Bisbee daily review., 1914-04-26
THE REVIEWS LIVE WIRE SPORTING %CTON 1.-THE LATEST IN ALL AET
FED MAJOR BASEBALL WAR MAKES PICKlNGS
 FOR THE LAW WYERS


 NEW YORK. April 25.--one hun dred and thirty-nve thousand dollars is asked for in the damange suits now pending between the National and Federal leagues. resulting from the jumping of players This stunt of the big league moguls in rushing into court with damage suits and inmnc. tion pleas is something new in base ball warfare. With the single excep- ton of the Lajoie case. which was taken into court in Philadelphia. the war of dozen years ago between the | American and National leagues pro 1 duced no soft money in the way Of | fees for attorneys. The two old leagues kept out of the courts and used their coin as bait for players.
 The present war among the big leagues k being fought along differ ent lines. When player does flop his old manager loses no time in hot footing into court with a plea for an injunction in one hand and papers for a damage suit in the other.
 In correction with the numerous law suits already filed there surely are some strange and peculiar angles. To the trained lawyer they may not seem out of the ordinary, but to the everyday fan they look very much like the bunk"
 President Gafney of the Boston Braves asks S25,00O damages from the Baltimore Federal league club on ac- count of Pitcher Jack Quinn desertinf lthe Braves and signing with Balti- more. Quinn's record shows that he did good work for Rochester after failing with the New York Yankees. He also showed up fairly well after joining the Braves last fall. But to declare that Quinn is worth S2J,000 on This past performances seems like Juggling figures to the limit
 The Federal league is seeking S1S- 900 damages from Killifer of the Phillies and Banding and Kohler of the Cleveland Maps Ten thousand dollars is sought by the league from Baumgardner, and Williams of the St Louis Browns. and $25,OOO from Ham, ilton of the same team. In these cases the players and not their clubs are the defendants The claim of the Federals Is based on the refusal of the players to live up to. the contracts they are said to have signed with the new organization.
 In the opinion of lawyers the Fed. erals will have to establish that the defendant players have deprived the Federal league of extraordinary ser vices, or in other words, services that could not be performed bv others. If the Feds are compelled to make their claim good along this line they doubtless will center the fight on the case of Bill Killifer, who Is the star of the whole outfit that has been drawn into court. Killfer is ranked as one of the leading catches of the big show.
 As a counter action to the suit of the Federals against Killifer. Presi. dent Baker of the Philadelphia Ma tionals has filed two suits against the officials of the Chicago club of the Federal league from interfering with the players of the Philadelphia club
 With Banding Kahler, Hamilton and Baumgardner, the other defend ants in the damage suits filed by the Federal league. ranking nineteenth, twenty-ninth, thirty-first and thirty fifth, respectively, in the 1913 records of American league pitchers, it is diff flcult to see how the Federal league can obtain any damages for the loss of their services.
 With court decisions and three pen nant races to follow the baseball fans will find plenty to keep them busy during the remainder of this season. And incidentally the lawyers will gather a nice bundle of change and learn more about the national parties than they thought 1t possible to know.