Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-02-07
DELAY IS MAJOR
LEAGUE CLUBS
WEAPON IN WAR
Organized Ball Hopes to Break
FederaIs by Injunctions and
Other Lawsuits.
Bv Bill Bailey.

nv the fellows in organized
b baseball with which to make
,bstr fight. They have an idea it will
nrove fatal all right, too. But 1t is
their opinion that 1t will be the other
follow who will suffer the fatality.
Meaning the men in the Federal
League.
Delay, lawsuits of all kinds, includ-
ing damages, and injunctions are
among the weapons to be sharpened
when the magnates of the two leagues
Gather in New York on Tuesday and
Wednesday of next week. At any
ra;e that is the impression which
Won gather after talking it over with
the fellows who own the major league
ball clubs.
Await Legal Battle.
Now here is the peculiar part of it.
The Federals claim that they hope
that the fellows in the organized
game employ those tactics. They say
there will be no delay. Also that 1t
will be a great thing to have the legal
ba+1ls on as soon as possible. Inc
,dea being. of course, that it will be
over all the sooner and the Feds VIII
know Just where they stand.
When the eight club owners of the
National meet the octet of the
American in New York on Wednesday
Of next week the plan Of battle Will
he formulated And as near as can
be learned now it will provide some
thing like this:
Every major league club which has
lost a player will ask for an 1n1unc-
tion. Charles w. Murphy is expect
ed to ask some Federal court to en-
loin Ward Miller from playing with
the Federals. At the same time the
Sox win request that some action DE
taken to keep Ted Easterly from
hammering any long drives over the
Fed fences. simultaneously Will the
Philadelphia club arise in its might
and demand that Otto Knabe be le-
gally requested to refrain from ca
vorting on outlaw" territory.
To Ask lnjunetions-
simultaneously will Mr.. Josephus
Tinker be requested to cease his Fed
eral activities. Temporary inJunct1ons
will be asked for.
Then comes the big legal fight.
These injunctions win be asked for
upon the grounds that the men have
violated the reserve clause which is
the foundation of the organization.
The organized forces will care moth
ing about a short and decisive hght.
II they can keep the courts busy on
technicalities for several weeks or
months, all the better. For in that
part Of the game the major league
clubs figure they have 1t on their OPP
ponents.
It's like this: The organized clubs
have a sufficient number of men TO
man their clubs and play their sched-
ule. But should temporary injunc-
tons be obtained against the big
league players who leaped. then they
will have to remain idle while the re-
quest for a permanent injunction is
being decided
Keep Jumpers Idle.
Get the idea? Organized baseball
wants to keep the fellows who jumped
idle. Then they can go along playing
their schedule while the other fellows
have to employ substitutes. Some or
The major magnates have an ldea
that they can tie the proposition up
In the courts for years. The Feds give
The organization men the laugh on
this proposition. But it promises
fine scrap just the same.
Meanwhile Joe Tinker says that
his crew is preparing to do a DIT OF
litgating also The fellows VINO
signed with the third league and then
hoped back to the organized fellows
are the ones against whom Joe is
.eveling his threats
Did you ever stop to think what's
going to become of these fellows VINO
nave signed with us, accepted our
money and then jumped ?" queried
Joe
What? >" Joe was asked.
Well, they will be missing on pay
day It's a certainty that we Will tie
hem up and it is d certainty that the
courts can't decide the question rlgnt
VI. Who is going 10 pay them wnile
they are tied up and can't play? we
'ertainly can't be expected to. Wen
win then in the end. which means
that the organized fellows won't.
Il looks decidedly promising for the
legal gents