
course of $50 games. draw in at the gate
fans who otherwise might not come to
see Detriot play? We have seen the
pions, come to New York and play to
1000 and 5000, where Detroit. with Cobb
and Jennings, played to 10000 and 12.OOo
The majority of these 10000 or 1900
didn't 60 to see eDtroit. They went to
see Ty Cobb bat, field. run the bases
or strike out; they went to see Hughey
Jennings coach.
At the Gate.
We saw Cobb put out of a close
game one day upon the hilltop between
[r,.r 80
the crowd at once roared and panned
the life out Of the umpire for the rest
of the battle. They had paid their
money to see Cobb. When Cobb was
game had vanished. And they were
sorer than boiled owls.
The Detroit club has made more than
one record as the greatest drawing
Athletics or Red Sox, well above the
Tigers in the race.
Undoubtedly in the course of the sea-
son there will be an average of 300
gate when Detroit is playing to see /
Cobb-3b0 who wouldn't see the Tigers
minus the Ty attachments
This totals 5000 such admissions
50-cent admission, So 500.
The total is probably bit more.
beyond the fact that Cobb's playing
has held the club up in the race where
sand silver shekels in addition
Not Beyond Control
The fact that Cobb is worth $1,000 a
year doesn't mean that he is too great
a ball player to be beyond control.
He should be made to obey fully every
regulation of his club. just as Mathew
son. johnson. or Walsh are content to
do upon their clubs.
Paying Cobb what he is worth and
letting him run wild are two different
propositions.
There are a number of things that
Cobb has gotten away with where
he should have been suppressed. But
no one could ever accuse Cobb of loaf
ing. We have seen him continue play
ing with fever above 102, where his
physician had ordered him to bed for
two weeks rest.
On the field there never was a harder
worker. harder fighter. or one willing
to take more desperate chances. He did
this knowing that IL he broke mis- leg
his career and money-making ability in
baseball would end at that moment.
This. at least, is in his favor.
On the other hand. Cobb should have
been curbed in a good many instances
where the Detroit management was to
blame for permitting him To transgress
rules.
The query was put up to us in a
telegram last night from Chicago as to
whether or not Navin should be forced
to sell or trade Cobb IN case he was
unable to meet the players demands.
We don't think he should. II Navin
was forced to sell or trade Cobb to 4
larger city. where he could get his price,
u would only be a matter of a year or
two before New York, Chicago, and the
larger cities could gather in all the
stars.
Detroit can't afford to pay as much
as New York can, for Detroit hasn't
,ba mamie nav the extra tax
the gate. II New York or Chicago
coraIled the star hold-outs. the pen
rant race would be a joke by July,
interest would vanish, the attendance
would wane and the big concrete stadi-
ums would soon be as thickly populated
az the western desert or the Florida
Everglades.
The Reserve.
Every one knows the reserve clause
in baseball will not stand the test of
American law. And yet without the
reserve clause how long could Wash
ington hold Johnson How long could
BROOKLYN hold Rucker? How long could
Detroit have held Cobo?
II it was abolished there would SIM
ply be a private agreement among club
owners not to raise the ante. The
smaller towrs must be protected, the
average ball player must be protected.
for the general good of the game.
Congress rlight start forty inyestiga-
was concerned. without getting any
where.
But Congress or the courts should
force a magnate to abide by any cor
tract signed with a player. II a player
signs for three years and Is injured in
battle. rendered useless. even, he Is
certainly entitled TO his money to the
end of his contract This clause should
be enforced, because it's fair.
Navin can force Cobb out OF baseball.
He can cost Cobb lot of money. But
not as much as Cobb's absence will cost
Detroit and the American League.
In addition to that such an action
will only be another step toward the
coming clash between player and mag
nate-coming more swiftly each year as
the gate receipts increase and the silver
pile rises.
Each division. reaching out for every-
thing in sight, fails TO see another
clash ahead-that Of the player and
magnate on one side and the public on
the other. At which point both player
and magnate will proceed to get of
auietly and without ostentation.
Both are beginning to forget that the
game belongs 20 neither player nor
magnate, but those who pay for IL at
the 1afe.